“Yo, it’s Cube.” It’s not everyday a revered gangsta rapper/actor/director calls you up. In this case Ice Cube (the brains behind blockbuster flicks like Fridays and Barbershop) called to discuss his ninth album, Raw Footage, which drops in June. The album’s first single, “Gangsta Rap Made Me Do It,” is a hard-hitting joint (how’s that for an appropriate use of hip-hop jlingo?) and features cameos from Nas and Scarface. Another cut called “Why Me?” is told from the viewpoint of a crime victim and features Musiq Soulchild singing the R&B hook.

The self-released Raw Footage finds the MC who helped take NWA out of South Central back in the day recall his grittier earlier work. Clearly, he's still mad as hell and will continue to not take it anymore. Cube vents his frustration at society on songs like “It Takes A Nation,” in which he says “I’m talking shit about what’s going on in the industry and the world when it comes to black people.”

Our conversation soon gravitated to politics. Like most Americans, Ice Cube is closely watching the presidential election, and he’s made his decision.

LWMB: Have you endorsed a Presidential candidate?
Ice Cube: "Yeah, I’m going for Obama."

LWMB: Would you campaign for him?
Ice Cube: "Nope. Nah, I ain’t gonna. I don’t know enough about him to do all that, and he ain’t never asked me. But he’s definitely gonna get my vote."

While Cube is pleased that issues about race and class are finally being addressed in the public forum, he remains skeptical while hoping for the best. “It’s time to talk about it and see what we’re going to do about it. The country has to ask itself if we want to keep going the way we’ve been going, or is it time to make a change and let them old ways die so the new ways of thinking can come in. So we’ll see. A lot of people are looking to see if America will continue to sing the same song."

Tomorrow we’ll post more from our interview with Ice Cube, including details about two interesting film projects he's involved in. Hint: one of them is a revamping of a '70s sitcom that starred John Travolta.