O’Shea Jackson Jr.

Summary

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Teen Beat with Danielle Fishel: O'Shea Jackson Jr.

Episode Date: April 22, 2026
Podcast: Teen Beat (iHeartPodcasts)
Host: Danielle Fishel
Guest: O'Shea Jackson Jr.

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Episode Overview

Danielle Fishel sits down with actor, rapper, and wrestling superfan O’Shea Jackson Jr. (son of Ice Cube) for a lively, nostalgic conversation about growing up outside and adjacent to the limelight. Recorded live at WrestleMania 42 weekend in Las Vegas, this episode covers O’Shea’s love of wrestling, his unique education, the experience of living in his father's shadow, his pivot from rap to acting, behind-the-scenes Hollywood stories, and embracing embarrassing moments. The conversation swings naturally from childhood misadventures and family dynamics to professional journeys and pop culture passions, all delivered in a candid, humorous tone.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

WrestleMania Fandom and Getting Into Pro Wrestling

[05:54 – 09:57]

• Early Exposure: O’Shea was introduced to wrestling through the Sega Genesis game WWF Raw with his brother. The realization that “the video game is real” (06:31) blew his mind.
• Era of Entry: Became a weekly viewer in 1999-2000, especially captivated when "Shane and Stephanie bought WCW and ECW – this was the biggest news of my life" (07:00).
• First Live Events: Attending events at the Staples Center left a huge impression, though he was initially disappointed by the lack of TV spectacle at non-televised shows.
• WrestleMania Memory: Never dreamed of attending WrestleMania as a kid; going to WrestleMania 21 was "the best ever" (08:07). He has attended five consecutive WrestleManias.

Childhood Wrestling Heroes & House Divisions

[09:57 – 11:56]

• Favorites: The Rock and Undertaker—Rock helped O’Shea “find his voice” as a once-shy kid:
  “No one could back him into a corner. He's quick as a whip...he was funny, but still tough.” (10:16)
• Current Fandom: Enjoys Roman Reigns (which Danielle admits causes “house divided” moments given her own son’s fandom).

Generational Family Dynamics & Wrestling

[14:29 – 15:52]

• Ice Cube’s Perspective: Jackson Sr. had wrestling “ruined” for him as a kid and never came back to the fandom.
• O’Shea’s Defense: Wrestling is “Broadway with violence. I sit and watch storylines play out with characters that I like” (15:17).

LA Upbringing – Schools, Food, and Suburban Life

[16:45 – 18:38]

• School Rivalries: Danielle and O’Shea compare alma maters (Calabasas High vs. Taft).
• Regional Eats: Round Table Pizza, IHOP, and Waffle House get nostalgic love; “A sandwich will save your life” (17:10).

Navigating High School and Homeschooling

[18:38 – 25:47]

• School Transition: Quit traditional school after a tough adjustment to middle school, triggered in part by “the one major problem...girls” (19:49).
• Homeschool Breakthrough:
  • At first reluctant, homeschooling turned out to be “the best thing that ever happened to me” (20:49).
  • One real teacher (shoutout Hernan!) taught everything, using movies as lessons and encouraging young O’Shea’s storytelling instincts.
• Creative Awakening:
  • Started writing stories, then scripts, leading to a love of filmmaking (“You just love writing…transported that to film” 36:12).
• Back to High School: Returned to Taft for senior year to have a “real graduation” and more social exposure (“There was only really, like, whispers of my existence until people started to go to school with me. It was like an urban legend.” 25:18).
• Prom Circuit: Attended three proms, one at Taft, one at Birmingham, one at LA B.

Being Ice Cube’s Son – Shadow and Family

[26:24 – 28:30]

• Growing up with Ice Cube as your father:
  • “It’s boring. Like, it's the same thing your dad be doing…except every now and then he'll disappear for some months and have to go on tour” (26:39).
  • Didn’t fully appreciate his father’s cultural significance until age 18.
  • “Once it hit me, it was like oh, man…I kind of hit the baby lottery, you know?” (27:19)

Rap Career & Accidental Branding

[32:20 – 34:13]

• Rap name “OMG” was accidentally outed by Ice Cube on Ellen, forcing O’Shea to stick with the moniker despite his reservations.
  • “My nickname was ‘Oh My Goodness’…he hears this…the mouse goes a different way in the maze…and he says this on television. So I gotta ride with it now.” (33:18–33:51)
  • OMG Girls’ (Lil Wayne and TI’s daughters) debut complicated matters even further.

Embracing Embarrassing Moments

[34:37 – 35:57]

• Most embarrassing moment: tripping up City Walk steps and spilling Pepsi all over a fresh white tee in front of a date (34:37).
• On embarrassment:
  “Embarrassing yourself, it’s just natural. When you're young, it's the biggest scar…but when you’re older you realize no one cares.” (35:25–35:46)

Finding Acting & Creative Motivation

[36:02 – 39:41]

• Film school at USC was intended as a stepping stone to writing for video games, not acting.
  • “My dad in music, that's a mountain I'll never be able to climb…But in movies, there's lanes that I can take our family name…” (37:08)
• The push to play Ice Cube in Straight Outta Compton came from his dad:
  • “He was like, in a perfect world, I would want you to play me. I was like, wow. Okay. Wow, that sounds cool. Yeah, I’ll do it.” (38:31)
• The process took two years of auditions and coaching before he secured the part.
  • “When he first told the studio and Gary Gray, the director, that he wanted me to play him, they said, Cube, is this a joke?” (40:52)

Acting Highlights and Hollywood Hustle

[42:44 – 47:28]

• Ingrid Goes West: Landed the part because Aubrey Plaza saw him tweet his disappointment at missing her; after a hilarious misunderstanding and a Batman-themed text, she cast him as her love interest.
• Den of Thieves:
  • “It's terrible…You get beat up so much…That’s not me, I’m out of my element.” (45:48)
  • On transforming for the next Den of Thieves: down 60 pounds, aiming for another 50, to prepare for a potential wrestling moment.

Podcasting, Hot Takes & Wrestling Opinions

[48:02 – 51:46]

• Co-hosts No Contest Wrestling with TJ (“now a product of the Walt Disney Company, and Mickey Mouse will have SUVs outside the house…” 48:17).
• Dream podcast guest: The Rock—“John Cena gave us two and a half hours, Dwayne…just saying!” (49:09)
• On the controversial WrestleMania 40 ending:
  • “The hell did Undertaker come out here for?... Greatest ending of all time, my ass.” (50:40–51:46)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On wrestling’s emotional pull:
  “It’s Broadway with violence…It's a great way to exercise your empathy because you start caring for people that you ain’t got nothing to do with. And when they lose, it really hurts. And when they win, it really feels good.”
  — O’Shea Jackson Jr., [15:17–15:52]

• On being famous by association:
  “It's like finding a polar bear in a Coca Cola factory. Whoa. No way. That's insane. You saw Topanga at Topanga? Insane. Gotta go play the lottery.”
  — O’Shea Jackson Jr., [28:30–28:35]

• On childhood mortification:
  “Embarrassing yourself, it's just natural…But when you’re older you realize no one cares. They're thinking about themselves.”
  — O’Shea Jackson Jr., [35:25–35:40]

• On creative journey:
  “You just love writing…you love being able to create a world real quick and take people on a journey. And so I just transported that to film.”
  — O’Shea Jackson Jr., [36:12]

• On his first acting opportunity:
  “If I go through it and I'm not good, I'm just not good. But I tried, right?”
  — O’Shea Jackson Jr., [40:28]

• On podcast guest aspirations:
  “The white whale. Gotta get The Rock, and I have to get him in studio. By the way, John Cena gave us two and a half hours. Dwayne. Just saying.”
  — O’Shea Jackson Jr., [49:09–49:22]

