-Happy belated birthday.

I know your birthday was -- I missed it.

-It was in June, man. -Yeah, sorry about that.

-Yeah, yeah. -It's still in the mail.

My card's still in the mail, but you'll get one.

You'll get one from me.

Well, it was a big milestone birthday, though.

-Not really. -Yeah, it kind of was.

-It was my anti-milestone birthday.

-What you talking about? 50. -Yeah, so?

-That's a big deal. -No, it's not.

-Yeah, 50's a big deal. -No, it's not.

[ Cheers and applause ] ♪♪

-Listen to it. Look at that. The band's playing.

Everyone's excited. What are you talking about?

Why is it not -- -Because I turn 49 next year.

And then I go to 48. Then I go to 47.

-You're going to start counting backwards?

-I'm going backwards, man.

So by the time you 70, I'm going to be a teenager.

-Benjamin Button's on that. -Yeah, I'm going backwards.

-I want to ask you -- 'Cause I know you're busy acting

and the Big3 basketball thing.

Congrats on that.

You got the show "Hip Hop Squares."

-Yeah.

-Do you take a vacation or what does Ice Cube do on vacation?

And, like, I picture you, like, in the pool or something.

-No. I'm a professional look-at-the water guy.

-You don't go in the water. -No, I don't go in the water.

I look at it.

I'm like, "Baby, that's a big wave right there."

She'll say, "Yeah."

-It sounds fun.

Well, let's talk about some of the stuff

that you have going on.

The Big3, season three. -Yes.

-This is -- When you first came on,

you had this idea.

It was like, "Well, who knows? Let's hope it's --"

-Nah, you thought it was whack, man.

-No, no, no, no.

-You thought it wasn't going to work.

-No, dude, I always support everything.

-Okay. -I just didn't know.

I just didn't understand.

I go, "Okay, Big3."

What you do is -- you have three legends playing 3-on-3.

-Yeah, you know, we have professional 3-on-3 basketball

played by former NBA players

or players who've played professionally around the world.

And, you know, they ballin' out. The season is getting good.

You know, we got our last week of the season coming up,

then playoffs, and then our championship,

so it's pretty exciting.

-But then you're doing the big -- the festival, as well.

-Yeah, it's a Ballout. -Now, what is that?

-"Big3 Ballout" in Dallas, where -- We usually have

three games on one day in one city,

three games in another city,

but this time, we putting them all in Dallas.

So it's six games for the price of one.

It's crazy. We got people performing.

My man T.I. is going to come get down.

So, got a few people performing. It's gonna be a real festival.

-You don't stop. -Man, why?

-You don't stop doing it. -I can't stop.

-Did you always think that you were going to be

an actor, as well, or no?

-No, no.

I never even thought about it at first.

You know, it's like John Singleton -- Rest in peace.

-Absolutely. -Yeah, yeah, he --

-I love John Singleton.

-Yeah, let's give it up for my man.

He discovered me, for real. You know, I had no idea.

-From what, though? From N.W.A.?

-Yeah, he was an intern at "The Arsenio Hall Show."

And he came up to me. I was backstage.

And he came up to me. He's like, "You're Ice Cube."

I'm like, "Yeah."

He's like, "I'm going to put you in a movie."

I'm like, "All right, man. Okay."

-Yeah, "Security. Security, get this guy --"

-Watch out, man. Watch out. 'Cause I'm not even an actor.

You know what I mean?

And he's like, "I'm not even a director yet.

I'm a junior at USC.

And when I graduate, I'm going to put you in a movie."

So, I said, "Okay, dude." So, forgot about John.

He ran up to me at a Public Enemy concert.

He was like, "Remember me?

It's like, "Yeah." I said, "I remember you."

He's like, "Yeah, man, I'm a senior now at USC.

And I'm going to still put you in this movie."

-Wow!

-And we talked so long at that point

that his ride left him,

and I had to give him a ride to USC, to his dorm.

-Oh, my God.

-I'm like, "Man, this dude done turned into a nuisance."

You know what I'm saying? -You're a nice dude.

-I can't believe he had the guts to ask Ice Cube to take --

-I couldn't leave him out there, 2:00 in the morning, you know,

outside a club.

So, I didn't pay no attention to him.

And my manager came about a year later and was like,

"Somebody want to put you in a movie."

I'm like, "Get out of here. I'm not an actor.

I'm not an actor.

Why are these people trying to put me in this movie?"

So, when I -- I didn't really take it serious.

I'll make a long story short. I didn't take it serious.

Threw the script in my back seat.

-Yeah.

-Went to this audition, and it was him sitting there.

He's like, "I told you."

-Yeah, you're like, "Do I got to drop you off somewhere else?"

-And I'm like, "It's you." He's like, "Yeah."

So, he said, "You ready?"

I did the audition and I sucked.

I was terrible, totally terrible.

And he said, "Did you read my script?"

And I'm like, "Nope." -At least you were honest.

-He's like, "Man, I'm going to give you one more chance,

'cause you were terrible.

And go read my script. Come back tomorrow.

If you're good, I'll get you a movie.

If not, we're gonna have to move on."

So, when I read the script, I was like, "Oh, damn,

this is, like, a hell of a movie, 'Boyz n the Hood.'"

And, so, the rest is history, so to speak.

[ Cheers and applause ] -"Boyz n the Hood," that was it.

-"Boyz n the Hood," yeah. -John Singleton, great dude.

You are always doing so much,

and I always ask too much of you every time you come here,

but you're the best.

But I know you do the theme song for the Big3.

-Yeah. -Yeah, you perform that.

-Uh-huh. -And I just happen to have it.

The Roots can help you out. -Oh, okay.

You know, I'll never turn down a chance

to get down with The Roots.

-Ah, come on. [ Cheers and applause ]

-♪ 3, now, that's a magic number ♪

♪ Got the homies ballin' out for the whole damn summer ♪

♪ With that 4-point circle and that Ghost Baller purple ♪

♪ If I check the roster, got a three-head monster ♪

♪ Now, them Killer 3's are like killer bees ♪

♪ Start dropping 3's like trilogies ♪

♪ Like company ♪

♪ Like B.I.G. ♪

♪ Got them Ball Hogs hoggin' that 3-on-3 ♪

♪ We got the power ♪

♪ To do it B.I.G. ♪

♪ We got Tri-State coached by the D.O.C. ♪

♪ So don't hate ♪

♪ On Lisa Leslie or Nate ♪

♪ It's Nancy Lieberman, the head coach leading it ♪

♪ We got new teams ♪

♪ We got new schemes ♪

♪ We got Bivouacs, Aliens, and Enemies ♪

♪ And they coached by "The Glove" ♪

-Ice Cube, everybody! Check out big3.com for tickets.

We'll be right back with Kieran Culkin.

Stick around. [ Cheers and applause ]

♪ They told Rick Barry, half-court ♪

♪ Looks scary, but it ain't ♪

♪ Unless you go in the paint ♪