Ice Cube finally saw his name on the Goodyear blimp Monday, but it didn\u2019t read: \u201cIce Cube\u2019s a Pimp.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nearly 20 years to the day after releasing the hit song \u201cIt Was A Good Day,\u201d the rapper-turned-actor arrived at the Goodyear blimp base in Carson to see his name in lights slowly motor across the South Bay and Los Angeles skies.<\/p>\n
The song is a slice-of-life picture of what it\u2019s like to have a good day for a South L.A. gangster. In it, he rhymes about eating a good breakfast, avoiding conflict with his enemies, having sex, playing dominoes, and: \u201cEven saw the lights of the Goodyear Blimp\/And it read: \u2018Ice Cube\u2019s a pimp.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n
On Monday, the blimp\u2019s neon sign read: \u201cIce Cube says: Today is a Good Day.\u201d It also named A Place Called Home, a South Los Angeles charity that benefited from an online grass-roots campaign to actually put Ice Cube\u2019s name on the blimp.<\/p>\n
Ice Cube, born O\u2019Shea Jackson, called the results \u201cpretty cool.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s such a great cause, such a great day,\u201d said the rapper, who is currently promoting his new film \u201cRide Along.\u201d \u201cRap is a mix of fantasy and reality. I never thought in a million years it would really happen. Just on the cool tip, it\u2019s cool.\u201d<\/p>\n
Four friends in New York City started the \u201cGood Day Blimp\u201d online campaign earlier this month, seeking $25,000 in donations on Crowdhoster to donate to the charity. Their plan was to convince Goodyear to finally honor Ice Cube\u2019s wish if, in exchange, they donated the money raised to A Place Called Home. The organization provides a variety of educational programs, mentorship and counseling for at-risk children and teens in South Los Angeles.<\/p>\n
The plan worked.<\/p>\n
The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. uses its three airships primarily for marketing purposes and charity. Over the past two decades, the company has been repeatedly approached to fulfill Ice Cube\u2019s song lyric.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve been telling people for years that it\u2019s an urban legend (that the lyric was used on the blimp),\u201d said Elizabeth Flynn, a Goodyear spokeswoman. \u201cWe took a look at the Good Day Blimp campaign and saw that it would benefit a great charity. We said: \u2018We\u2019re going to do this but we reserve the right to write the message.\u2019 We came up with: \u2018It was a good day.\u2019 We don\u2019t feel (the original lyric) is appropriate for our ships.\u201d<\/p>\n
Flynn added that the charitable message would have been lost if the blimp actually displayed the song lyric because the public would have reacted strongly to the use of the word \u201cpimp.\u201d<\/p>\n
The young men who devised the campaign flew to Los Angeles on Monday to meet Ice Cube and see his song fulfilled. Michael Lopez, one of the friends, said the campaign\u2019s popularity was a shock to all of them. The momentum grew last week after Ice Cube appeared on \u201cLate Night With Jimmy Fallon\u201d on Jan. 15 and asked Goodyear to fulfill the campaign.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe just wanted to pay homage to the music,\u201d Lopez said. \u201cLast summer, we were all sitting back talking about hip-hop and got the idea. We knew (Goodyear) probably wouldn\u2019t say: \u2018Ice Cube\u2019s a pimp.\u2019 We just wanted to get across the spirit of the song, which is that it\u2019s a good day.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jonathan Zeichner, executive director of A Place Called Home, said the $25,000 donation would be well used.<\/p>\n
\u201cA Place Called Home is in the business of creating good days every day for 1,000 kids a year,\u201d Zeichner said. \u201cWe\u2019ve worked with 18,000 young people in South-Central Los Angeles over the past 20 years. Just this year, we sent our 263rd young person to college. These opportunities would not exist were it not for people like Ice Cube and people who got up and made a donation online.\u201d<\/p>\n
While A Place Called Home members and staffers took a Monday afternoon ride on the blimp, Ice Cube was too busy promoting his movie and said he would return another day for a ride. However, he sat in the blimp\u2019s six-person carriage briefly as it prepared for takeoff.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re gonna roll it,\u201d he joked, as the massive dirigible groaned to life. \u201cI wonder do it got hydraulics? Front and back, side to side.\u201d<\/p>\n
Later, as he fielded media questions about the event, he explained that he was glad to share the moment with a charity.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt makes it not just an ego thing for me to see my name on the blimp,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
If he wrote the song today, would seeing his name on the blimp still symbolize reaching the top of his career? Sure, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe blimp is the coolest,\u201d Jackson said. \u201cIt\u2019s the original, the first, from L.A. I\u2019m an original from L.A.\u201d<\/p>\n
Seeing your name on the airship is the ultimate, he explained, because \u201cnot only are you having a good day but the world recognizes you\u2019re having a good day.\u201d<\/p>\n