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Ice Cube has already started 2014 off in a major way. He’s currently promoting his new film Ride Along with his comedic co-star Kevin Hart and recently announced that fans of the rapping Ice Cube will also get their fix this year when his tenth solo studio album, Everythang’s Corrupt infiltrates music stores.

Hip-Hop Wired recently attended a press junket for the upcoming Ride Along flick and after the movie promo was handled, we spoke to Cube about his new album, where he summed its contents up as “there being corruption in the world and it’s ugly and I felt like I have to speak on it.” The LP has a release date of May 13.

“I’m so excited about still doing it independently because it’s so much better doing records you feel instead of records you think you should because of record company influences,” the 30-year industry vet happily said. It reminds me of old-school times.”

Cube’s past few releases have come courtesy of his own Lench Mob Records and even with sales that reflect the average Soundscan of major label drops, the bigger chunk of the profits go into his pocket. That means less of blockbuster billing and more of the artist fans pay to see.

“Depending on what records I keep, there could be one or two guests appearances but I’m not big on all that, he continued.

Tales of corruption and street nonfiction have been detailed in full since the 44-year-old rapper stepped out on the scene with N.W.A. for their instant classic, Straight Outta Compton. So much in fact, Cube recalled a time when he and his longtime pal, Dr. Dre got mixed up in the violent struggle that outlined their music.

“When we first started doing our thing, me and Dre picked up this girl who was singing for us. And when I got into the backseat from the front, we saw some youngsters walking past us but they were going to school. So we didn’t pay them any attention. Then, they got a few houses down and started shooting at us!”

Serious matters usually become comedic scenarios in hindsight, and Cube did the revisit the story with a smile. But at the time, it was definitely no laughing matter.

“I’m yelling ‘Drive! Drive! Drive!,” he continued. “Dre was steady-looking in the rear-view mirror to make sure they were shooting at us.”

Thankfully the crooks had bad aim so we could enjoy 30+ years of reality raps. Look out for Ride Along in theaters in January 17.

Photo: Universal Pictures