News: Is Ice Cube Done Yet?

He's trying to tell you about starring in "Are We Done Yet?"-the sequel to the hit family flick "Are We There Yet?"-which opened Wednesday. But ESPN is too strong a distraction.

"Huh? Nah. I'm not watching a game. Just the highlights," he says.

He's got his usual "Boyz-N-the-Hood" scowl going. But you're not put off. Because in "Are We Done Yet?" he performs silly home-improvement slapstick and has exchanges with talking animals. You figure he has softened some.

"Everybody has their perceptions about how my career has evolved," says the man who made his acting debut in 1991 as Doughboy in John Singleton's "Boyz N the Hood" and in 1995 wrote, produced and starred in "Friday," that foggy-front-porch cult hit.

"I have never worried about being hard or soft. I have always just been myself," Cube says. "I'm concerned about being a man. Being a badass doesn't turn me on. That's an image; that's a gimmick. I mean, I still have hardcore records left in me-and hardcore movies. But I thought this was the perfect time in my career to make some movies for the whole family and reach another generation. I figure my core audience has kids who need something to connect to."

In this latest movie (Cube was a producer of "Are We There Yet?" and the sequel), he reprises the role of Nick Persons, former player turned family man who has married Suzanne (Nia Long), the girl whose kids he grudgingly took on a maddening, screwball road trip.

This time around, the gang has moved into a roomy country house that turns into a home-improvement nightmare. Think "The Money Pit" with computer-enhanced critters.

So, has Cube ever experienced home-improvement hell?

"Anybody with a home is always doing something to it," he says. "Whether it's updating the plumbing or whatever. I mean, we've been in our house (in Los Angeles) for 10 years, and we're still working on it. It's like a lifelong project. I just don't ever feel easy that the last thing we did is really the last thing we're gonna do."

Has he done any of the work himself?

"No, but I'm the one dealing with the contractor and the people working on all the stuff. I've learned more about house things than I ever wanted to know. Like wood. Didn't want to know that much about that. I also know too much about marble."

Born O'Shea Jackson, Cube, 37, is proud to be a family man. He and Kim Jackson, his wife of 15 years, have four kids.

`I think a lot of people can relate to my character in `Are We Done Yet?' He is a new husband figuring out that every marriage gets hard. Every husband, and every wife, at some point say, `Damn, that exit looks pretty good.' But you have to stick it out."

Has he ever considered the exits along the way in his marriage?

"Sort of. But I don't want people to think me and my wife are having problems," says Cube. "You kinda look to make sure the door is still there. But me and my wife have a great partnership. It's kind of us against the world. We really, really love each other and work well with each other. We've built a nice life, and we're still going."

Cube says he was drawn to the family-guy role because it allowed him to be a positive role model.

"I feel good about the fact that Nick started out as a bachelor who really wants to have a family life. You don't see too many black men reflected this way in the movies. Nick does whatever he needs to do to make it all work."

Originally, he was planning a remake of "Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House," and an unrelated sequel to "Are We There Yet?"

"But then we felt that nobody would remember the `Mr. Blandings' title. And we needed a sequel to a movie we had that was a hit. It's eerie how easy it was to convert that other script into this sequel. We just changed the character names," Cube says, stealing another glance at the TV. "I think people appreciate a movie that the whole family can watch. There aren't a lot of those any more. You have movies for kids, movies for teens and movies for adults. But not a lot of movies for everybody."

But that doesn't mean Cube doesn't want to continue making grown-up films. Through his production company, Cube Vision, he is working on developing a feature, "Chrome & Paint," about car culture in Los Angeles.

"It deals with low riders. And what kind of person you have to be to survive with a low rider. If you're weak, you can't have one. Somebody will just take you right out of it. Those cars are dangerous."

Cube used to be into them.

"But not any more. I like new cars now."

It's new hip-hop he can't get down with.

`I like Lil' Wayne, Luda. But not a lot else of the current stuff. I like the `80s stuff. Because the `80s were to hip-hop what the `60s were to rock `n' roll. It was just more creative then. Everybody had different styles, and you couldn't just bite somebody else's style without being an outcast. Now everybody is feeding off the same thing. It's not referencing; it's straight-up stealing."

