Ice Cube was a recent guest in Sway’s Universe, where the legendary MC and celebrated actor discussed his many careers: silver-screen star, Hip-Hop icon, and basketball executive. Currently promoting his upcoming comedy film Fist Fight, Cube also shared some insider information about one of the classic LPs in his discography as well as details surrounding his newly minted Big 3 basketball league.

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To start things off, Sway introduces Ice Cube as both an esteemed rapper and film star. “He was the first to be accepted by every region as their own. He deregionalized Rap,” Sway says of his guest. Also calling him “one of the most menacing characters to the press in America” during his early career, Sway at the 3:56 mark comments on Cube’s transition into a “wholesome” character in film. “I noticed that my fans had kids,” Cube says of his decision to make more family-friendly films. “They would come up trying to explain ‘this is Ice Cube,’ and their kids would be like ‘I don’t know who the hell you are.’ So I said, ‘OK, that’s a problem.’ I don’t want daddy having to explain to son, mother having to explain to daughter who I am. I need to do something that they like, so that’s when I decided I need to do a movie like Are We There Yet?” It all boils down, he says, the need for “regenerating the fan base.”

Admitting that he’s caught some flak for going from “Ice Cube to Nice Cube,” O’Shea says near the 6:15 mark that he’s used to the criticism. “When I did ‘It Was a Good Day,’ people in my camp was saying ‘man you can’t make that kind of record. You talk about the hard shit. Whatchu doin’?’ And I was like ‘nah, I talk about the real shit.'” He goes on to say that he felt as though “if I’m having a good day, goddammit I’m going to make a record about it, and y’all just gon’ listen to it.” Embracing the ups and downs of life is what it’s all about, he says. “It’s not some caricature. It’s supposed to be the real.”

At the 9:03 mark, the topic of conversation shifts to music, with Sway bringing up Cube’s 1991 solo album, Death Certificate. “We’re gonna drop the 25th anniversary edition of Death Certificate,” Cube announces. “We got three new songs on there. A song called ‘Only One Me,’ another song called ‘Good Cop, Bad Cop,’ and then a song called ‘Dominate the Weak.'” When asked by Sway if he still writes his own lyrics, Cube says “I write everything. No ghostwriting. I ain’t afraid of no ghosts.”

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Basketball becomes the main event at the 12:11 mark, when Sway asks Cube to explain how his newly founded basketball league will work. Coming this summer, it will be a three-on-three league that Cube says “is actually turning out to be something real cool.” He explains “we’re gonna go from city to city and we’re going to play four games in that city. You’re gonna see all the teams play, and there’s gonna be a final four, kind of all-star atmosphere around these events.” He also says that “hand-checkin'” and “trash-talkin'” will all be allowed in his league, which sports Allen Iverson, Chauncey Billups, Mike Bibby, and many more.

Other topics include details surrounding Fist Fight, how Ice Cube picks his film roles, his thoughts on the death of the “sample era,” entering the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame with N.W.A., being a dad, and more.