Ice Cube Talks New Movie "Ride Along"

For a guy who became famous for rapping “F— tha Police,” Ice Cube has sure played a lot of cops.

He dons a badge again in the buddy comedy “Ride Along,” opening Friday. The man born O’Shea Jackson in South Los Angeles 44 years ago plays Detective James, a hardass dragging his prospective brother-in-law (Kevin Hart) with him during a day of crime-fighting in Atlanta.

“I don’t take it too seriously,” says Cube. “Some of my fans think after you do ‘F— tha Police,’” — a song on his group N.W.A.’s 1988 album “Straight Outta Compton” — “you shouldn’t even call the police if you need them. Like, if somebody’s breaking into your house, you handle it like a gangsta.

“But N.W.A is about real life, and movies are just make-believe. ... I mean, [20 years ago] I was hoping I would [play a cop]. If they gave me a cop’s salary to play one, I wouldn’t do it, though.”

Another thing not cool with Cube: the NYPD’s controversial stop-and-frisk practices, which new Mayor de Blasio has promised to reform.

“To me, stop-and-frisk is just wrong,” Cube says. “It’s hard for cops to prevent crime without violating everybody’s rights. So ... let me keep my rights.

“I’d rather deal with a crook going through my stuff than the government. What’s the difference?”

Ice Cube knows of what he speaks: He has clashed with the law plenty, so he didn’t need to do any research for “Ride Along.”

“I’ve been in the backseat a few times,” he says with a laugh. “I didn’t have to do a ‘ride along’ — I know what they’re all about!”

He also knew as he was going from rap to other forms of media that such archetypal parts would come his way, whatever his attitude.

“Hollywood makes a lot of cop movies, and I expected to be part of Hollywood — I figured that sooner or later, it was gonna happen,” Cube says. “It just lets you know how long I’ve been in the game! I’ll probably play a cop killer before it’s all said and done.”

Truth be told, the men in blue that Cube has played are as hard-core as any criminal. In 2005, he was a cop-turned-secret agent in “XXX: State of the Union,” and in 2011, he co-starred in the LAPD drama “Rampart.”

He was also in charge of the undercover goofballs played by Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill in 2012’s action-comedy hit “21 Jump Street.” He’ll return for next year’s sequel, “22 Jump Street.”

In “Ride Along,” “Cube’s playing the edgiest cop in the world,” says the film’s director, Tim Story. “He’s a cop who does things his own way, and Cube can really be comfortable with that.”

That’s part of the reason the rapper-actor says he wouldn’t take just any law-enforcement role offered to him.

“I don’t think I’d want to play a uniform guy with a billy club and all that,” he says. “But undercovers, detectives, bounty hunters — with those, I definitely can keep the cool factor going.”

Cube has come a long way from his debut role as a South Central L.A. gang member in 1991’s “Boyz n the Hood,” a fact that was underscored by his reunion on “Ride Along” with co-star Laurence Fishburne.

“Yeah, we’ve done a 180-degree turn,” Cube says. “In ‘Boyz,’ I was the bad guy, and Fishburne was the good guy. Now I’m the good guy and he’s the bad guy.

“If you work long enough, you go from son to father to grandfather!”

Through it all, Cube has proven his longevity as an actor, moving easily from dramas like “Three Kings” in 1999 to comedies including the “Barbershop” films and the “Friday” franchise. He hopes the latter will spawn yet another sequel someday.

He has even done family films, including “Are We There Yet?” (2005), its 2007 sequel, “Are We Done Yet?” and the 2008 sports family drama “The Longshots.”

“It’s all about finding the right projects you can make an impact on,” he says.

“I did ‘Are We There Yet?’ for a specific reason: I wanted the kids of my fans to have something to enjoy other than the ‘Friday’ movies. It ain’t cool for a 5-year-old to be quoting ‘Friday’ movies. I was like, Let me do something for my fans’ kids so they can enjoy one of my movies without having to deal with the cussing and the violence and the weed and all that.

“It was a conscious decision to introduce myself to a new generation.”

Cube’s all-ages appeal is part of his secret, says Story, who also directed “Barbershop.”

“On ‘Barbershop,’ the family-man role was new for him at that moment,” Story adds. “He’s such a veteran, it was fun to be able to flex a different muscle with him.”

Coming next for Cube is a voice role in the Day of the Dead-themed animated film “The Book of Life.” Another new area, and another step up the authority chain.

“I play a god in that one,” Cube says, “so you can’t beat that.”

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