O’Shea Jackson Jr. isn’t bothered by being called a “nepo baby” — in fact, he openly embraces it. The actor credits his father’s success for opening doors in Hollywood and says he has no problem acknowledging that privilege.
During a recent appearance on Da Get Got Pod with Marshawn Lynch and Mike Robinson, the 34-year-old, who’s the eldest son of Ice Cube and Kimberly Woodruff, made it clear he doesn’t feel the need to “fight” the label.
“I recommend it for everybody. You not about to make me feel bad about that, bro,” Jackson said in the interview clip. “My dad works hard, you know? My dad loved me. I’m sorry that it didn’t work out the same way for you.”
The actor went on to say that while the term “nepo baby” is often meant as an insult, it doesn’t bother him in the slightest.
“I will say being a second generation, as far as in a life of wealth, a lot of your fire and a lot of your drive got to be internal,” Jackson explained.
He continued, “The things that my father had to deal with, that’s an external flame—and that kind of drive helps a lot of us rise out of tough situations.”
Jackson also opened up about dropping out of the University of Southern California during his second year to play his father in the 2015 N.W.A. biopic Straight Outta Compton — a role that took him two years to secure.
“So that means I’m at home watching all my friends graduate without me on Instagram,” he shared. “That’s fear. They hitting me like, ‘Yo, so what’s going on with the movie?’ And I’m like, ‘I don’t know.’ That’s fear.”
He explained that the pressure to deliver was intense, saying, “My siblings depended on me to get it done. My cousins depended on me to get it done — to put our family’s name in entertainment forever through this film. This is gasoline to my fire. And then once I did it, I still got people questioning me? So now that’s even more. So yeah, I feed off that hate.”
Elsewhere in the conversation, Jackson admitted that during the first two weeks of filming, he felt “nervous” and “awkward,” often seeking reassurance from director F. Gary Gray.
Earlier this year, Jackson revealed on Sway’s Universe that Gray initially thought the idea of him playing Ice Cube was a “joke.”
“He didn’t tell me during that ‘cause my father knew that would’ve just pissed me off,” Jackson said. “But it’s just little things like that I had to use to build my fire.”
