Ice Cube Says Music Labels Encourage Crime Through "Social Engineering"

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2016 Coachella Valley Music And Arts Festival - Weekend 2 - Day 2
INDIO, CA - APRIL 23: Recording artist Ice Cube performs onstage during day 2 of the 2016 Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival Weekend 2 at the Empire Polo Club on April 23, 2016 in Indio, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images for Coachella)
Ice Cube shared a bold take about record labels during a recent interview with Bill Maher.

Ice Cube says that music labels use "social engineering" to further encourage criminal behavior. The legendary N.W.A. rapper discussed the idea while speaking with Bill Maher for his Club Random podcast. Cube advised listeners to “follow the money" and pointed out that some owners of record labels also own prisons.

“Who benefits and profits off our bickering and division?” Ice Cube asked while discussing petty societal debates and division. "Follow the money.” From there, he admitted: “I don’t know their names Bill, but if you follow the money, you go high enough, you start to see."

Ice Cube In Concert

ONTARIO, CALIFORNIA - NOVEMBER 19: Rapper Ice Cube, founding member of Westside Connection and N.W.A, performs onstage during the High Hopes Concert Series produced by Bobby Dee Presents at Toyota Arena on November 19, 2022 in Ontario, California. (Photo by Scott Dudelson/Getty Images)

Cube then used the record industry as a “broad example of how people at the top can manipulate what’s going on with the people who are bickering and fighting.” He claimed that the “same people who own the [record labels] own the prisons,” while noting that “it seems really kind of suspicious, if you want to say that word, that the records that come out are really geared to push people towards that prison industry.”

Speaking with Bill Maher is just the latest of several public appearances Ice Cube has made in recent days to promote his BIG 3 basketball league. In another interview with The Breakfast Club, Cube claimed that he believes in the existence of the Illuminati. “I don’t know one, none of them, none of them tell me ‘Hey, I’m Illuminati,” Ice Cube said. “I don’t participate in none of that, so, I don’t know about it. Seem like its there, but who knows?”

Ice Cube Discusses Labels With Bill Maher

Elsewhere in the interview, Cube spoke about his lyricism, raising children, nepo babies, and whether the state of policing in America has improved in his lifetime. Check out the full discussion above.

[Via]

About The Author
Cole Blake is a current staff writer at HotNewHipHop based out of New York City. He began writing for the site as an intern back in 2018 while finishing his B.A. in Journalism at St. John’s University. In the time since, he’s covered a number of breaking stories for HNHH. These include the ongoing YSL RICO trial, the allegations surrounding Diddy, and much more. His work also extends outside of hip-hop, having written extensively about a myriad of topics including politics, sports, and pop culture. He’s attended several music festivals to provide coverage for the site as well, such as Rolling Loud and Governors Ball.
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