Ice Cube Debuts ‘Straight Outta L.A.’ at Tribeca Film Fest

Ice Cube was just in New York City at the Tribeca Film Festival, but that doesn't mean he wasn't representing his native Los Angeles. The superstar rapper/actor/director and producer was on hand to premiere a documentary called 'Straight Outta L.A.,' a new edition of ESPN Films' '30 for 30' series on specific sport teams and events.

The documentary examines the Raiders' time in Los Angeles and explores how NWA, Cube's first rap group, created a lot of unified local pride by constantly wearing the team's logos and jerseys. Going back, Ice Cube said those were tough days but hip-hop was the perfect way out of the ghetto.

"It was a lot of mixed things going on, you know, in L.A.," he told Huffington Post. "It was the cross between gangs, drugs and hip-hop. It was another ingredient that was new. Injected into the neighborhood. A lot of people went those other ways, and I'm glad that I had music to be able to escape through the hip-hop. This was the route that I wanted to take. Course it was sports too. So a lot of things were happening that were good and bad. It made the neighborhood that me and my wife come from, it made it dangerous because it's unpredictable. You can have a great week, and then the next week can not be so good. You have mixed emotions."

The film also features Ice-T, Snoop Dogg and Chuck D, as well as sports figures such as John Madden, Al Davis, Marcus Allen. For Cube, it's an opportunity to show a strong link between the music and sports worlds.

"The craziness with sports wouldn't be like it is today without music and the merchandise and all these things that used to only happen when the team played, now happen year round," he continued. "Even when the teams aren't playing because it's more than a team thing, it's a fashion thing, it's a pop culture thing and that's what music brought to sports. We made sports go from something that your father did on Sunday to keep from going to church to something the whole family does."

Ice Cube's directorial-debut airs May 11 at 8PM EST on ESPN.