Ice Cube's Real Name: O'Shea Jackson

Quick answer: Ice Cube's documented original name is O'Shea Jackson. Encyclopaedia Britannica records that he was born on June 15, 1969, in Los Angeles, California, and lists him as also known as O'Shea Jackson, Sr. He is an American rapper and actor who first gained fame in the group N.W.A and later built a major solo and film career (Britannica).

Real name and early life

The Library of Congress heading is "Ice Cube (Musician)," with the variant "Jackson, O'Shea." The International Who's Who in Popular Music, cited there, gives "Ice Cube (O'Shea Jackson); b. June 15, 1969, Los Angeles, Calif.; rapper." Britannica places the birth in Los Angeles and, in the narrative, in the Baldwin Hills neighborhood of South-Central Los Angeles. His mother, Doris, was a hospital clerk, and his father, Hosea, worked as a groundskeeper at UCLA. Britannica says his elder brother, Clyde, inspired the stage name: as children, Clyde threatened to put him in the freezer until he became an ice cube. He became interested in hip-hop in his early teens and began writing lyrics while still at George Washington Preparatory High School.

Career highlights

Ice Cube first performed in the group C.I.A. (Cru' in Action!) and sold the song originally titled "The Boyz-n-the-Hood" to Eazy-E and Ruthless Records; Eazy-E recorded it, an early collaboration among future N.W.A members including Dr. Dre and DJ Yella. After contributing to N.W.A. and the Posse, Ice Cube left briefly to study architectural drafting at the Phoenix Institute of Technology, then rejoined the group for Straight Outta Compton (1988). Britannica says he has partial or full writing credits on nine of that album's 13 original tracks and performs on six. He left N.W.A in December 1989 in a royalties dispute with manager Jerry Heller that, Britannica notes, was later settled out of court in 1990. His first solo album, AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted, appeared in 1990, with much of the production by Public Enemy's Bomb Squad. He also became a familiar film presence, with credits that include Boyz n the Hood (1991), Friday (1995) and its sequels, Three Kings (1999), the Barbershop films, and the Ride Along pictures. A J.R. Sansevere book cited by the Library of Congress likewise identifies him as O'Shea Jackson, "aka Ice Cube," born in Inglewood, South-Central Los Angeles, a place-name that sits beside Britannica's Baldwin Hills wording.

Name notes for searchers

O'Shea Jackson is the documented original name; he is known professionally as Ice Cube. Some reference works add "Sr." Searchers looking for the N.W.A rapper or the Friday and Boyz n the Hood actor are usually aiming at the same person.