Taking 'Em To Church

The short trip from South Central L.A to Hollywood has been a smooth ride for the 38-year old Ice Cube. After making his mark as a greasy- talking rapper in the quintessential anti-establishment supergroup N.W.A, and further solidifying his legacy in rap history with the Westside Connection, Cube's hustle has hit the big screen. Finding his niche in family-friendly comedies has been the secret to his success as of recent, but make no mistake, O'Shea Jackson hasn't gone pincushion on us. As he gets ready to debut his recent film First Sunday alongside Katt Williams and Tracy Morgan, we caught up with Cube to talk about the movie, gangster vs. comic book rap, the difference between real and fake and his disdain for Dubya.

By Joe La Puma

Complex: The majority of "First Sunday" takes place in the church, are you a religious dude?
Ice Cube: I'm spiritual; I'm not really religious. Spiritual means you believe in God, you trust and love God, but you're not really into the rituals of religion and doing all the things religion has a person do to prove your love for God.

C: How would you recommend going about paying back a 17 thousand dollar debt in real life?
Ice Cube: How would I do it? At this point I'll just write a check, but for others, I say don't rob a church, because it's not going to turn out like a movie. But I mean, sell something; you got a car, you got to sling it. You got to sell something, that's when the brain gets to clicking, you have to prove that you're worth it. You got to figure out who's going to pay you to do what you need to do to get money. You have to hustle.

C: Do you feel like you still need to use comedies like "Are We There Yet" and "First Sunday" as stepping-stone films to prove yourself in order to land more serious roles?
Ice Cube: I don't think I need to do these to get those more serious roles. What happens is, I do these so good, and people want more. When I go do a new deal with a new company, the first thing they say is to give them what we do best. I'm the guy who can deliver different kinds of movies, and that's what people want. But I'm always looking to do other things- the XXXs of the world or a movie like Three Kings. I got this movie I'm doing right now called The Comeback, a drama.

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