Ice Cube Celebrates The Eames: 'This Is Going Green 1949 Style, Bi**h' (VIDEO)

Ice Cube proves to be an apt guide on modern architecture in this Pacific Standard Time video about the Eames architect legends.

He reveals a little known fact about himself: before he became a rapper, he studied architectural drafting. Perhaps that's why he so eloquently discusses the Eames and their revolutionary contribution to modern architecture. Strolling around the Eames House in Pacific Palisades, he lovingly strokes the windows of the home and later exclaims, "they was doing mash-ups before mash-ups even existed."

In an interview with the New York Times, Ice Cube said he jumped at the chance to be a part of Pacific Standard Time's sprawling campaign to promote Southern California art. "What was appealing was showing off Los Angeles to people who think they know what Los Angeles is all about... Everybody who comes here thinks they got the place figured out, but you can never get this place figured out."

Driving down Inglewood Boulevard in South LA, the rapper also breaks down "the good, the bad and the ugly" about art and architecture in Los Angeles. Things that make his good list: the Forum, 5 Torches, Cockatoo Inn and Watts Towers.

For Ice Cube, the worst thing about LA is the worst thing on everyone's list: traffic. The 405 is filled with "bougie traffic." The 110 is "gangsta traffic." "There's a difference!" he insists. "You gotta know where you at."

Ice Cube's video is the third in a series of artist/performer collaborations for Pacific Standard Time. Check out actor Jason Schwartzman celebrating artist John Balderssari and Red Hot Chili Peppers frontman Anthony Kiedis taking artist Ed Ruscha for a ride.

Watch Ice Cube pay homage to the Eames Home and then check out this Trazzler slideshow of Southern California's most iconic architecture.

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Paying Respects to the Eames House in Pacific Palisades, California

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The late architectural historian Reyner Banham called it “The house that really taught the world’s architecture lovers to come to Los Angeles.” The 1949 Eames House is a National Historic Landmark. But where is it? Make an advance appointment through the Eames Foundation and you, too, can visit the near-perfectly preserved Case Study House No. 8 that you know from countless books and photographs. Hiding in a quiet residential street and situated on modest park-like grounds, overhung with eucalyptus, Charles and Ray’s human-scaled house and studio exemplify that moment in modern architecture when mass-produced glass and steel seemed like the perfect postwar kit of parts for affordable housing. It remains a paragon of modest, sensible living. By: GladysG | Photo: John Morse

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The late architectural historian Reyner Banham called it “The house that really taught the world’s architecture lovers to come to Los Angeles.” The 1949 Eames House is a National Historic Landmark. But where is it? Make an advance appointment through the Eames Foundation and you, too, can visit the near-perfectly preserved Case Study House No. 8 that you know from countless books and photographs. Hiding in a quiet residential street and situated on modest park-like grounds, overhung with eucalyptus, Charles and Ray’s human-scaled house and studio exemplify that moment in modern architecture when mass-produced glass and steel seemed like the perfect postwar kit of parts for affordable housing. It remains a paragon of modest, sensible living.

By: GladysG | Photo: John Morse

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Comments

[sandc411]

02:52 PM on 02/01/2012

gangsta-to-the-bone. down with the white-man POlice establishment system, ...

Ice, here's a couple million $$$s for ya...

whu? gangsta who? disney here i come...

[Edguy52]

02:38 PM on 12/09/2011

"The 405 is filled with "bougie traffic." The 110 is "gangsta traffic." "There's a difference!" he insists."-- So true lol

[LATEACHER1X]

08:13 PM on 01/06/2012

I'll take the "gangstas" on the 110 over the white collar criminals (Mayor V.) and greedy narcissists any day, thank you.

[Mearcy]

02:19 PM on 12/09/2011

I'm so happy that these guys are educated. I respect Dre. I'm also an avid rock music fan. What about that image? Did any of you know that many hard rock legends, especially the British ones are highly educated. Iron Maiden? The Rap Rep is death and violence. The Rock Rep, death by overdose and demolishing hotel rooms while worshipping Satan. Country music had it's rebels. Read the biographies of bands and individual musicians. Learn more. It feels good.

[Edguy52]

05:10 PM on 12/09/2011

Heavy Metal in general has a lot of educated frontmen, Iron Maiden is definitely one. But so many of them have their interests and are highly educated about it. Fascinating! Fanned

[Ezra Black]

11:55 AM on 12/31/2011

What good is it to be educated but make music that is basically void of educational value. Songs/ raps about money, sex, drugs and the material trappings of life is not educational. It is the stuff of vanity that cries out for attention and idolization of flesh. Education when not used for the good of the masses is talent that is hid in a dark room and never brought to light.

[triplettam]

03:21 AM on 12/09/2011

Go Cube. You are your own person.

[nhr 215]

02:44 AM on 12/09/2011

haha I love it! 405 is "bougie" and 110 is "gansta." So true...

[sybergirl]

12:36 AM on 12/09/2011

Gotta love Cube! He breaks down the freeways, the architecture, the good/bad/ugly, in true South LA/Inglewood form! ((Throwing up my dubs)) West-syyyyyde!

[Edguy52]

05:11 PM on 12/09/2011

Inglewood, The City of Champions.

[Clare53]

10:19 PM on 12/08/2011

I love the part about the freeways having personalities. Really, the 405 is so bougie.

[Shaye Bomar]

07:21 PM on 12/08/2011

I like how you said, "eloquently"...then followed it with the quote: "they was doing mash-ups before mash-ups even existed." That was a great moment in Huffington Post history.

[nhr 215]

02:46 AM on 12/09/2011

he's gansta eloquent...

