Defsounds

Gangsta rap pioneer Ice cube is getting ready to tackle both box office and Hip Hop charts in '08 with his upcoming film, "First Sunday", which will hit theaters on January 11th, and 9th solo LP, "Raw Footage," set for release this summer.

Cube, who says the new album will be more politically driven than past releases, recently debuted the first single entitled, "Gangsta Rap Made Me Do It."

In a recent interview with Complex Magazine, Cube says he wants to release something for the intelligent, hardcore, and mature Hip-Hop fan.

"I just hate the commercialized game, I hate being worried about what the program director's thinking. All that kind of stuff doesn't make any difference. What makes the difference is what the fans think, what the intelligent hardcore, mature Hip-Hop fan wants to hear. Get it to them and let's make music. I'm at a point where I'm not just grinding at this record, like "Yo, I got to eat off this," so I could have more fun with it, and do what I feel and not do it for other reasons. When you're on the record label, they are worried about that kind of stuff. You know, like where's the single? Where's the single? You just want to give them a single kick in the ass, and tell them to get the fuck out of the studio [laughs]. I'm just going back to the essence, doing it from the heart, doing it from the gut, and being happy with the results. " He tells Complex Mag.

The West Coast legend also expressed his frustration with Mainstream Media and their bastardization of hip hop.

"What it is is that they kind of pushed escapism rap, and they pushed the political rap to the back. Political rap is more of a threat than shake-ya-ass, titties, get drunk, take an X pill, whatever the hell type of music-so that's what they wanted people to be focused on. They didn't like things were said in the early '90s, late '80s,that have been lost until now. In the late '90s there was no market for this kind of rap. Now through YouTube and people getting their own information through the computer and things like that, people are getting what they really want and they're not being programmed. This kind of music that's coming back is real. There was a wave to stomp it out. But it never went all the way out."

You can check out the entire interview here.