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• [05:54]: Discovery of wrestling and parallels with Danielle’s kids
• [08:07]: Attending first WrestleMania and making it a tradition
• [09:57]: Childhood wrestling fandom: The Rock, Undertaker
• [14:29]: Parental reactions to wrestling
• [16:45]: High school & Valley food favorites
• [18:38]: Homeschooling & educational turning point
• [26:24]: Living as Ice Cube’s son
• [32:20]: The “OMG” rap name origin story
• [34:37]: Most embarrassing teenage moment
• [36:02]: Storytelling passion leading to acting
• [38:31]: Getting the Straight Outta Compton role
• [43:44]: Getting Ingrid Goes West role via Twitter mishap
• [45:48]: Behind the scenes of Den of Thieves
• [48:02]: No Contest Wrestling podcast, on being “Disney-fied”
• [49:09]: Dream guests — The Rock and John Cena
• [50:40]: Online wrestling hot takes and WrestleMania 40 controversy

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Tone & Final Thoughts

The episode is characterized by warmth, wit, and self-aware humor. Both Danielle and O’Shea offer honest, often hilarious insights into family, fame, and fandom. Listeners will enjoy a deep dive into O’Shea’s unique upbringing, his journey to Hollywood, his pop culture passions, and the wisdom that comes with embracing youthful awkwardness.

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Transcript

[Podcast Announcer]

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[O'Shea Jackson Jr.]

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[Danielle Fishel]

Even if it means sitting front row

[O'Shea Jackson Jr.]

at a comedy show.

[Danielle Fishel]

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[O'Shea Jackson Jr.]

Oh, no. We help people customize and save on

[Danielle Fishel]

car insurance with Liberty Mutual together.

[O'Shea Jackson Jr.]

We're married.

[Danielle Fishel]

Me to a human, him to a bird. Yeah, the bird looks out of your league. Anyways, get a [e-mail] or with your local agent. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty.

[O'Shea Jackson Jr.]

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[Danielle Fishel]

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[O'Shea Jackson Jr.]

I'll never leave your filthy bed. I stay the night and one night we can. Two or three years. The kids are not all right. But that's okay. Cause no one here is Teen Beat.

[Danielle Fishel]

Hello and welcome to another episode of Teen Beat. The weekly podcast that revives our awkward teenage years. The same way Dr. John Hammond resurrected dinosaurs for a theme park. And with similar results. And this week, I'm recording a special episode live from Las Vegas for WrestleMania 42 weekend. An epicenter for headlocks and RKOs. But more than anything else, a place where we can all feel like kids again. So where better to sit? With an interesting person who does interesting things to talk about their upbringing? Tapping into the glorious and awkward journey of being a teenager. Years that were chronicled for me in front of a live studio audience. Then on DVD and Now on a worldwide streaming service. I look at it this way. I gave you my childhood. It's time we hear yours. And this week, I'm excited to chat with someone whose childhood may have existed outside the spotlight, but the glow around him was bright enough to light a thousand caves. He burst onto the scene in 2015, starring in the NWA biopic Straight Outta Compton portraying Ice Cube, a role he intensely studied for 24 years, not only working to mimic the subject's likeness and mannerisms, but he even went as far as living with him for at least 18 years to perfect everything about him. He then showed his range in the underrated 2017 dark comedy Ingrid Goes west opposite Aubrey Plaza. And if you ask me, he was a scene stealing highlight. And it appears many industry heavyweights agreed because he would go on to share the screen with Charlize Theron and Seth Rogen in Longshot, then Michael B. Jordan and Brie Larson and Just Mercy, all while starring in the Den of Thieves franchise as an action star alongside Gerard Butler. But you'll see him next in the comedy Idiots with Dave Franco and Killer Mike. And where you'll see him most is at WWE live events, turning his fandom into a job with the podcast no Contest Wrestling, becoming one of sports entertainment's go to. And most opinionated experts don't believe me. Check his Twitter. Also, his dad is Ice Cube. Welcome to Teen Beat. My favorite, Mark O' Shea Jackson Jr.

[O'Shea Jackson Jr.]

That's the best intro I've ever had. That is amazing. Absolutely.

[Danielle Fishel]

I'm glad you enjoyed it. It's nice to put together all of your accomplishments one place and then hear someone read them out loud, right?

[O'Shea Jackson Jr.]

Yeah. I mean, it was dope.

[Danielle Fishel]

You know, you're dope. I think that's what happens.

[O'Shea Jackson Jr.]

That's true. Yeah, I like that.

[Danielle Fishel]

Thank you so much for joining me today on this glorious holiday of WrestleMania weekend. I know it is a very busy time for you. How has it been so far?

[O'Shea Jackson Jr.]

Awesome.

[Danielle Fishel]

And busy.

[O'Shea Jackson Jr.]

Yeah, I've had a really good time, but, like, whenever I get really busy, I just think, like, I could be doing nothing and that drives me crazy.

[Danielle Fishel]

Same.

[O'Shea Jackson Jr.]

It's like the worst. Even when I film, all I can think about is getting home. And then after those first two weeks, I'm like, yeah, what am I doing with my life? Everything's going to go to hell. The bank account is getting low, my daughter's going to starve.

[Danielle Fishel]

Like, you go from 0 to 100 real fast.

[O'Shea Jackson Jr.]

You gotta find something.

[Danielle Fishel]

I know. I don't know how to relax anymore. It's like, if I do have a day off, I find that I just make myself busy. Work.

[O'Shea Jackson Jr.]

Yeah.

[Danielle Fishel]

Like, oh, you know what? I should. Cause I have a free afternoon. Clean out the closet. It's like, well, now I didn't even have any downtime, but so I do get that. I want to talk to you about how and when a young O' Shea Jackson Jr. Discovered pro wrestling.

[O'Shea Jackson Jr.]

Oh, man. I had my big brother Darrell. My big brother Darrell. Me and him would play video games together. And we played a game called WWF Raw on Sega Genesis. And this game taught me, like, Razor Ramon, Shawn Michaels, Bam Bam Bigelow, Doink the Clown. And that really was my first introduction Taker. That was my first introduction. And then he was like, you know, we can watch these people. I was like, what are you talking. What? Yeah, like, what? The video game is real?

[Danielle Fishel]

Yeah.

[O'Shea Jackson Jr.]

And then, yeah, we watched Raw. And I was like, this is crazy. Like, you know, this is nuts. You know, later on, I was probably like, five. I'm not controlling the TV at that time, so maybe about third grade. So, like, 99, 2000 is when I started watching, you know, weekly, and I got locked in and, you know, I fell in love with the Rock. And just like, that whole era, like, when Shane and Stephanie bought WCW and ecw, this was the biggest news of my life.

[Danielle Fishel]

Oh, yeah.

[O'Shea Jackson Jr.]

I was like. And then Stone Cold, like, crosses over to them. I was like, wwf's gonna lose. They're like, everything I know is just terrible.

[Danielle Fishel]

Yeah.

[O'Shea Jackson Jr.]

But, yeah, those were the stressful times. Greatest soap opera I could ask for as a kid.

[Danielle Fishel]

Absolutely. It's so funny that you also got into it from video games. That's actually how my kids got into it. I was delaying putting it on the TV, and then we got WWE 2K25, and they started playing the video games. And it was very similar. It was like, you know, these are real people. These are real people.

[O'Shea Jackson Jr.]

It's like, what?

[Danielle Fishel]

And then they just got very into it. Do you remember your first live event?

[O'Shea Jackson Jr.]

Ooh, first live event. Had to be probably a random Raw or Smackdown, you know, Couldn't tell you, like, what happened. But, like, I just remember. I remember going to Staples center one year and not knowing. Cause I'm a kid not knowing the difference between a live show and Raw and smackdown. And I remember going and being like, there's no Titan Tron. Like, there's no pyro. There's no, like, what is this? And, like, I remember Kane having a match, but I remember, like, taking friends and being Like, I'm sorry. I don't know what this is.

