From Fearsome to Fun

When I think of people that have made the biggest shift in public perception, I can’t help but think of the total one-eighty that rapper-turned-actor-turned-family-friendly-role-model Ice Cube. Ice Cube, or O’Shea Jackson, has gone from respected (and even feared) rapper, forming N.W.A., who were as full of attitude as their acronym suggests and pioneered the rap subgenre of gangster rap, to star of the family (read: kids) movie Are We There Yet in just over 15 years. It is just comical to me that people of my age group and spanning especially to those younger than myself see this man as this funny father-figure when less than two decades before he was stirring people up by writing “F*ck the Police.”

It wasn’t Ice Cube’s move from rapper to actor that completely changed his image. His first role as Doughboy in 1991’s Boyz N the Hood was very much in line with the persona that he was cultivating for himself. All this role did was familiarize people with the MC’s face. He was in the midst of releasing very controversial, politically and socially charged solo albums and continued to do this for over ten years. The first step towards a major alteration to his personal image came in 2000 with the release of a comedy that he co-wrote and produced, entitled Friday. Ever since this film he has been heading down the road of comedic actor, writer, and producer.

Ice Cube’s Twitter account is relatively tame focusing mainly on random thoughts of his. N.W.A.-era Ice Cube’s Twitter feed would no doubt be fully of angry and controversial rants. I have never seeked out a rapper on Facebook, but I’m sure a lot of them accept any or all of the thousands of friend requests that they get. I don’t think Ice Cube would be one to buy into this game, however. I think he would try to stay away from it, possibly even to the extent of not having a Facebook at all. He’s all about street cred so this popularity contest would do nothing for him.

For those that do buy into the popularity contest of social media, “celebrity” is a much more loosely used term. I personally don’t feel that this makes it any easier to be a celebrity but rather the standard for what qualifies as a celebrity has been significantly lowered. If a person like Rebecca Black can rise to what some people call “stardom” then we have most definitely changed what that word means to us as a culture.