Ice Cube Wants to Run His Own Hollywood Studio

With news that Ice Cube is hopeful that he and all parties involved can produce another Friday sequel, it's becoming increasingly difficult to deny Cube's box office appeal. In 2016 alone he will extend two franchises with Ride Along 2 and Barbershop: The Next Cut and is rumored to be involved in Vin Diesel’s xXx reboot. Add to it Cube's production role in Straight Outta Compton and it makes sense that the rapper has enough industry savvy to make decisions on a larger level.

“I’m ready to run a studio. I’m ready to green light movies, and be in it to win it,” he said while speaking at Loyola Marymount University’s School of Film & TV, as a part of the school's Hollywood Masters interview series. He went on to say that he doesn't plan on raising funds through other, non-film means. “Then what you’re doing is fighting with your money to get back into the industry, or for them to use your money instead of their own. So, you got to figure out how to do it within the flow of the industry.”

Like many other black actors, Cube will not be attending the Academy Awards this Sunday (Feb. 28) but did comment on the current state of the industry. “It ain’t cool enough yet,” he said. “I mean, it’s still got gatekeepers. It’s got gatekeepers everywhere. Cool people still have a hard time showing what they got in Hollywood. And I’ve been fighting my whole career to show a different side. But there’s not enough Ice Cubes out there. There’s not enough Ice Cubes getting a chance to do their thing.”

Read the full story and transcript of the event at The Hollywood Reporter.

See 40 Hip-Hop Albums Turning 20 in 2016