After a long search for who could believably play a young O’Shea Jackson, a.k.a. Ice Cube, in F. Gary Gray’s upcoming NWA biopic, Straight Outta Compton, Gray and Ice Cube himself have settled on a young O’Shea Jackson—namely, O’Shea Jackson Jr., the rapper’s son. Cube has long been pushing for his son to be the young him, pretty much from the moment he named him “O’Shea Jackson Jr.” But more recently, he told The Guardian in February that he was openly angling for his son to get the part, while still admonishing, “Just wanna make sure that he’s the best man for the job.” And yet, after auditions with multiple actors and unnamed “authentic rappers,” it was determined that Jackson is Ice Cube’s son.
Casting talk now turns to who will play the younger versions of Dr. Dre, Eazy-E, et al., with Dre telling TMZ a couple of years ago that he was similarly considering putting his own son in the film, and The Wrap saying that Eazy-E’s kids—both son and daughter—have also been lobbying hard for their late father’s role. After all, who better to capture the “hood factor” and “street credibility” that Gray has said he wants than the children of insanely wealthy rappers who are aiming to turn their gangsta days into Hollywood dramas?
Anyway, for those who might find it strange that a dad would coach his son through portraying the more salacious aspects of his youth, remember that Ice Cube already did a video with the younger Jacksons, O’Shea (who also goes under the name OMG) and Darrel (Doughboy), where they rap about getting high and fucking all the bitches. So, probably not a lot of standing on ceremony in that relationship.