Rapper Ice Cube once said he would never endorse Donald Trump.
And though not an endorsement, the rapper is causing a stir this
week
The inside story of how Ice Cube joined forces with Donald Trump
An unlikely partnership on a plan to lift Black Americans
economically was months in the making.
Ice Cube The White House engaged in a weeks-long courtship of
Ice Cube, a transformational figure in the rap world as well as
mainstream Hollywood. | Ron Jenkins/BIG3/Getty Images This is the
story of how Ice Cube wound up in a room with Jared Kushner less
than two months before the election — then locked arms with Donald
Trump in a move that delighted the president’s supporters and
angered many African Americans.
Late last month, the iconic rapper quietly slipped into
Washington, D.C., for a three-hour meeting near the White House
with Kushner and other senior advisers to Trump. After a summer of
racial unrest, Ice Cube was promoting a “Contract with Black
America” to help lift African Americans economically. He wanted the
administration’s ear.
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Eager to siphon off a slice of Joe Biden’s black support, Trump
had been wooing African Americans for months. Landing Ice Cube’s
endorsement was a stretch, but a collaboration with the famous
rapper would still be a big get. Even heading off an Ice Cube
endorsement of Joe Biden would send a message, Trump allies
thought.
After that sitdown, White House aides went back and forth with
Ice Cube over his 13-point blueprint — parts of which they agreed
with, others they did not. But a few weeks later, when Trump
released his own proposal to boost African Americans, it included
Ice Cube’s biggest ask: a $500 billion capital infusion into the
Black community.
After the Trump campaign revealed Wednesday that Ice Cube had
helped shape the president’s plan, an array of Black commentators
responded with fury. Touré said the artist was “being used”; Roxane
Gay asked: “How … does the guy from NWA become MAGA?”
A person familiar with the discussions said Ice Cube
touched base with Biden’s campaign, too, but received only a vague
commitment to have “a seat at the table” if the former vice
president won. So Ice Cube moved ahead with Trump, saying he would
take political support from anyone for his plan, regardless of
party.
The White House engaged in a weekslong courtship of Ice Cube, a
transformational figure in the rap world as well as mainstream
Hollywood. Trump aides had invited Ice Cube’s representatives to
the White House and heard them out on conference calls, at least
one of which included the performer. There was a lunch at the
president’s Bedminster golf club with Ice Cube’s manager.
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The endeavor underscores the extent to which Trump has made
outreach to Black voters a centerpiece of his reelection bid. The
president is waging an uphill effort to improve on 2016, when he
received just 8 percent of the African American vote. While Trump’s
advisers concede he’s unlikely ever to win a substantial amount of
Black support, even a small uptick could sway the outcome in a
close swing state or two, they say.
The talks began in late August, after Ice Cube took to Twitter
to promote his newly released plan. To the surprise of the
president’s aides, it seemed possible the 51-year-old entertainer
and businessman, who earlier this year called for exempting African
Americans from paying income taxes, would be open to their
overtures. In a video released alongside his proposal, he said he’d
been watching the Democratic National Convention and that “from the
way it look, they don’t have a plan.”
“What I didn’t hear is, what’s in it for us? What’s in
it for the Black community besides the same old thing we’ve been
getting from these parties? What’s in it for us for real?” he
added.
As it turned out, Ken Kurson, a friend of Kushner’s who served
as editor-in-chief of the New York Observer when the Trump aide was
publisher, had a connection to Ice Cube. Kurson had known Ice
Cube’s business partner Jeff Kwatinetz since the 1990s, when Kurson
was bassist for the Chicago indy rock group Green.
In August, Kurson sent Kushner a text message. Forging a
partnership with Ice Cube, he wrote, could be a plus for the White
House. Kurson, whose website tracks the music scene, noted that Ice
Cube had major sway in the Black community, adding that he
considered N.W.A’s 1988 album “Straight Outta Compton” — Ice Cube
was a core member of the gangsta rap group — “to be a work of
American genius on par with” F. Scott Fitzgerald’s “The Great
Gatsby” and George Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue.”
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Kwatinetz, who’s represented the likes of Jennifer Lopez and
Enrique Iglesias and is a former business partner of former Trump
strategist Steve Bannon, was invited to the White House in early
September.
