📍South Los Angeles, CA, USA
1969 – 1987“O'Shea Jackson was born in South Los Angeles in June 1969, and grew up in a stable, loving home in the heart of South Central. His mother, Doris, worked as a hospital clerk and custodian, and his father, Hosea, was a groundskeeper at UCLA. He was a good student who loved football and music, and his older brother gave him the nickname Ice Cube, warning him not to be too cool. In the 1980s, gang violence and crack swept through South Central, and his parents worked hard to keep him safe. As a teenager, his parents moved him from his local school to William Howard Taft High School in Woodland Hills, in the San Fernando Valley, and he was bused forty miles each way from his home. The calm, prosperous suburbs made a deep impression on him, showing him how differently people lived just across the city. In typing class at Taft, he began writing raps, and he began writing rhymes constantly and performing at parties with his friend Sir Jinx. Soon he met Dr. Dre, and they began making music together. In 1987 he wrote many of the lyrics for N.W.A, including Straight Outta Compton, while also studying architectural drafting at the Phoenix Institute of Technology in Arizona, as a back-up plan. He left N.W.A in 1989 and made his solo album AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted, then wrote and starred in the film Friday and acted in Boyz n the Hood, set in South Central. He became a successful actor, producer and entrepreneur, founding the BIG3 basketball league, and South Los Angeles remains central to his work.”
🗺️ Approximate location today
📍 Street view today