[sacmom3]

07:08 PM on 12/08/2011

I've always loved Ice Cube. He is what the American Dream is all about.

[Surius Cat]

12:24 AM on 12/09/2011

Pahahaha!! What!? Cube sold his soul for a jelly roll! Funny how the same Jews he onced totally despised now control him to the fullest huh. Flipped the game on him, turned the most dangerous black man in America into a half corny "actor" (forgive me father Denzel!!!)

[jmoser1973]

01:04 AM on 12/09/2011

most dangerous man in america? seriously? that means he is good at acting if he made you think that. That whole "gangsta" image was not him. He went to high school and college afterwards. He was no gangster. He got older and realized he didn't need to have that image anymore. That's not selling your soul. That was him being true to himself.

[nhr 215]

02:45 AM on 12/09/2011

he grew-up dude. He's got a wife, kids. This isn't some 17yo punk trying to make a name for himself. This is a grown man. Personally, I think Ice-Cube was the best of his whole generation of rappers. And there was quite a bit of depth to his lyrics....

[thebearclaw007]

04:12 PM on 12/08/2011

The worst thing about LA is the traffic? What a laugh.

[drzoon]

12:10 PM on 12/09/2011

native angeleno here... i don't get it, your response. what are you trying to say in your comment because i don't know anyone who doesn't think the traffic is the curse of this city. Otherwise this is a complicated and very diverse city and all that goes with that.

[thebearclaw007]

01:20 PM on 12/09/2011

I'm gonna borrow one of Jesus' lines: Let he who understands understand.

[Shewolf68]

12:58 PM on 12/08/2011

Bougie Traffic...Gangsta Traffic

I'll never thing of 405 traffic the same again! Thanxs Cube!

[Tre Members]

12:40 PM on 12/08/2011

This is what makes me angry about rappers like Ice Cube, Method Man, T.I., Snoop Dogg, Jay Z and many others: They're famliy men, many have gone to college or trade schools and are avid readers etc. But they portay caricatures and stereotypes that have many of the youth thinking that thugery is what's real. We have a generation that can't seperate reality from fiction and we are suffering for it- we have to deal with these people that have bought into the corporate sponsored ghetto supestar lifestyle.These rappers are diversifying their portfolio and vacationing in the Hamptopns, while those who have bought into their image are keeping it real- on the street corner- slanging, banging and perpetuationg that cycle of slavery too many have come to love...

[jamaicalover]

02:50 PM on 12/08/2011

Hi Tre, They weren't always family men. I live and grew up in South L.A. And lived (still do) only 5 minutes from where Ice Cube was raised. We grew up in the black middle class. Yet, gangs, drugs and violence entered the community giving a voice to rap lyrics and music videos.

[Tre Members]

03:25 PM on 12/08/2011

My gripe is how they live one way, yet promote a different lifestyle. Sure Ice Cube makes family movies- but when it comes to his music, he's still talking that bow down- gang- ish. He was on the Today show a while back and was asked about that and he said he could still be a gangsta? I would love to hear him rap about being a husband and father and the complexities of raising children and keeping your wife happy. I'd love to hear Jay Z rap about being an expectant father, I'd love to hear Snoop rap about being a little league football coach and about teaching his daughter about boys...

[William Burton]

07:41 PM on 12/08/2011

You shouldn't blame the rappers for perpetuating a lifestyle in which thugs continue to worship. They have the choice to pull their pants up in public, and choose their dialogue and/or dress appropriately for each setting. "There's no accounting for the public's taste". These artist know that and use it to their advantage. I cant blame them. Gangsters rap about splitting wigs and dumping bodies, but you see them at church with mom on Sunday. Call them studio gangsters if you will but, some rappers are smart enough to know its not a lifestyle but a paycheck. The people who consume their work have the choice to treat it as life or art. Unfortunately so many do choose to treat this art as life.

[Ryan Gurney]

03:02 PM on 12/08/2011

Is it really that bad? College enrollment numbers across the country are the highest they've ever been. And guys like Ice Cube and Jay Z have made it a point to complicate the hip hop aesthetic by exposing the artifice of it and reminding their fans that good hip hop is intelligent hip hop.

[Tre Members]

03:41 PM on 12/08/2011

Yes it is that bad. I come in contact everyday with those who have bought in to the hype. I'm talking values- people who value materialism over everything. People who will not hesitate to commit the most heinous acts for money and in these trying times, it's escalated. They are not promoting the Hip-hop aesthetic. The hip hop aesthetic would not sell out to corporations, hip hop was created by DIY insurgents. Nor is hip hop pro gangsta- hip hop was an alternative to that lifestyle- channeling that energy into creativity rather than destruction. The youth have been cheated, these rappers now a days are pushing the stereotypes and caricatures championed by corporate pimps...

[rp2009]

12:21 PM on 12/08/2011

lol. I would definitely catch a "California's Gold" style show with Ice Cube. As much as I love Huell Howser, I think he can give him a run for his money. :)

[PedroLeon]

03:30 PM on 12/08/2011

I love Huell! When's he gonna do "California's Gold: South Central"?

[WalterRetlaw]

12:15 PM on 12/08/2011

The 110 is only partly "gangsta traffic". The rest are rich kids driving to USC from Palos Verdes.

[James Wills]

09:31 PM on 12/08/2011

Thats the 10 fool.

[Mark Gunn]

10:59 AM on 12/08/2011

I've had the pleasure of having several conversations with Mr. Jackson during his N.W.A. days and he's ALWAYS struck me as someone who was a lot deeper than the surface he chose to show. His body of work is a testament to that. This doesn't surprise me in the least !