Rap legend hopes Chris Tucker will return for “Last Friday”


It’s been five years since the release of the single “Everythang’s Corrupt” off of what was supposed to be Ice Cube’s 10th studio album, but the rap legend has confirmed the long-awaited record will be released later this year.

“(We’re) Trying to figure out the single (off of the album), and how we’re gonna release it. But it’s comin’. No more waitin’,” the rapper said, as he sat down with The Korea Herald prior to his performance at the Ultra Korea 2018 on Sunday.

The album, which will be his first since 2010, has seen several delays since Ice Cube started talking about its release half a decade ago.

“I had to stop working on it to produce the film ‘Straight Outta Compton.’ Then the (3-on-3 BIG3) basketball league. I had to put it on the back burner until I had time to concentrate,” he said.

With so much time -- and music -- since the 2013 single, Ice Cube indicated that the album may have a very different look from its title track.

“The record is a lot different than it was when it first started. ... I’m not sure even that song’s (‘Everythang’s Corrupt’) gonna make it,” he said.

“The new songs are like trumping the old songs out of the way,” he said, before pausing and adding with a chuckle, “Trump. It’s a bad word now.”

But Ice Cube expressed his support for the US president’s attempt to bring peace in Northeast Asia by meeting with North Korea leader Kim Jong-un.

“You can’t hate on peace. I don’t wanna be so hard that I don’t understand that peace is necessary. I don’t wanna hate on that, I hope it works out,” he said.

What is he hating on in his new album?

“I got plenty to say,” he said, adding that he will also talk about the struggles of this generation on an individual level. “For me, the record has to deal with situations that face my audience, and it’s not always the government. Sometimes it’s us, how we deal with each other.

“I try to take new topics that I haven’t spoken about before, and make a record on it,” he said.

Ice Cube is also putting the finishing touches on the script of the latest sequel in the “Friday” movie franchise, the first installment of which came out in 1995.

While prospects for Chris Tucker reprising the role of “Smokey” have been bleak, Ice Cube said he has written his character into the script and hopes he will return.

“I hope so, I want him to be in it. He won’t give me a yes or no, though,” he said.


By Yoon Min-sik
(minsikyoon@heraldcorp.com)