With that, Cube gets up and moves to the terrace. One of his handlers has just spotted a dolphin swimming near the hotel. And Cube is not too hardcore to go out there and watch it play.

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Ice Cube is back in theaters today, reprising his role as Nick Persons in "Are We Done Yet?" the sequel to his highly popular 2005 family film "Are We There Yet?" The follow-up catches up with newlyweds Nick and Suzanne, played by Nia Long, as they move to the suburbs to provide a better life for their two kids. Of course, all is not that simple as the family dream home becomes a nightmare.

Facing the tribulations and madness of a new family and a new home weren't at all difficult for Cube to portray. Because he's a family man himself, he said that playing the role perhaps might have been easier. In fact, the thing he found most difficult about making the film was the bit of water acrobatics for a scene in the film.

"That damn kayak - me on that kayak," he told reporters, pinpointing the most challenging part in making the film. "That was the hardest thing to do; to stay up on that kayak. Everything else was easy. We shot this movie in the summer in Vancouver. The first one was done in the winter and it rained everyday. Because it was a road movie, it was grueling, but this one we shot in one location. I had a ball. It was like summer camp."

Summer camp must've had quite a lot of activities. When the rapper/actor hit the set for the new film, his latest album was just starting to get buzz. The disc, "Laugh Now, Cry Later," was still being promoted at the same time the director called "Action!"

"We were doing the promo tour right up until it was time to do this movie," Cube said. "That's part of the grind. A lot of stuff I kind of missed out on record-wise because I was out in Vancouver doing this."

Even though he stepped away from the music scene to complete the film, Cube assured that he has no intention to stop recording - ever.

"As an artist, with the creative freedom that records give me, I don't know if you can ever get with movies," he said of his first love. "With a record I can just go in with my producer and do what we want to do. I've never had an A&R tell me what kind of record to make. With movies it's more of a collaboration. It's a big team and it's never just one man, one thought. I don't think I'll ever give it up - they may stop selling, but I don't think I'll stop making records."

However, he added that he will continue doing films, too, since recording only gives him an audio outlet.

"A movie is the biggest canvas that an artist could ever want," he said. "And I love to produce, even more than acting. It's a way to be involved in this monster of a creation called a movie; from the script getting [written] to marketing the movie, I love every aspect of it."

His argument to keep rapping and recording as well as doing movies speaks to the star's duality. On the one hand, his history in music as one of the pioneers of gangster rap appears to be the complete opposite of the accident-prone, suburb dad he plays in this franchise. But Cube explained that his characters on the mic and on the screen are one in the same. And it's a lesson that he hopes to teach the masses.

"My job is to show that they are the same people. If you talk to most people that are so called gangsters or are in the pen and so forth - all of them want the car, house, kids, wife, picket fence.

Most gangsters are gangsters because they're frustrated that society's not hearing them or allowing them to get their piece of the pie. When I was back in N.W.A., I was basically screaming, ‘Give us our shot. Give us our piece.' As a grown man, I've got my piece, but still my job is to speak for people who don't have nobody to speak for them - because I have the opportunity to be heard. I just want people to know that it's the same person."

That same person, Cube, continues to play several roles - not just referring to his film career. The rapper, actor, film producer, and screenwriter has a reality show in development called "Good in the Hood." The program, set to air on A&E, will be profiling the so- called "gangsters" Cube referred to; the ones who have transitioned their lives.

"We're going to be profiling and showcasing people that are doing good things in bad neighborhoods," he described.

Furthermore, Cube has designs on one day owning a film studio.

"I want to do the movies that should be made for the reasons of good filmmaking and not always a money decision," he said of the endeavor.

On the big screen, next up for Cube is "First Sunday," which is currently in pre-production. Then, a remake of the ‘70s television hit "Welcome Back Kotter," which he'll produce. Oh, and as promised, Ice Cube the rapper will be releasing a new disc, titled "Raw Footage" later this year, only after he hits the road again, beginning Friday the 13th of this month.