Thug Life Army

Legendary member of Eazy-E’s NWA and more recently member of the hip-hop rap group Westside Connection; west coast gangsta rap artist Ice Cube is preparing his new album ‘Laugh Now, Cry Later’ for a June 6^th,2006 drop; which will be released independently by Cube himself.

"What is a record company going to do for me that I can''t do for myself? Nothing," he explained.

"It's nothing they can offer me to have a major percent of my record. It's really all about ownership at this time...People are caught up in double, triple platinum. That's lovely, but what's double platinum if you not getting double-platinum money? It's all about what you take home to your family at the end of the day if you gonna make this game a profession," he advised.

Affording Cube more artistic freedom was one reason the west coast rapper chose to release the album independently.

"At some point an artist needs to put his money where his mouth is," Cube said, "A record company's schedule sometimes don''t coincide with what you need to do as an artist. By me not being on no schedules or deadlines, I made a better record because of that."

Cube went on to note that he would not be side-tracked by any films until the album is complete.

So, what can fans expect on the new album?

Knowing that fans will be anticipating the album, when asked what fans can expect from the upcoming release Cube said “Everybody is doing a lot of laughing and playing and having fun, but someday you gotta pay. That's really what the album is saying."

According to those who have heard some new tracks, listeners can expect social commentary, specifically on a song titled Guns and Drugs. Cube will also get a lot of feelings off his chest on the song Child Support.

"It's a metaphor," he says of the song. "Only a few rappers dead or alive can do that record. I feel I put in enough time in the game. I was one of the architects of this style, gangsta rap. It was time to get it off my chest and say what I think."

Aside from these songs, guests that may be featured include Swizz Beats, Snoop Dogg, Scott Storch, Juelz Santana and Lil’ Jon.

One artist who isn’t on the album yet is Dr. Dre. Years ago, Dre & Cube began working on an album that was never released. Cube was said to be heading to Aftermath and a West coast reunion was in order. However, that never happened and many wondered why. "All that was happening before 50 blew up," he said of why the Aftermath deal was never finalized.

"...You gotta follow the money in this game. Dre's attention went in [the direction of] the artist that's right now. You can''t do nothing but say that was a good business move. I probably would have done the same thing. But for me, I can''t wait for nobody, I been in the game too long to wait. It was time to do the record and put it out. I did a whole lot of records without Dre on them. I would love to have him participate, but for the most part, I don''t need to wait on nobody right about now."

Cube (real name Oshea Jackson) says he will not be working on any more films until after his album is released.