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Participants said the multihour discussion focused on policy and
didn’t touch the campaign. Kwatinetz lobbied for Ice Cube’s
proposal, stressing that he was particularly focused on addressing
the wealth gap between African Americans and whites.
Over the Labor Day weekend, Kurson and his wife invited
Kwatinetz to Bedminster. Kushner stopped by their table to chat as
they ate.
Democrats, too, were interested in cultivating the
rapper. On Sept. 8, Cube and his team had a conversation over Zoom
with Biden’s campaign, which was represented by Louisiana Rep.
Cedric Richmond, Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms and senior
adviser Symone Sanders.
But Ice Cube’s team left with the impression that Biden’s team
was less committed. According to a person familiar with the
discussion, Biden aides told the rapper they agreed with much of
his plan but that they wouldn’t engage more fully until after the
election.
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Kamau Marshall, the Biden campaign’s director of strategic
communications, did not deny the account but said Trump “does not
have a record to stand on when it comes to the Black
community.”
As September wore on, Ice Cube and his advisers continued to
lobby the White House during conference calls. On Sept. 14, the
performer and his representatives — again not eager to be seen at
the White House — quietly met in a Washington hotel with a group of
Trump aides including Kushner, Ja’Ron Smith, and Brooke Rollins.
Ice Cube’s group had prepped for the meeting by consulting with
Claud Anderson, a Black economist and author who has argued that
African Americans are being served poorly by both parties.
In the following days, Ice Cube’s team continued to hash out
ideas with the White House and eventually elicited a promise of
$500 billion in funding to be included in Trump’s election-year
plan.
But that was hardly the end of it.
On Oct. 11, Cube released a video in which he made clear that he
wasn’t endorsing Biden or Trump. But he expressed criticism of
Democrats, saying they hadn’t done enough to put forward a plan for
African Americans, while noting that Trump had altered his proposal
after receiving input from him.
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“Straight up, I believe the Democrats, they’ve been nice,
they’ve been cordial so to speak, I don’t really see them pushing
their policies in any particular direction. It’s still ‘minority,
minority, minority, people of color’ shit that don’t necessarily
include us, that don’t necessarily include Black Americans,” he
said.
Acknowledging he’d been under pressure, Ice Cube added:
“Everybody’s been mad at me because I haven’t been on … the gravy
train of these candidates, especially Joe Biden and [Kamala]
Harris.
Then, on Wednesday, Trump adviser Katrina Pierson announced that
Ice Cube had played a role in developing the administration’s plan.
Many of his supporters expressed shock, especially considering that
in 2016 he said he would “never endorse” Trump and that in his 2018
song “Arrest the President,” he called Trump “Russian
intelligence.”
Responding to a Twitter user who accused him of “working with
the Darkside,” Ice Cube argued that it was incumbent upon African
Americans to negotiate with whoever could make a difference for
them.
“Every side is the Darkside for us here in America,” he
wrote. “Our justice is bipartisan.”
Ice Cube isn’t the only Black cultural figure playing a role in
the race. Rapper and fashion designer Kanye West, whose wife, Kim
Kardashian West, has been involved in the White House’s criminal
reform push, is waging a third-party presidential bid and has
qualified for the ballot in several states. Republican operatives
have been helping West’s campaign, stoking speculation they are
trying to siphon off Black votes that would otherwise go to
Biden.
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Kushner confirmed that in August he met with West in
Colorado, though Trump aides have denied they are propping up the
rapper’s candidacy. Like Ice Cube, West offered advice in the
crafting of the new Trump proposal, according to a person familiar
with the deliberations.
Another major figure, billionaire BET founder Robert Johnson,
recently took to CNBC to hint at his support for Trump in the
election.
Doubts remain, however, whether Trump will succeed in his push
for Black support. An NBC News/Wall Street Journal survey released
Thursday shows Biden leading the president 91 to 4 percent among
African American voters, representing a decline in support since
2016.
But Ice Cube appears unbowed. On Twitter Thursday morning, he
stood by his decision to work with the White House.
“Talking truth to power,” he wrote, “is part of the
process.”