Ice Cube says he was John Singleton’s first choice for the “Lucky” role in Poetic Justice not Tupac.
Three-fourths of Mount Westmore appears on People’s Party where they traded stories reflecting on Tupac Shakur. Part of those stories, was Tupac praised by E-40, as he remembered his late friend. “He did so much in so little time. He was only 25 when he passed. He was into theater. He did movies. The way he dressed was real player. Back then he was a cold dresser,” said the Bay Area legend.
Tupac’s early acting experience in the Baltimore School For The Performing Arts, paved the way for Shakur to land multiple roles in Hollywood. Starting from Juice to his very last film, Gridlock’d, Tupac was on the verge to greatness.
In just his second film, Tupac starred alongside Janet Jackson in the John Singleton film Poetic Justice. Doing a complete 360 from his Bishop character, Shakur received praise from many top movie reviewers. As an instant classic till this day, Tupac’s contribution to the film almost didn’t happen according to Ice Cube.
Reflecting on Tupac in his early days, Cube said he was Singleton’s first choice to co-star with Janet Jackson. “I just remember him really before he started really f***ing with Death Row and got into that,” recalled Cube. “Cause you know, he would f*** with John Singleton. I didn’t do Poetic Justice, but John went and got Tupac to do it.”
“So it was real cool to see John taking another rapper under his wing and turn him into a f****** star. That’s what he had done with me, so he did with ‘Pac, he did with Busta Rhymes. So it was cool to see another rapper in the game get a shot in the big scene,” said Cube.
But why would Cube turn down Poetic Justice? According to Cube, there was one specific part of the script he did not agree with. “I only had one problem with it and he did not want to change it. So, I didn’t want to do it,” explained Cube during an interview with Big Boy TV. “I didn’t think me playing Tupac that I would kick my homeboy out the car for a girl I just met when we got to Oakland. I did not think that was cool.”
“To me, it made the character a sucker to me,” Cube added. In the scene, Lucky’s friend Chicago is having a physical altercation with Justice [Janet Jackson] and her friend Lesha, to which Tupac comes to their aid and part ways with his best friend, Chicago.