[Danielle Fishel]

This is embarrassing.

[O'Shea Jackson Jr.]

I feel not the same thing that I went to. And of course, later on I got that. But I think the. One of the biggest moments, because as a kid, I know I'm probably not the type of kid who should think this way, but I'm a kid, so I think this way. But I never thought I'd go to WrestleMania. It was just like, it was always on TV. It was just like, you know, like, man, I wish I could go one day. And WrestleMania 21, sad. Staples Center. So I know I'm going. And it was the best. It was the best ever. And like, it to this day, I can't believe I went. And then I was like, I have to try to go to as many as I can. And the next one I would go to would be 32, but, like, you know, still had some time. And, yeah, I've. I've gone to, I think, five in a row now.

[Danielle Fishel]

Oh, my gosh.

[O'Shea Jackson Jr.]

My streak is in danger.

[Danielle Fishel]

Next year, we're just talking about that. Maybe they'll be back in Vegas. No reason.

[O'Shea Jackson Jr.]

Yeah, right. When I. When I found I was coming to Vegas again, I was like, oh, no.

[Danielle Fishel]

Yeah.

[O'Shea Jackson Jr.]

Like, not like I survived the first one, you know, like, so the. It's been good. It's been good because now I got work.

[Danielle Fishel]

Exactly. Count is getting replenished, and instead of going one direction, it's at least going both ways now.

[O'Shea Jackson Jr.]

Exactly. And my. My little brother and my little sister, who I love to death, they were two WrestleMania out after last year.

[Danielle Fishel]

Okay.

[O'Shea Jackson Jr.]

Yeah, it was, like, great. No, go ahead. Stay home. It's fine.

[Danielle Fishel]

Yeah, totally fine.

[O'Shea Jackson Jr.]

Take it off. Who cares? But, yeah, it's been pretty good.

[Danielle Fishel]

Who were your favorite wrestler when you were a kid?

[O'Shea Jackson Jr.]

Loved Rock. Always loved taker. Taker was really my first favorite because my brother always made me play as him in the game. Like, if we're gonna beat people up, you have to be taker, because, like, taker's the. He's the big bad, so it's. I know it's hard to take him down. So give the little brother that one.

[Danielle Fishel]

That's so cute.

[O'Shea Jackson Jr.]

So I. I always loved Taker, and then, you know, just the older I got watching the Rock on the mic, I was like, oh, this is my guy. Yeah, 100%. And I was a very shy kid growing up, and the Rock kind of helped me find my voice because no one could back him into a corner. He's quick as a whip, and he's always gonna get the upper hand in a conversation with a promo battle. And I love that. He was funny, but still tough. And I never thought he'd lose.

[Danielle Fishel]

Yeah.

[O'Shea Jackson Jr.]

Like, you know, and it took a lot of Ls. I know the business now, but I never thought he'd lose because of the confidence that was just like, oozing out of him. And that has always been my guy. I really like Roman Reigns. Really big Roman Reigns. Wow.

[Danielle Fishel]

You know, I'm a big punk guy.

[O'Shea Jackson Jr.]

I know Phyllis and Phil. Phil was my first guest. That's my boy. Okay.

[Danielle Fishel]

I say, do we have to wrestle?

[O'Shea Jackson Jr.]

Is my guy. And so I'm so angry at both of them.

[Danielle Fishel]

Okay. Yeah. They're putting you in this situation. It's like personal.

[O'Shea Jackson Jr.]

Yeah. It was different last year because it was like, oh, I know. Beat up Seth.

[Danielle Fishel]

Yeah, exactly. Who cares?

[O'Shea Jackson Jr.]

But now it's like, oh, yeah, it's whack.

[Danielle Fishel]

You know, it is tough for our family because Phil's very important to our family. And my youngest son is a huge Roman Reigns fan. Has the. Has the buddy. Yeah, we. We took him to Survivor series and my 4 year old stood up on a chair and held his little wrestling buddy over his head while singing the song.

[O'Shea Jackson Jr.]

Yeah, man.

[Danielle Fishel]

So, yeah, you know, house divided.

[O'Shea Jackson Jr.]

Yeah, it's rough.

[Danielle Fishel]

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[Danielle Fishel]

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[Danielle Fishel]

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[O'Shea Jackson Jr.]

presents Painful Thoughts I can't stop scratching my downtown. Mm, yeah, but I'm not itching to go downtown and tell a receptionist I'm here to talk about my downtown. Some things you'd rather type than say out loud. There's no question too embarrassing For Amazon Health AI chat your symptoms and get virtual care 24. 7 Healthcare just got less painful.

[Danielle Fishel]

The Volvo XC90 is equipped with 7 seat versatility, Google built in, and advanced safety features for all your precious Cargo. The Volvo XC90 designed for life. Visit volvocars.com us to learn more. Google is a trademark of Google LLC. When you start watching wrestling, your brothers are watching wrestling. What did your dad think of it all? I feel like there's always a moment when parents have to ask why you're watching this fake stuff.

[O'Shea Jackson Jr.]

Yeah. I mean, yeah, Somebody in my dad's childhood ruined it for him.

[Danielle Fishel]

Yeah.

[O'Shea Jackson Jr.]

And so, like, he never, like, came back and, like, stuck with it. And when it comes to that conversation, I'm like. I also know that, like, Jeff Goldblum didn't run from a T. Rex.

[Danielle Fishel]

Exactly.

[O'Shea Jackson Jr.]

You know, like, Robert Downey Jr. Didn't send a nuke into space. But I still enjoy the Avengers. It's Broadway with violence. I sit and I watch storylines play out with characters that I like. And now with so much behind the scenes, I actually like the people. I'm actually rooting for them. And so then I'm watching, hoping that the company will see what I see and give them their shot. And it's just like, it's. It's a great way to exercise your empathy because you start caring for people that you ain't got nothing to do with.

[Danielle Fishel]

Yeah.

[O'Shea Jackson Jr.]

And you. And when they lose, it really hurts.

[Danielle Fishel]

Yeah.

[O'Shea Jackson Jr.]

And when they win, it really feels good. And so, you know, when we started to figure out like, oh, what we're seeing is a Bit of an illusion. It's a bit of Harlem Globetrotters.

[Danielle Fishel]

Yeah.

[O'Shea Jackson Jr.]

That's when, you know, you start to question what you're looking. But then I'm like, I'm entertained totally. And I started to, like the punches and kicks, which might connect every now and then. That's. That's what you really gotta try to movie magic. And some holds other than that they're really falling from that they really gotta jump off that. They really gotta get hit with this. And I've seen their bodies afterwards, and it's just like, dude, I know what I'm looking at. And it's Broadway with violence. The best play I've ever seen.

[Danielle Fishel]

Yeah. I have never met a wrestler who's been like, no, I've never had any injuries.

[O'Shea Jackson Jr.]

I'm fine.

[Danielle Fishel]

I'm totally fine. My body works great. Thanks for asking.

[O'Shea Jackson Jr.]

Exactly.

[Danielle Fishel]

We actually grew up very close to each other. I think a couple decades apart. But I am a Calabasas High School graduate. And you went to Taft Teahouse.

[O'Shea Jackson Jr.]

Yes. T, A, F, T, A, F, T.

[Danielle Fishel]

First, I'd like to get regional for a second. Are you a fan of Dan Super Subs?

[O'Shea Jackson Jr.]

Oh, no. I don't know these people. Have they spoke about me?

[Danielle Fishel]

No.

[O'Shea Jackson Jr.]

Okay. Thank goodness.

