The White House engaged in a weeks-long courtship of Ice Cube, a transformational figure in the rap world as well as mainstream Hollywood. | Ron Jenkins/BIG3/Getty Images
An unlikely partnership on a plan to lift Black Americans economically was months in the making
By Alex Isenstadt | Rolling Stone
This is the story of how Ice Cube wound up in a room with Jared Kushner less than two months before the election — then locked arms with Donald Trump in a move that delighted the president’s supporters and angered many African Americans.
Late last month, the iconic rapper quietly slipped into Washington, D.C., for a three-hour meeting near the White House with Kushner and other senior advisers to Trump. After a summer of racial unrest, Ice Cube was promoting a “Contract with Black America” to help lift African Americans economically. He wanted the administration’s ear.
Eager to siphon off a slice of Joe Biden’s black support, Trump had been wooing African Americans for months. Landing Ice Cube’s endorsement was a stretch, but a collaboration with the famous rapper would still be a big get. Even heading off an Ice Cube endorsement of Joe Biden would send a message, Trump allies thought.
