Ice Cube Says NWA Opened The Floodgates Of Freedom

Bob Strauss of the Los Angeles Daily News spoke with Ice Cube on his days with N.W.A., where he admitted, “I’ve got more understanding about things now, so I’m not so angry about why things are the way things are.” Still, he’s not about to repudiate his incendiary, expletive-laden early work. “I think the true legacy of N.W.A. is that, for some reason, that record ‘Straight Outta Compton’ just gave freedom to artists all over the world to be whatever they are — and not have to conform or be something they’re not or not really say what’s on their minds,” he figures. “We opened floodgates of freedom — and there’s a lot of good in that and a lot bad in that, too. Y’know what I’m saying — without N.W.A., would you have a Marilyn Manson? I dunno, but to have people still doing that form of hip-hop to this day, it just kind of shows you how powerful that one record was.”