[Danielle Fishel]

Dan's Subs.

[O'Shea Jackson Jr.]

No, no.

[Danielle Fishel]

The best sandwiches made.

[O'Shea Jackson Jr.]

Please let me know. Listen, in my fatherhood. Yes, a sandwich will save your life.

[Danielle Fishel]

I know.

[O'Shea Jackson Jr.]

So I need to know a good.

[Danielle Fishel]

Okay, I will tell you. You have to go to Dan Super Sex. What are some of your favorite local eateries?

[O'Shea Jackson Jr.]

Obviously, in and out.

[Danielle Fishel]

Okay. Yeah. Come on now.

[O'Shea Jackson Jr.]

Like, ridiculous. My dad put us on round table pizza for, like, ever.

[Danielle Fishel]

Love round table pizza. There's something about that burnt edge.

[O'Shea Jackson Jr.]

Yeah.

[Danielle Fishel]

So good.

[O'Shea Jackson Jr.]

It's. So let's chill out.

[Danielle Fishel]

Yeah. Okay.

[O'Shea Jackson Jr.]

Sorry.

[Danielle Fishel]

Are you hungry? I'm starving, so.

[O'Shea Jackson Jr.]

Because I just went on. On camera, and you'd never eat before camera.

[Danielle Fishel]

No. I know you. So we'll eat after.

[O'Shea Jackson Jr.]

Absolutely. But, yeah, Round Table Pizza. Fire. Yeah. Just because I grew up in the Valley, IHOP was such a main staple. But, like, I've been to the South. A Waffle House is killing.

[Danielle Fishel]

IHOP kills ihop. I just went to a Waffle House, one of my favorite places in the world. And so I was just in Texas for a show, and I was there, like, 24 hours, and I made sure I stopped at a Waffle House and got some cheesy eggs and grits. Yes.

[O'Shea Jackson Jr.]

The cheesy eggs. The. There's something about the raisin bread. Plastic cheese.

[Danielle Fishel]

Exactly that. Plastic cheese. And there's something about that sweet raisin bread mixed with the savory cheese.

[O'Shea Jackson Jr.]

And I need the guy cooking it to have a cigarette falling out of his mouth. These are the rules that I was taught by the Southerners in my family. 100%.

[Danielle Fishel]

Okay. Well, with that out of the way, what was high school like for you?

[O'Shea Jackson Jr.]

High school was. Oh, okay. So let me break this down. So my parents, at a random time in my life, decided they wanted to declare war on lausd.

[Danielle Fishel]

Wonderful for you.

[O'Shea Jackson Jr.]

Yeah. Los Angeles Unified School District. And I was like, okay. And they. I was a great, great student. Great student. Always got good grades, always made sure I did my work, even was the student that was helping other students in class. This was always me. And then sixth grade happened, and I had a problem adjusting from. You know, in elementary, you got one teacher.

[Danielle Fishel]

Yeah.

[O'Shea Jackson Jr.]

One teacher. Teacher all. Everything. Sixth grade you have now, you get six different teachers that have six different attitudes, that have six different ways of doing things. Yes. And so it's like, it's an adjustment period. And that, on top of one new problem, kind of messed me up academically. And the one major problem, what I know a lot of people deal with, is girls.

[Danielle Fishel]

Oh.

[O'Shea Jackson Jr.]

And that was way more interesting than sedimentary rocks. Listen, who the hell cares? I'm never gonna remember this, huh? And. Yeah. And then. So for the first time, I got summer school. Oh, yeah, Summer school. And then. But in summer school, both of classes that I was there for, I aced them both. I even had a teacher pull me to the front of the class and go, what are you doing here?

[Danielle Fishel]

Yeah, you're so smart. You don't need this.

[O'Shea Jackson Jr.]

Listen, I just don't like having six teachers.

[Danielle Fishel]

I know.

[O'Shea Jackson Jr.]

I'm sorry. I just don't like. I don't like learning like that. And, yeah, that scared my parents enough. Where all my older brother Darrell, me and my little sister Karima, we all had to go to homeschool. And so from seventh through 11th grade, I was homeschooled. And at first I was like, this sucks. I'm running away. I'm joining the circus.

[Danielle Fishel]

Yeah, I have anything. Get me out of here.

[O'Shea Jackson Jr.]

Yeah. And it was the best thing that ever happened to me.

[Danielle Fishel]

Really?

[O'Shea Jackson Jr.]

Yeah. Because I had at most two teachers. But in the beginning, it was just one teacher. Taught me everything. No classroom. It was just like, me and him. So I'm really learning things. Cause I'm like, that's just the best way for me to learn. Shout out to Hernan. He changed my life. Because while we're Doing homeschool, which is, by the way, in the pool house. It's not like a class. And he would make these deals with me and my older brother that if we finished our work early, we could watch a movie. And it wasn't just pick any movie. He was showing us stuff like Dr. Strangelove, like Patton Rushmore.

[Danielle Fishel]

He was giving you an education without you knowing it.

[O'Shea Jackson Jr.]

Yeah. So he's showing us these films, and I'm like, there's a side of me tapping in that I didn't know, that I cared about.

[Danielle Fishel]

Right.

[O'Shea Jackson Jr.]

And then so from there, they had to add in a second teacher, you know, so that way my brother and I can be taught at one time and my sister can be taught. And so that was a lady by the name of Rachelle Nondorf. I love you to death. And, you know, while all this is happening, I'm developing a love for film through what Hernan is teaching me. And then, so I started to, like, daydream. Like, I'm a real big daydreamer. And then one day, he sat a notebook in front of me, and he was like, listen, you're not here right now. Whatever's in your head, just write it down for me. When you get it down, can you come back? I was like, all right, sure. I just started writing, started writing, started writing. And then he saw that I was starting to write a story, so he was like, every day I'm gonna give you 30 minutes to write in your

[Danielle Fishel]

story, do more stories.

[O'Shea Jackson Jr.]

Just get it out of your head. And so next thing I know, I have, like, 120 pages of a handwritten story. He then asked me, have you ever thought about writing scripts?

[Danielle Fishel]

Yeah.

[O'Shea Jackson Jr.]

I was like, no. He was like, you have your dad and you never thought. It never crossed the line?

[Danielle Fishel]

Never occurred to you?

[O'Shea Jackson Jr.]

No, I'm gonna play for the Lakers. And so from there, he got me my. My. My script writing teacher, Bill Rubenstein, who taught me how to break my story down into a script. And then, you know, by then I'm in 11th grade and it's time to start thinking about, like, colleges and stuff. And so it was like, I guess, usc. And did you go to film school? Yeah, I went to sc. I ended up going to sc, but before then, I got a notebook from. And on that notebook it said, go confidently in the direction of your dreams and live the life you've imagined. It's by Henry David Thoreau. And I've held that quote on forever. Now, the reason why it was 7 to 11th grade is because I Begged my parents, like, come on, my senior year, can I please go to Taft? Can I please go to Taft? And the reason why is because my brother Darrell, and I love my brother, but this is how Daryl graduated. We're in the kitchen, Mom's going through the mail. She goes, oh, Daryl, you graduated. And that was it. That, like, sucks. So, like, we, like, go to dinner. Like, that's whack as hell. Yeah. In all the movies I've ever seen, it never is like that.

[Danielle Fishel]

No tassel, no hat, nothing.

[O'Shea Jackson Jr.]

No slow motion, nothing. So I was like, I do not want that. Like, can we please. Can I please go to Taft?

[Danielle Fishel]

I need some hoopla, something.

[O'Shea Jackson Jr.]

And then so my sister, who's like, while I'm a senior, she'd be a freshman. So she was like, can I go to Taft too? So then we. They would convince them we go to Taft. Like, as soon as we see you guys slip up, we taking you back out.

