Modern Renaissance Man: Ice Cube Visits the Eames House

By Lauren Wong

Famed hip hop artist Ice Cube takes an architectural tour of Los Angeles and wanders through the iconic Eames house in this 2-minute video for Pacific Standard Time, an exhibit collection from the Getty Museum in Southern California. As he praises the vision of the Charles and Ray Eames, Ice Cube shows how closely design, architecture and music are intertwined. It might surprise viewers to find out that he studied architectural drafting, but there are many aspects of Ice Cube's personality that aren't public knowledge. To define a multifaceted man with one word is like describing an apple as a red object; neither are accurate representations. Today's society is not one-dimensional, and neither is Ice Cube.

This phenomenon extends far beyond the creative world, where multidisciplinary interests are common. Academic and professional fields are also becoming less isolated from each other. For example, the number of hybrid, interdisciplinary, and new college majors have increased dramatically in recent years. Most of us will change our careers at least once in our lives, if not multiple times. Some of us will invent new professions; others, new industries.

Ice Cube, a man who made his name in hip hop and then film, is someone who can also appreciate prefab architecture. In the short film, he makes beautiful connections between popular music techniques (sampling, mash-ups) and the timeless ingenuity of Charles and Ray. Perhaps this video will encourage aspiring rappers to take an architecture class; maybe disciples of the Eames design aesthetic will listen to Ice Cube tracks when they're sketching at home. Better yet, the film might convince someone to appreciate the artistry of a completely unrelated field.

People, brands, nations, Ice Cube: as they change and grow, so do their identities. Modern society rewards those of us who continue to define and redefine ourselves.


Thanks to Rich, who found and shared the video!