Ice Cube Takes Issue With Samuel L. Jackson's Beef With Rapper-Actors

08/14/2002 10:00 AM, Yahoo! Music
Mark Armstrong

(8/14/02, 10 a.m. ET) -- Ice Cube, a rapper who made the transition from musician to movie actor to screenwriter and producer, has respect for Samuel L. Jackson, but he takes issue with the Oscar-nominated actor's comments that rappers-turned-actors are cheating legitimate actors out of jobs.

Cube tells LAUNCH, "Me, personally, I've created more jobs than I've taken away," he says. "Just because I came from rap music, and I'm doing this...You know, 'rapper,' that's the title the media gives me. That's not the title I give myself. You know, I can do a lot of different things, and rap, it'll just pigeonhole you, you know. And I'll just say this: yeah, there's a lot of rappers that can't act. But there's a lot of actors who can't act, too. So, you know, if Samuel wants to pigeonhole himself, and just become an actor, let him do that, you know what I'm saying? But if he want to grab the mic, I'm not going to criticize him. Everyone should be allowed to spread their wings."

Ice Cube will be seen next in the comedy Barbershop, which hits theaters September 13.

-- Steve Iervolino and Anna Maria Gibson, New York

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