The first song Ice cube remembers hearing
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The first song Ice cube remembers hearing

Ice Cube, along with Ice-T, was a pioneer of gangsta rap and one of the founding fathers of hip hop in California. Throughout the late 1980s and 1990s, Ice Cube was the face of LA hip hop and made several hits. From ‘F*k Da Police’ to ‘Check Yo Self’, the LA rapper was unmatched in his city. However, wouldn’t it be interesting to know what kind of music the pioneer listened to as a child? Well, in an interview with the magazine NME, he revealed the first song he ever remembers hearing.

Speaking about the music that he listened to growing up, he disclosed that the first album he ever owned was Run DMC’s self-titled album Run DMC. Explaining how he purchased the album, the rapper detailed, “I had all the singles but I just had to buy the album. Problem was, I didn’t have the money – I only had half. So me and one of my friends went halves on it. I got it Thursday, Friday and Saturday, he had it the rest of the time. I couldn’t believe how every song was so dope – song after song, all amazing.”

Reminiscing on his childhood, the rapper (real name O’Shea Jackson) also spoke to NME about the song that actually inspired him to make music. Passionately recalling the moment that inspiration to be a musician came, the rapper divulged the song was “‘8th Wonder’ by The Sugarhill Gang. It’s kind of a tie between that and ‘The Message by Grandmaster Flash, but I’ve got to go with The Sugarhill Gang. When I heard it, it put me on a path. Everything changed when I heard that song. I wanted to rap just like that. It’s an awesome party song. I still love it.”

However, even knowing all of this, we’re still unaware of the REAL start of his music journey. so when finally asked, the rapper told the interviewer that the first song he ever remembers hearing was “‘Kung Fu Fighting’ by Carl Douglas. I remember being a kid, getting in my family’s car, turning the dial on the radio and ‘Kung Fu Fighting’ just hitting me.”

“It was so dope,” Cube continued. It wasn’t anything to do with love, like most songs – when you’re a kid, you don’t wanna know about that. It was about having fun, this crazy rush of blood. For me, it soundtracked growing up in the ‘70s. Too dope, man.”

So the first song Ice Cube ever remembers hearing is ‘Kung Fu Fighting’. You can listen to the funky tune in the video below.