Ice Cube

With his trifecta of essential early-'90s albumsAmeriKKKa's Most Wanted, Death Certificate and The PredatorIce Cube established himself as the most controversial figure in rap, shocking the public with unforgiving, vicious takes on race relations. Nobody could have predicted that such an incendiary figure would go on to star in such family-friendly movies as Are We There Yet? Between his frequent acting gigs Ice Cube has continued to cut records at a decent clip. On his latest, 2010's I Am the West, he makes the case that Hollywood hasn't changed him while rapping over contemporary beats by producers including Tha Bizness, Bangladesh and The Fliptones.