These five anti-establishment brawlers, voluntarily calling themselves Niggaz With Attitude (N.W.A.), spewed venomous lyrics like bullets out of AK-47s. According to Ice Cube, N.W.A.'s sometimes vile verses were fueled by "all of the things that people wanted to say, but couldn't get up the nerve to say aloud. N.W.A. was a few rappers thinking aloud in public. We didn't know that it would take off like it did. But when it did, we started using it as our time to talk about some of the girls we ran up against."

Talk about taking it off! The malt liquor-sodden, pre-apocalyptic nightmares that these big-mouthed street niggaz' unleashed on their albums Straight Outta Compton, 100 Miles And Running and Efil4zaggin' (which have been declared some of the all-time best rap albums by both critics and fans) were like the hot iron your mama warned you not to touch--you knew N.W.A. were dangerous, threatening and taboo, but you just couldn't stay away. Using their microphones to scare off greedy groupies, castigate dishonest cops and attack the racist legal system, N.W.A. personified a fascinatingly dark, conscience-free underbelly of society that most people were afraid to even acknowledge.

When the girls in the 'hood--who would later become some of the nation's shrewdest feminists--finally started speaking out against the gratuitous use of the word "bitch" in rap lyrics, it was Eazy E and N.W.A. that they wanted to shut down. Cube is unapologetic when he explains the origin of what many might interpret as misogynist lyrics. "Women conduct themselves like ladies. Bitches don't. Now those women who say that I've written songs against women haven't listened to my whole body of work. I talked about the girls I knew growing up--not my own mama, 'cuz she's a lady and I love her--but the other women from the 'hood, ones who acted shady, lied, cheated, tricked and tried to get over on a brotha. Now does that sound like proper behavior for a lady?"

While still with N.W.A., Cube co-wrote and performed both "I Ain't The One" and "A Bitch Iz A Bitch," both of which veer away from the gangsta mentality long enough to offer some insight as to how Cube's attitudes toward women were formed. "If my opposition listens to both songs carefully, and if they're intelligent, they'll be able to see who I'm referring to when I say the word 'bitch.' On my block, preserving my manhood and standing up for myself was most important. Early on in my life, I met scandalous women. I've seen the world now, and I've met a lovely woman [his wife, Kim], so I know good women are out there. But saving face meant being strong. I talk about how I'm not gonna let a woman play me, and by not letting a girl take advantage of me, I was considered strong in my friends' eyes. I was writing songs for my friends, not my enemies."

Twiddling his thumbs, he continues, "We told it like it was in our neighborhoods. Most of the people who sit around asking themselves why we was so angry have never set foot in Compton. They don't know any prostitutes or drug dealers personally. They don't know poverty. None of us really had a lot of money when we was growing up. There was a lot of gang activity where I came from [South Central L.A.], and in the Compton neighborhood where Dre and the rest of the guys came from. There would be a shooting every day. You just hoped it was someone you didn't know. Since they were from Compton, I had to get in where I fit in, and I always came correct. Every day we'd see fighting, drug activity and problems going down involving us, our friends and the police. So that's what we discussed on our records."

The Cube/ N.W.A. discography includes such memorable moments "Express Yourself," "Just Don't Bite It" (the group's least creative but most sexually explicit song) and "Real Niggaz Don't Die," all written by and for reckless youths who never worried about the consequences of their actions. However, the title of that last song proved to be untrue, when Eazy E died from AIDS. "None of us really thought about tomorrow," DJ Yella once mused after Eazy's death. "'Cuz getting through today was too much to think about."

But now it's tomorrow, and the boys who tried so hard to act like big men have no choice but to change their outdated ideologies. Says Cube, "We all grow up...hopefully. When you're young, a lot of crazy things go through your mind and come out your mouth. Who's to say that when I'm rapping, I'm not talking about a circumstance that a homie of mine went through? Everything I write about doesn't necessarily happen to me, even though I have been harassed by the police for no reason. And I have to look out for me, because I have a family to take care of, so those experiences you hear may be true.

"I remember, after N.W.A., I had a song called 'You Can't Fade Me' and it was about a dilemma I was having. A girl that I and everyone else on the block had slept with got pregnant. She said it was mine, and I didn't believe her...or at least wasn't sure. Anyway, I thought about kicking her in the belly or pushing her down some stairs, but then at the end of the song I come to the reality that if I hurt her, I'll go to jail. You may think about killing your boss, but you don't, because you'll have to pay. Even if you don't go to jail, you'll have that on your conscience forever. That's a small part of the song, but that's the part that everyone remembers. There's a lot of guys with babies on the way who could relate to what I was sayin'. I always try to make songs that other people can get with besides myself."

			"We Be Clubbin'"
			"We Be Clubbin' (Remix Featuring DMX)"
			"Who Are You Lovin'"

Ice Cube is now the only rapper from N.W.A. to come full circle as a solo artist, actor and filmmaker. In addition to his new double-album coming out in June on Priority Records, Cube recently executive-produced the A&M-distributed soundtrack to The Players Club, an upcoming film he also directed. The songs on Cube's not-yet-titled double-disc chronicle not only his arduous journey to manhood and rap to reel, but hip-hop's equally tough evolution from a once-dismissed fad to a significant, permanent musical genre. "I have a lot of ideas that I want to bring to an album and to the screen," Cube declares. "I guess what would be ideal is if I can continue to do both movies and music forever. It takes up a lot of my time, but if I see that there's a story that needs to be told, I'm going to tell it.

"Like with Friday [which grossed $40 million on a $2 million budget], I was able to tell a story about people hanging out in the 'hood. There wasn't supposed to be a big lesson learned. People were just supposed to laugh. Besides, it's cool being a screenplay writer, an actor and a director, but my first love is music. No matter where I go, I'll always come back to that. Just check out The Players Club and my double-album and you'll be able to hear my passion for music yourself."