[Danielle Fishel]

Fine.

[O'Shea Jackson Jr.]

Where are we found? We're geniuses. Whatever. And so we go to Taft. And that first day, they didn't enroll us into any classes. So, like, we just had to sit in the library. What? Yeah, it was crazy. And then like, we're looking at the clock in the library right after lunch and it's about 1:30. And I remember looking at my sister and going, what did we do?

[Danielle Fishel]

Why did we do this?

[O'Shea Jackson Jr.]

We had school from nine to one. Now we got eight to three, Right? Who do we think we should throw a hat in the air? Like, who cares? And so I'm like, now I'm at Taft. And it was crazy because there was always. I'd always been going to valley parties and stuff like that because I still had my friends from middle school. So there was only like, really, like, whispers of my existence until, like, people finally started to go to school with me. It was like an urban legend.

[Danielle Fishel]

You exist.

[O'Shea Jackson Jr.]

Yeah. Like what? They said they saw you. And then so from there, like, yeah, I. The biggest thing for me is at lunch, I remember finding a group of my friends that I knew. And they were like, so who are you hanging out with? I was like, what do you mean? Whoever the hell I want. I'm an American citizen. How dare you? But no, I was just like, they all clicked up, right? I wasn't there for the click up stage. That happens during middle school, high school.

[Danielle Fishel]

Yeah. So you weren't even aware. You're like, oh, yeah.

[O'Shea Jackson Jr.]

Why are we friends? We're all.

[Danielle Fishel]

We're all in cliques.

[O'Shea Jackson Jr.]

Yeah. Like. And so, like, there was a divide And I never had that. I mean, other than that, I ended up going to three proms. That was awesome. Yep. Went to Taft's prom, of course. Went to Birmingham's prom and in Taft colors. Oh, okay. Straight gang mentality.

[Danielle Fishel]

Yeah. I was gonna say you were trying to start something.

[O'Shea Jackson Jr.]

Yeah. And then lab, because that was random. The girl I was dating went to LA B. Wow. Yeah.

[Danielle Fishel]

Were you dating the other two girls? Because that seems like quick breakups to have three prompts all day.

[O'Shea Jackson Jr.]

Please save it for the book.

[Danielle Fishel]

Okay, no problem. Being Ice Cube's son is a. Probably a big shadow to live in.

[O'Shea Jackson Jr.]

Yeah.

[Danielle Fishel]

How did you navigate that? Or did it not feel like that to you?

[O'Shea Jackson Jr.]

I mean, at first it doesn't, because it's like your dad.

[Danielle Fishel]

Yeah.

[O'Shea Jackson Jr.]

Like, you know, they always ask me, like, what's it like being Ice Cube son? I'm like, it's boring. Like, it's like, same thing your dad be doing. He probably does. Except every now and then he'll disappear for some months and have to go on tour.

[Danielle Fishel]

Right.

[O'Shea Jackson Jr.]

Or he'll be on tv. And. Yeah. I didn't really get who my dad was fully until I was 18. Like, I didn't. It didn't really hit me what he means for other people or anything like that. So. I was 18. I really didn't. I didn't hear. I didn't listen to Straight out of Compton, like, the NWA until I was like, 13, 14.

[Danielle Fishel]

Right.

[O'Shea Jackson Jr.]

It was like my older brother Darryl showed me because, like, you know.

[Danielle Fishel]

Do you know what?

[O'Shea Jackson Jr.]

But I'm biased. I only like one guy. Yeah. So I. I really, like. I just didn't see it. And then once it hit me, it was like, oh, man. Like, kind of hit the baby lottery, you know? Pretty cool guy, but it's just. He's just always been my dude. Like, you know, he. He just likes regular guy stuff. He's just on TV sometimes.

[Danielle Fishel]

I love that. I feel like I'm. That's my goal for me with my kids. My kids just recently started asking me, why do people want to take pictures with you? And I'm like, well, you know, I told you I was on tv.

[O'Shea Jackson Jr.]

Why is the mall named after you? That's exactly right.

[Danielle Fishel]

By the way, we get stopped at that mall. That's still our mall. So every time we're stopped, they're like, wait, why do people think it's weird that you're here? I'm like, it's hard to explain.

[O'Shea Jackson Jr.]

Exactly.

[Danielle Fishel]

Awesome.

[O'Shea Jackson Jr.]

I wish I had that moment.

[Danielle Fishel]

It literally just happened last week. I was walking through the mall and a guy said, excuse me, I have to just say hi and tell you I've been such a fan. I said, oh, thank you so much. And as he's walking away, he goes, stop the fact that you're here. And I mean, like, it all hit him as he was walking away. It was so funny.

[O'Shea Jackson Jr.]

It's like finding a polar bear in a Coca Cola factory. Why?

[Danielle Fishel]

Whoa.

[O'Shea Jackson Jr.]

No way. That's insane. You saw Topanga at Topanga? Insane. Gotta go play the lottery.

[Danielle Fishel]

I know most people are surprised to learn what OCD really is because pop culture has spread the idea that it's just about being super neat and organized. But that's not accurate at all. My husband has ocd, and I can tell you it is so much more than that. Real OCD is a serious condition where you get unwanted, distressing thoughts called intrusive thoughts. They're stuck on repeat in your mind, often focusing on people or things we care about, like relationships, identity, or character, making them hard to ignore. And then you feel driven to do certain behaviors called compulsions to try to make the anxiety stop. This obsession and undying desire to make it go away can completely derail you for decades. Jensen ruined his own life and the happiness of those around him purely because he couldn't make the repeated worry go away. But he'd eventually learn it doesn't have to be that way, because OCD is one of the most treatable mental health conditions once you get the right kind of specialized therapy. OCD needs ERP therapy. That's exposure and response prevention, which is proven to be the most effective treatment. Regular talk therapy isn't recommended and can actually make OCD worse. NOCD is the world's leading OCD treatment provider, and all of their licensed Therapists specialize in ERP therapy with NOCD is 100% virtual, covered by insurance for over 138 million Americans, and includes support between sessions so you never have to face OCD alone. To learn more about starting OCD therapy with no CD, go to nocd.com and book a free call with their team. That's n o c d.com Amazon Health

[O'Shea Jackson Jr.]

AI presents painful thoughts I I can't stop scratching my downtown. Mm, yeah, but I'm not itching to go downtown and tell a receptionist I'm here to talk about my downtown. Some things you'd rather type than say out loud. There's no question too embarrassing for Amazon Health AI. Chat your symptoms and get virtual care 24. 7 Healthcare just got less painful.

[Danielle Fishel]

The Volvo XC90 is equipped with 7 seat versatility, Google built in and advanced safety features for all your precious Cargo. The Volvo XC90 designed for life. Visit volvocars.com us to learn more. Google is a trademark of Google LLC.

[Podcast Announcer]

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[Danielle Fishel]

I want to of course, jump into your acting career. But before I jump into that, you there was a time where you were rapping and you went by the name OMG.

[O'Shea Jackson Jr.]

Yes. Which was my father's fault, really. 100%. I would have never named myself that. Never. So my father, bless him, love him to death, was on the Ellen Show.

[Danielle Fishel]

Yes.

[O'Shea Jackson Jr.]

And you know when Ellen starts looking at you in your eyes, you just spewed whatever nonsense you could think of about your life. And he tells Ellen that my rap name is omg. Now the reason why he says OMG is cause he can't remember that the full thing that I told him my name was. He just remembers that it was, oh, it's kind of like oh my God. But it's not like that. So at the time, this is really going to date myself at the time. And one mixtape, which was like a street ball league was popping.

[Danielle Fishel]

Okay?

[O'Shea Jackson Jr.]

