Ice Cube
Name at birth: O'Shea Jackson
Ice Cube went from being an innovative and controversial rapper to being a movie star famous for the successful movies Friday (1995) and Barbershop (2002, with Cedric The Entertainer). Ice Cube co-founded the hip-hop group N.W.A. (Niggaz With Attitude) in the late 1980s, along with rapper Eazy-E and producer Dr. Dre. Their album Straight Outta Compton (1989) is considered one of the most influential rap recordings in history, and their brand of "gangsta rap" dominated hip-hop music into the early '90s. Ice Cube's subsequent solo albums were just as popular, including Amerikka's Most Wanted (1990), Lethal Injection (1993) and War & Peace, vols. 1 and 2 (1998-2000). His performance in the 1991 movie Boyz N the Hood (co-starring Laurence Fishburne) proved he also had the makings of a movie star, and now he's been involved in over two dozen films as an actor, writer, producer and director (he has also directed several music videos). His other albums include Laugh Now, Cry Later (2006) and Raw Footage (2008), and his hit songs include "It Was a Good Day," "Go to Church" and "You Can Do It." His films include: Anaconda (1997, with Jennifer Lopez); Three Kings (1999, starring George Clooney); Ghosts of Mars (2001); Barbershop 2: Back in Business (2004); Are We There Yet? (2005) and xXx: State of the Union (2005, with Samuel L. Jackson).
Extra credit: Ice Cube has also recorded with Mack 10 and WC as the group Westside Connection, whose albums include Bow Down (1996) and Terrorist Threat (2003).
Other hip-hop stars on Who2 include Eminem, Missy Elliott Jay-Z.