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NWA co-founder Ice Cube still has plenty of attitude, but nowadays he saves most it for the cameras. When he’s not terrorizing cans of beer or keeping bad ass kids in check, he’s on your big screen chasing down the criminal elements he used to rap about. In January of this year his latest movie “Ride Along” broke box office records for a debut in that month with a $41 Million weekend gross. Thanks to stand-out performances by Cube and co-star Kevin Hart word of mouth helped the film hold the number one spot at the US Box office for three weeks and has earned an impressive $149 Million worldwide.

WATCH: Cast of “Ride Along” talk relationships…

Produced by Will “Power” Packer and directed by Tim Story, “Ride Along” tells the story of a fast-talking security guard named Ben (Kevin Hart) who wants to propose to his girlfriend Angela (Tika Sumpter). But her brother James (Ice Cube) doesn’t approve of the relationship. Making things even worse, Ben wants to be a cop and James is a detective with the APD.  Convinced that Ben is not fit for a badge or his sister, James decides to take Ben out on a ride along hoping to scare him off, but things don’t quite work out as planned.

“Ride Along” is out on DVD today, so TheUrbanDaily.com caught up with Ice Cube to talk about the success of the film, plans for the sequel and what he thinks of his co-star’s rapping alter-ego.

TUD: You broke records with the opening box office of the film. Everyone expects to do well but were you surprised by how well?

Ice Cube: Pleasantly surprised, but not because I didn’t think we had a project that could do that. Universal really put their foot in it. They didn’t hold back with promoting the movie across the board to women, all ages, all races. When I do a movie it’s [usually] hard to get that kind of backing from a studio. They don’t always see it like we see it. [But] It showed in the results so I hope it’s a lesson to other studios that they really need to know what they got and put their foot behind the promotion.

RELATED: “Ride Along”: Does Hollywood Need To Redefine The “Mainstream” Movie?

Thanks to that success they’ve green lit a sequel for 2016. What can you tell us about “Ride along 2″? Will you have input on the script?

Oh yeah, definitely. It’s gonna be funny. That’s really our job to make it funny and make sure the action is satisfying and larger than life. That’s what we doing.

Your car got blown up at the end of this one. What’s your next ride gonna be?

We’ll see. Something sweet. It’s really about what deals we make with these companies. It’s a hair more complicated than just picking out the flyest care I want [laughs].

I remember interviewing you for “The Source Power 30″ years ago and you were getting ready to do  “XXX.” I asked you what your car would be and you said it’ll be something cooler than a GTO. But…

Yeah, I know. The damn director stuck me with that GTO.

What was your first car?

My first car was a ’69 VW bug. My pops bought it for me for graduation. I loved that thing, too. It was battleship grey…

So you had Trey’s and Furious’ car from “Boyz In The Hood”…

Yeah, I think it was. I haven’t seen that movie in a while.

Boyz in the hood VW Bug.jpg

It only stuck out in my head because the colors changed in the film. It was red in the beginning and then blue as Trey grew up. And you don’t just randomly paint your car blue or red in L.A.

It’s funny because you’ll know Crips with red cars and Bloods with blue cars. When it comes to cars it’s all about what you like. Especially if you higher up in rank. If you one of the OG’s you gonna drive whatever color you wanna drive. It’s funny.

Next year is the 20th anniversary of “Friday.” What stands out about the project almost two decades later?

I was excited about Friday because it was a pet project. I’d seen so many things about my hood with “Boyz in the Hood” and “Menace To Society” and “South Central” movies and people thought we were living in Hell itself. So I wanted to show you how much fun we had growing up, too. So ‘Friday’ was a tribute to how WE looked at the ‘hood and how it was fun to us, not always a nightmare.  So I was excited to show that part of us and how we grew up. And I knew nobody had that point of view in Hollywood but me. Wasn’t nobody like me making movies. I didn’t know everybody was gonna like it, I thought it was just gonna be the cool people.

So what’s up with the next installment of “Friday”?

Newline, their proposal for another “Friday” is a joke. Financially. So that’s where it stands.

You were talking about How “Friday “represents two different sides of your ‘hood and now you have two different artists like YG and Kendrick Lamar offering two different perspectives on life in your hometown. What do you think of their music?

I love what they’re doing. I love that they represent themselves and the West Coast well. Their different perspectives are accurate. The same street you can have a gang banger and a college graduate right next door to each other. Everybody gotta different story, depending on what was going on around them in their household. They’re both accurate.

Now that you’re between filming can we expect new music soon?

I’m in the studio now because I can work and promote. I can’t come from the movie set and go right into the studio because something is gonna suffer. I definitely won’t be chasing the radio. I do what I feel, what inspires me and be happy with what I get from that.

We were on the set with you guys when you were filming “Ride Along” and Kev told us that his relationship with Chocolate Droppa has made you two get closer. Have you and Kev’s alter ego Chocolate Droppa got in the studio yet?

Man, Chocolate Droppa don’t wanna see me. All them part time rappers. I don’t wanna hear from Chocolate Droppa. He know we got beef.

“Ride Along” is out on DVD today so stay tuned to TheUrbanDaily.com for a chance to win a free copy!

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Ice Cube Talks “Ride Along” and “Friday” Sequels, Battling “Chocolate Droppa”  was originally published on theurbandaily.com