And anybody who was playing basketball had a basketball nickname. You know, you make up your own nickname. That's what your people call you when you play. My nickname was oh my goodness. Cause every time, whatever I did, my best friend Kyle was on the side. Oh my goodness. It was like a whole thing. And so he hears this and the mouse goes a different way in the maze. And he heard, yeah, that's his rap name. It's omg. Omg. And he says this on television. So I Gotta ride with it now.

[Danielle Fishel]

And you're like, nah, I can't go on the venue.

[O'Shea Jackson Jr.]

I'm gonna call Ice Cube a liar, so I have to roll with this and make this cool. And then Lil Wayne and TI's daughters came out with the OMG girls. And I was like, thanks, guys.

[Danielle Fishel]

Thank you.

[O'Shea Jackson Jr.]

Yeah, it was just a debacle. It was a mess. I'm a survivor. You are a survivor.

[Danielle Fishel]

Forgive me if this is out of line, but did you ever think about going by crushed ice, which are just little ice cubes.

[O'Shea Jackson Jr.]

Crushed ice, snow, water.

[Podcast Announcer]

Okay.

[O'Shea Jackson Jr.]

All of these things. I've been called my whole life.

[Danielle Fishel]

You were raised around WC and Snoop and Dr. Dre. The list goes on and on. I'm nervous. Have you ever had an embarrassing moment in your life?

[O'Shea Jackson Jr.]

Oh, my God, yes. Oh, God. I remember. Oh, man. I was on a date one time at the City Walk in Universal, and I tripped up the steps, had Pepsi all over my white tee. And like, when you have a new yt, it is like a magnet.

[Danielle Fishel]

Exactly.

[O'Shea Jackson Jr.]

For anything to stain. But the girl, like, I'm thinking she's in the theater. So I'm thinking, like, she didn't see, but she helped me up. And so I'm like, this is really awesome, but I hate that you're here right now. And we ended up breaking up. She sucks. But, like, it was like, she was helpful that one moment she had my back. But like, yeah, that's terrible. I'm definitely like, oh, yeah. Embarrassing yourself, it's just. It's just natural.

[Danielle Fishel]

I mean, you can't help it. When you're young, especially.

[O'Shea Jackson Jr.]

It just happens. And like, when you're young, it is the biggest scar on your life. But then you realize when you're older that no one cares.

[Danielle Fishel]

No one. No one cares about it.

[O'Shea Jackson Jr.]

No one's thinking about that. Three needs to be on their mind.

[Danielle Fishel]

They're thinking about themselves. We're all just thinking about ourselves.

[O'Shea Jackson Jr.]

Exactly. Like, it's like, they do not. You might remember it the rest of your life. I promise you. They don't.

[Danielle Fishel]

They do not.

[O'Shea Jackson Jr.]

They don't.

[Danielle Fishel]

I know. Maybe your best friend does. My best friend remembers things about my life that I'm like, I'm so glad I have you because I don't remember these moments of my life. How do you remember these moments exactly?

[O'Shea Jackson Jr.]

You're a little stenographer. Just gotta keep everything online.

[Danielle Fishel]

So acting wise, I mean, you have more than proven your chops at this point. Was that something? I mean, you said it kind of clicked for you when your teacher started playing you films.

[O'Shea Jackson Jr.]

Yeah.

[Danielle Fishel]

But was. Did you start thinking right away when watching movies and realizing you loved film that acting was something you wanted to do?

[O'Shea Jackson Jr.]

No. And even with, you know, when it came to, you know, rapping, I realized that, like, if you put a beat on and tell me to just, like, write some bars to it, I could do that easy. When it comes to, like, a song, like, writing a song, a catchy hook and all that, that's when I was pulling my hair out. Because then now I'm like, do I like this? Like, is this cool? Is everybody else gonna like this? Do I sound stupid? And it just wasn't fun. What I was realizing is I love writing something that people think, oh, man, why didn't I think of that? And you can get that off in a rap verse. So what I didn't realize at the time was that you just love writing. You love being able to create a world real quick and take people on a journey. And so I just transported that to film.

[Danielle Fishel]

Yeah.

[O'Shea Jackson Jr.]

It was just like, all right, let's, you know, film. That's where we can really make our mark. My dad in music, that's a mountain that I'll never be able to climb. It's just. And he's still building it. But in movies, there's lanes that I can take our family name that, you know, just. I just feel like. I feel like Hollywood typecast rappers, there's just certain people, once they have Ice Cube in their head, they're not gonna see him as a doctor for some reason. Cause they're just scared of it. So it is what it is. And so I just felt like I could take our family's name to new heights in that direction with film. And so it was. It was never in my cards to act when I went to USC. In my mind at that time, my freshman year was 09. I was going to write scripts for video games. Oh, that's what I was gonna go do. Grand Theft Auto and Call of Duty had just made a billion dollars in a weekend. I was like, I can make you pay $16amovie ticket, or I can make you pay $60 a game.

[Danielle Fishel]

Yeah.

[O'Shea Jackson Jr.]

So I was like, I'm going to go here to learn the structure of storytelling, but I want to write scripts for games. And then in the middle of my second year, I was in the kitchen eating cereal, as one does. My dad comes in, the kitchen, is like, hey, they're taking this NWA movie serious. I'm like, dope.

[Danielle Fishel]

Yeah.

[O'Shea Jackson Jr.]

That's sick. I'm happy for you, man.

[Danielle Fishel]

Congratulations.

[O'Shea Jackson Jr.]

Like, no, no, no. In a perfect world, I would want you to play me. I was like, wow. Okay. Wow, that sounds cool. Yeah, I'll do it. He was like, you sure?

[Podcast Announcer]

Yeah, no problem.

[O'Shea Jackson Jr.]

I'm not.

[Danielle Fishel]

I'm not concerned.

[O'Shea Jackson Jr.]

Yeah. But in my mind, I'm thinking, this is terrible. Why? Why? Like, at the time, no disrespect, there's not a lot of good rap movies, you know. It was 8 mile.

[Danielle Fishel]

Yep. And there it is, you know?

[O'Shea Jackson Jr.]

So it was like, this is either gonna be bad, but if I don't try, I'm gonna end up, like, kicking my ass. Like, you know, because it's like, my dad's never asked me for anything.

[Danielle Fishel]

Right.

[O'Shea Jackson Jr.]

He's never asked me for anything.

[Danielle Fishel]

Imagine the alternative that you go, you know, I don't want to do it. And then you have someone else playing

[O'Shea Jackson Jr.]

your dad, and I'm like, I want to do that. Like, yeah. So I was really in a position where it was just, like, in two seconds, I answered just, like, involuntarily, and it was like, this is what we're doing. And convinced him to let me leave school. Like, dad, if I'm going to take this action thing serious, I can't be worried about these books, sedimentary rocks and stuff. As you can tell, I hate sedimentary rocks.

[Danielle Fishel]

I hate sedimentary rocks as well.

[O'Shea Jackson Jr.]

But it bugged me to this day, and especially at that time, I was in my rebellious, like, 20s. I'm in the second year of college. You guys only care about our numbers being better than ucla. You just. I'm here for my major. Why do I have to take these ges? Yeah. But so now I had an excuse, and it was scary. It was scary because it took me two years to get the part, and I left in the second year of college. Then it takes me two years to get the part.

[Danielle Fishel]

Wow.

[O'Shea Jackson Jr.]

So I'm on Instagram and I'm watching my friends graduate without me.

[Danielle Fishel]

Hold on. Your dad, who is aware from the beginning about this movie, they're taking it seriously, and he wants you to play him.

[O'Shea Jackson Jr.]

Yeah.

[Danielle Fishel]

And you still had to work for two years.

[O'Shea Jackson Jr.]

