Ice Cube not 'a hard man'

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I'm not a hardman, says Ice Cube

Ice Cube admits people assume he's an "a*****e" even before they've met him.

The rapper-turned-actor concedes that the public has a well-established perception of him as something of a hardman, but he insists their opinion does not chime with the reality.

The 45-year-old star - who married his wife Kimberly in 1992 - explained to the Observer newspaper: "People think I'm a lot harder than I am. They meet me expecting an a*****e, then get to know me and are surprised that I'm not so bad.

"Not providing for my family scares me. I've been married to my wife for more than 20 years and we've raised four children together. I'm only one man, and I want them set up for when I'm no longer here."

The rapper, whose new film 'The Book of Life' is released on October 24, says that people also assume he has negligible respect for women based on the lyrical content of his music. However, he insists that's far from the case.

The former N.W.A. member remarked: "I've always respected women. People don't see that because of some of my lyrics, but nobody's safe on my records. Everybody gets it: women, men, black, white - if you're doing stupid s***, I'm going to call you out on it."