WASHINGTON — Born in South Central Los Angeles to parents who worked at UCLA, Ice Cube got into music as a teenager. When he was around 14, he met a DJ named Dr. Dre, another founding member of N.W.A. who's since gone on to become a producer. With the late rapper Eazy-E and others, Cube and Dre started recording ultra-violent diatribes that took what Public Enemy was doing (exposing the harsh realities of the urban black experience) to extreme levels.

"We weren't sure if anyone outside the neighborhood was going to respond to N.W.A.," Cube says. After N.W.A.'s 1989 landmark, "Straight Outta Compton," Cube split from the group, believing that management was cheating him.

Next, a feud commenced between him and his former bandmates, played out on N.W.A.'s "Efil4zaggin," and Cube's solo discs, 1990's "AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted" and 1991's "Death Certificate." The latter included controversial tracks "No Vaseline," perceived by some to be anti-Semitic, and "Black Korea," in which Cube expressed discontent with Korean-owned grocery stores.

"The only thing I regret now (about the inflammatory raps) is not being as informed as I thought I was at the time I made the records," he says. "At 22, you think you know it all. ... That don't mean I'm not going to say something in the future that I'll probably regret, too."