Well, I told him. I was like, I. He was like, you're gonna have to audition. I was like, please let me audition. Because I heard all the nightmares about Francis Ford Coppola's daughter, and, like, I was like, please, like, make me go through it, because if I go through it and I'm not good, I'm just not good. But I tried, right? And, yeah, when he first told the Studio and Gary Gray, the director, that he wanted me to play him. They said, cube, is this a joke?

[Danielle Fishel]

Really?

[O'Shea Jackson Jr.]

Oh, my God. I'm a survivor. So, you know, that was great, you know, for the. For the confidence. Yeah. And, you know, after the first audition, Gary saw something, and that something made him get me a coach by the name of Aaron Spizer, who I love to this day. And I work with Aaron, like, every week. And then I flew to New York to work with Susan Batson, and, like, for two years, I was just giving it all my time. A day. Yeah. Until finally it was like, yeah, we're gonna do not a chemistry, a screen test. You know, they're gonna have a Cube, an Easy, and a Dre, and we're gonna mix match. You guys see? And so I'm thinking, like, all right, I'm gonna pull up, and it's just gonna be one Dre and one Easy there, and then, you know, gonna switch it out. I get there, I see a Jheri curl as you do. And I walk over to him. I was like, hey, what's going on? Are you going for easy? He looked at me and goes, no, I'm going for Cube. Put the eyebrows on. I was like, okay. How you doing? I'm O' Shea Jackson Jr. Good to meet you, man. So now I'm punking everybody in.

[Danielle Fishel]

Exactly.

[O'Shea Jackson Jr.]

Yeah. Everybody has to feel me. And, yeah, I was frowning the whole day. There was only one Easy E, which was Jason. Obviously, he got the part, but, yeah, from there, the rest is history. But, yeah, I was scared to death those two years because I got friends. Like, yeah, so what's going on? I'm like, I don't know.

[Danielle Fishel]

You're not even gonna get a hey, guess what? You graduated in the kitchen. Nothing.

[O'Shea Jackson Jr.]

And they're all, like, inviting me to their parties, and I don't want to go.

[Danielle Fishel]

Yeah.

[O'Shea Jackson Jr.]

You're like, this is embarrassing, so I can answer nothing. And it was like I felt like I ruined my life. Well, I'm pretty chill now.

[Danielle Fishel]

Yeah, it.

[O'Shea Jackson Jr.]

It.

[Danielle Fishel]

It worked out.

[O'Shea Jackson Jr.]

Worked out. Yeah.

[Danielle Fishel]

But wow. Okay. I had no idea that was. Yeah, that was the journey.

[O'Shea Jackson Jr.]

Yeah.

[Danielle Fishel]

Good for you.

[O'Shea Jackson Jr.]

Thank goodness.

[Danielle Fishel]

Ingrid Goes west with Aubrey Plaza was your follow up, and you play a quirky comic book nerd best friend. And that's where I think people realized, like, oh, he's good.

[O'Shea Jackson Jr.]

Right? And the best thing about that, that role, not acting at all, just being me is the best. And then everybody's like, oh, man, this performance is phenomenal.

[Danielle Fishel]

I'm like, I love that. You spent two years really getting into a character to play Ice Cube.

[O'Shea Jackson Jr.]

Yeah.

[Danielle Fishel]

And then the one that everyone's like, oh, look at these acting chops. That's actually got to be me, right?

[O'Shea Jackson Jr.]

They just see, my first one is so different than the second one. He must be good. Yeah, But I got it on kind of accident. Yeah. Yeah. Like, I wasn't. I'm not gonna say I wasn't supposed to get it, but. So I'm at a award show and I'm presenting, and I see Aubrey Plaza in the green room. Big Aubrey Plaza guy.

[Danielle Fishel]

Okay.

[O'Shea Jackson Jr.]

Going to go see Aubrey Plaza. Yes. So I'm gonna go see Aubrey Plaza.

[Danielle Fishel]

Yeah.

[O'Shea Jackson Jr.]

These nice old ass ladies.

[Danielle Fishel]

I love it. Nice old ass ladies. That's what my nickname in high school.

[O'Shea Jackson Jr.]

They stop me and they tell me how they're grandson loves Straight Outta Compton and yada, yada, yada, this, that the third. I'm like, are you all trying to get this picture?

[Danielle Fishel]

Yeah.

[O'Shea Jackson Jr.]

So we take the picture, get to see y', all, get to meet y'.

[Danielle Fishel]

All.

[O'Shea Jackson Jr.]

Turn around. Aubrey Plaza's gone. In natural O' Shea Jackson Jr. Fashion, I run to Twitter, okay? And I express my.

[Danielle Fishel]

That always goes well.

[O'Shea Jackson Jr.]

Transgressions. And, yeah, Aubrey Plaza saw my hate tweet, okay? And she was. She DMed me. She was like, listen, I got this movie. You play my love interest. Just say yes. I was like, this is my second movie ever. But I know this isn't exactly how things are supposed to go. I was like, let's set up a meeting.

[Danielle Fishel]

Yeah.

[O'Shea Jackson Jr.]

All right. She gives me her number. Text her. I said, hey, it's Batman. She goes, great. Exclamation, exclamation. I was like, all right, dope. I set up a meeting, and it's at some random speakeasy in LA that we both never been to. It's like, all right. So we go there. And she was like, so how do you like the script? What script? She's like, what do you mean? I was like, whoa, if you send me a script, what's my email? She goes, why did you say you were Batman? I don't know. I was trying to be cool. Aubrey Plaza, I don't know. I don't know. I'm Batman. I love Batman. She goes, your guy in the movie is obsessed with Batman. And I thought you were saying, yes. And I've already told the directors and producers. You said, yeah. Oh. I was like, I mean, I gotta do it now. Then I became Dan Pinto. And, you know, once we told the director the story, he was like, oh, wow.

[Danielle Fishel]

Yeah. Just feels right.

[O'Shea Jackson Jr.]

Yeah. He was like, well, whatever you feel, you know, let's just go over and we'll let you do your thing. And they let me do my thing.

[Danielle Fishel]

That's great.

[O'Shea Jackson Jr.]

So I just got to be Shay.

[Danielle Fishel]

That is great. And Den of Thieves. I know a third one is just around the corner.

[O'Shea Jackson Jr.]

Yes. In the works.

[Danielle Fishel]

How fun is it to be an action star with Gerard Butler?

[O'Shea Jackson Jr.]

Oh, it's terrible.

[Danielle Fishel]

Is it awful?

[O'Shea Jackson Jr.]

It's the worst.

[Danielle Fishel]

Is it?

[O'Shea Jackson Jr.]

It's because you get beat up so much. It's so much like physicality non Shay activities, you know, car chases, car flips, going down rope down an elevator. I don't do that. That's not me. I'm out of my element.

[Danielle Fishel]

No, we want to go to ihop.

[O'Shea Jackson Jr.]

Yeah. Right. Super chill. They kicked me in the middle of the ocean in real life. I thought I was like, does Universal not have a tank we could borrow?

[Danielle Fishel]

I mean, seriously, do they also not have stunt people?

[O'Shea Jackson Jr.]

They had divers in the water and the dude was under there like, all right, thanks. Yeah. But like, yeah, kick me in the water and my clothes on. I don't do stuff like that.

[Danielle Fishel]

Well, apparently you do.

[O'Shea Jackson Jr.]

Yeah.

[Danielle Fishel]

And do it well.

[O'Shea Jackson Jr.]

Yeah. Which is, I guess, is good. It's my first franchise. Gerard is awesome.

[Danielle Fishel]

Yeah.

[O'Shea Jackson Jr.]

You know, that's my dude. And then, you know, if you say the word madness around Gerard, he breaks into the 300 speech.

[Podcast Announcer]

Oh, really?

[O'Shea Jackson Jr.]

