The Iceman’s L.A.

No discussion of Ice Cube’s Los Angeles would be complete without a mention of his beloved Lakers -- specifically, the “Showtime”-era squad that played at the Great Western Forum in Inglewood through the ‘80s. Indeed, Earvin “Magic” Johnson makes a cameo appearance in “Are We Done Yet?” and costar John C. McGinley is seen sporting a tattoo of the franchise logo in the film. “You can’t see that purple and gold without seeing L.A.,” Cube says.

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A Valley view

For most rappers, one cost of fame is the inability to return to the ‘hoods from whence they came for fear of being robbed, kidnapped or worse. Not so Ice Cube and South-Central. Although he now resides in the Valley -- he declines to say precisely where -- the rapper often returns with his four kids (three boys and a girl with wife-of-15-years Kimberly). “My daddy still lives there,” he says. “He bought that house in ‘62, he don’t want to go nowhere.” And while life in suburbia is basically happy, Cube is not above keeping it real. “The Valley? That’s an illusion,” he scoffs.

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Still a homeboy

In Ice Cube’s gangsta-centric worldview, a certain ghetto interconnectivity links the Southland neighborhoods most responsible for putting West Coast rap on the hip-hop map. “To me, when you talk about Compton, you talk about Watts, South-Central, Inglewood, Long Beach -- you’re talking about the same place,” believes Cube, who modeled his first role, Doughboy in “Boyz n the Hood,” on his friends growing up. “It’s L.A. -- pretty serious. You’re always on edge. You never know when you could get shot.”

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-- Chris Lee