Diving right into our interview, Ice Cube spoke on the release of his most recent film, “21 Jump Street.”  “I’m Captain Dickson,” he says proudly, “he’s the Black, loud, stereotypical, captain ..."

Ice Cube hollers at us from '21 Jump Street'

By STACY STEWART

Contributing Writer

Sitting in a private room on the eighteenth floor of Trump Towers in Chicago, I comfortably waited patiently for the arrival of Ice Cube.  As he entered the room, his courteous, inviting smile took over immediately and I couldn’t help but notice the black fist that peeked through the mounds of thick hair surrounding his ‘pick’.

“Gotta keep it real,” he says patting his afro and taking his seat.

 that you’ve seen in a thousand shows, that’s mad that he has to baby-sit the cops.  So now I’m doing my take on it, you know, R-rated,” he laughs, “but he’s cool, you’ll like him.”

Referencing previous cop movies, Ice Cube likens his performance of Captain Dickson, to that of the police chief in Beverly Hills Cop, “That dude was on Eddie Murphy’s back, and I like that.  I had a chance to jab at Jonah and Channing, so to me it was what you would want from the character, he’s cool, he’s mean.”

Contemplating taking on a project such as “21 Jump Street” didn’t cause for much hesitation from Cube, “The show was shot back in the day, and I knew that people liked Johnny Depp. I wasn’t a super fan,” he admits, “but I caught an episode or two, but you know, Hollywood really can’t think of any more ideas, so we just gotta go for the ride.”

Converting the well-known 1980’s television series into an on screen comedy, took on a life of its on as the chemistry of the cast helped each actor fall into character.  “Workin’ with guys like Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum is a breeze,” Ice Cube said, “We respect each others work, with no egos and we do the dance and hit the beats. When you’re doing a comedy, you gotta have a cool, fun, set, you can’t be uptight, or your comedy is gonna be uptight,” and with a cast of comedians, there was no room for anyone, to be uptight.

Combining the comedic antics of Hill and Tatum with that of comedians Rob Riggles of  “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart” and standup comedian/actor DeRay Davis (“Barbershop”), the cast was never short on laughter.  “He’s a fool,” Ice Cube laughed speaking of DeRay, “The first time I worked with him was right here in Chicago, when we did ‘Barbershop.’ I didn’t have any scenes with him in this film, but DeRay is a likable guy.  On screen or off, whenever you see him, you gotta smile, cause he gone say somethin’ stupid, he’s like Mike Epps to me in that way.”

From starting out as a charismatic, distinctive rapper with NWA, to finding his way as a solo performer, Ice Cube is currently working on a new music project scheduled for release this summer, “ I use write about things that dealt with only the hood, now I write about everything that gets on my nerves,” he jokes, “especially politics.”

So it was time for the question that everybody wants to know, so I couldn’t help but ask if there would be any possibility of seeing the characters of Craig and Dayday back together again – and the answer from Cube was, “Yes, I just signed with Newline for the up-coming movie ‘Last Friday,’ so look out for it so you can see how the characters have evolved,” Ice Cube said.

Until then, we can plan on seeing Ice Cube in theaters nationwide on March 16th as Captain Dickson in “21 Jump Street.” This movie is reminiscent for anyone that would like to relive their high school years vicariously through the characters, while at the same time keeping up with one of the “coolest” guys in the game.