Yeah. So, like, just, if anybody sees him out in the street, just say madness and just watch his eyes light up. Sicko. And now he's in how to Train youn Dragon. Just stunting on me. Big jerk. But, yeah, Den of Thieves has. It's been a pleasant surprise. Like, a lot of people come up to me calling me Donnie Wilson, and I just didn't expect it. I really love that film because it's be the mastermind.

[Danielle Fishel]

Yeah.

[O'Shea Jackson Jr.]

You know, I get to be the twist. And for this third one, I'm really going crazy. From the premiere of the last one to Today, I'm down 60 pounds, going for another 50. And then I'm a bulk up and I'm a make Triple H, give me a match.

[Danielle Fishel]

Yeah.

[O'Shea Jackson Jr.]

But then I'm gonna do the movie.

[Danielle Fishel]

Okay.

[O'Shea Jackson Jr.]

Because I can't sign up for the movie and then do the match with, like, this contract stuff. And they'll be like, don't let them get hurt. But I'm trying to go hard.

[Danielle Fishel]

You're trying to go hard? I'm trying to go hard. You know, I have a dream of going through a table.

[O'Shea Jackson Jr.]

Right. I need to, like, go hard because, like, wrestling fans, they gotta, like, feel like. Oh, you know, they gotta feel like one of us. And, like, that means I gotta go through it where they're like.

[Danielle Fishel]

Yeah, they're yikesing.

[O'Shea Jackson Jr.]

Yeah, exactly. They feel, like, nervous.

[Danielle Fishel]

Nervous for you. Yeah.

[O'Shea Jackson Jr.]

My mom's gonna.

[Danielle Fishel]

Exactly. Your mom's gonna hate it, for sure. I'm gonna hate it, too. But I'm also gonna love it. As a fan. I'm gonna love it.

[O'Shea Jackson Jr.]

He's in his element.

[Podcast Announcer]

Yes.

[Danielle Fishel]

Well, you are a fellow podcaster with co host TJ, who I met actually, at last WrestleMania. Do you love being able to get out all your wrestling opinions whenever you want?

[O'Shea Jackson Jr.]

Yes. And I still have to hold back.

[Danielle Fishel]

Yeah.

[O'Shea Jackson Jr.]

Yeah, man. Because, listen, when we were. When we were just two young bucks, which is only a year ago, and, you know, we were with Rich Eisen and, you know, other companies and things like that, it just seemed like I could be a little bit more guns blazing. But, like, now I'm a product of the Walt Disney Company, and Mickey mouse will have SUVs outside the house. So, like, I just. I'm being cool.

[Danielle Fishel]

Yeah.

[O'Shea Jackson Jr.]

I mean, TJ will tell you I have. I have calmed down quite the bit. Every now and then, I have to ask for the bleep button to be ready.

[Danielle Fishel]

Yep.

[O'Shea Jackson Jr.]

Because, like, you need that. It's funny sometimes.

[Danielle Fishel]

Totally. Exactly.

[O'Shea Jackson Jr.]

But, yeah, I've slowed down quite the bit.

[Danielle Fishel]

Okay. Yeah.

[O'Shea Jackson Jr.]

I'm a father. Yeah.

[Danielle Fishel]

I'm a mother. It just changes us a little bit.

[O'Shea Jackson Jr.]

Right.

[Danielle Fishel]

Do you have a dream guest you two haven't interviewed yet?

[O'Shea Jackson Jr.]

Absolutely. The white whale. Gotta get the Rock, and I have to get him in studio. By the way, John Cena gave us two and a half hours. Dwayne. Wow. Just saying.

[Danielle Fishel]

Just saying.

[O'Shea Jackson Jr.]

No, we don't want him to be topped. Just saying. Got the same agent. Just hurry up, bro. But I got to talk to Rock. He's my hero. I have to talk to him. We gotta talk to Roman. Look, thank God for Phil Brooks. Thank God for him because he was our first episode, and I knew, like, we have to hit it out park. First episode. And, you know, we're two guys, like, we love wrestling, never wrestled, and it's quick for an audience to be like,

[Danielle Fishel]

what do you know?

[O'Shea Jackson Jr.]

Yeah. What the hell do I want to listen to y' all for? So Phil. Our first two episodes were. Phil. Cause we, you know, we broke it down into two episodes, but he was such a major part in putting us on the map. So early. Getting us up to number four podcast on Apple. Like, that's crazy. In your first episode. And it kind of put everybody on notice about us. We've had some bumps in the road, but they've been pretty smooth. Yeah, now. And now we work for the Entertainment Sports Network, which they say has its perks. We're still trying to figure them out, but, yeah, TJ hates that I said that.

[Danielle Fishel]

You have very strong opinions. Hot takes even. Could you tell me the one that you think got you the most in trouble online?

[O'Shea Jackson Jr.]

Ooh, number one. I know everybody loves the ending of WrestleMania 40. Doesn't make any sense whatsoever.

[Danielle Fishel]

You don't like it?

[O'Shea Jackson Jr.]

The hell did the Undertaker come out here for? I don't know. They even interact a week prior or anything. Why does the Undertaker just like Cody? What was that? And he just saves him. And I'm supposed to be happy with my cold ass freezing Philadelphia, one finger in the air. By the way, Philly, you should never get another WrestleMania. No, it was freezing.

[Danielle Fishel]

So cold.

[O'Shea Jackson Jr.]

Oh, my God, I'm so uncomfortable. And I gotta watch my favorite lose for no reason. Cause the Undertaker decided to come out like Spider Man. Everybody gets one. Saves everyone. So, yeah, Undertaker and Cody have. No, I haven't seen him talk since. Yeah, you know, thanks. That's greatest ending of all time, my ass. So that's. That's that one. Sorry, Cody. You know, I get it. Nepo. Baby's up by a billion. Like, who cares, dude? Yeah. Doesn't make any sense.

[Danielle Fishel]

Listen, guys, there are two nights of WrestleMania, so there are two episodes with O'. Shea. This Friday, I'll continue my chat with the rapper, actor and podcaster. Plus, we will listen to one of your embarrassing stories involving makeup. But you have to subscribe now to the dedicated Teen Beat feed. So search for it wherever you get your podcasts and subscribe. That way you never miss another episode. Teen Beat is an Iheart podcast produced and hosted by Danielle Fishel, executive producers Jensen Karp and Amy Sugarman, executive in charge of production, Danielle Romo, producer and editor Tara Subhan. The theme song is by Mark Hoppus. Yes, that Mark Hoppus. Follow us on Instagram eenbeatpod.

[Podcast Announcer]

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[Danielle Fishel]

It matters that we're here for you

[Podcast Announcer]

when you need us, day or night, and we want everyone to feel welcomed and rewarded. It matters that CVS is here to fill your prescriptions and here to fill your craving for a tasty and yeah, healthy snack. At cvs, we're proud to serve your community because we believe where you get your medicine matters. So Visit [e-mail] or just come by our store.

[Danielle Fishel]

We can't wait to meet you.

[Podcast Announcer]

Store hours vary by location.

[O'Shea Jackson Jr.]

This is Bowen Yang from Lost Culture Resource with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang. We all know the feeling when life gets really busy. Taking care of yourself can feel impossible. That's why Premier Premier Protein Shakes are my go to. They have 30 grams of protein, 160 calories, no added sugar, and they taste amazing. So they're a healthy choice you'll actually want to make. It's not just for fitness, it's for getting after life. Premier Protein empowers me to say yes to more. Find your favorite [e-mail] that's P R E M I E R protein.com if you're chasing data down instead of seeing it in one place, you need the Intuit ERP Intuit Enterprise Suite. All your data in one place with built in AI for real time insights. Learn [e-mail] ERP this is an iHeart podcast.

[Podcast Announcer]

Guaranteed human.