--- title: Jimmy Fallon: Watch Ice Cube Say What N.W.A. Doesn't Stand For description: Ice Cube couldn't say the real meaning behind his former group on air, so he and Jimmy Fallon came up with what it doesn't mean instead canonical: https://time.com/3987064/ice-cube-jimmy-fallon-nwa/ author: Tessa Berenson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-08-06T11:22:57.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:23:05.610Z og:title: Watch Ice Cube Say What N.W.A. Doesn't Stand For og:description: Nine White Accountants? og:url: https://time.com/3987064/ice-cube-jimmy-fallon-nwa/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc2af4ccbf3f9d1c2/69885e262dce01bdb19e4f18/ice-cube-jimmy-fallon.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Ice Cube og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Watch Ice Cube Say What N.W.A. Doesn't Stand For twitter:description: Nine White Accountants? twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc2af4ccbf3f9d1c2/69885e262dce01bdb19e4f18/ice-cube-jimmy-fallon.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Watch Ice Cube Say What N.W.A _Doesn't_ Stand For  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Aug 6, 2015 11:22 AM UTC  Ice Cube during an interview with Jimmy Fallon on Aug. 5, 2015. Ice Cube during an interview with Jimmy Fallon on Aug. 5, 2015.Douglas Gorenstein—NBC/Getty Images  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Aug 6, 2015 11:22 AM UTC Ice Cube went on Jimmy Fallon’s _Tonight Show_ this week, but he couldn’t explain the meaning behind his former band N.W.A. because the first letter of the acronym stands for a word you can’t say on air. Instead, he and Fallon got creative. The two came up with things that N.W.A definitely does not stand for. You may not know what the name actually means, but Ice Cube assures you that he was _not_ part of a group called Nine White Accountants. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3987064/ice-cube-jimmy-fallon-nwa/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3987064/ice-cube-jimmy-fallon-nwa/"},"headline":"Watch Ice Cube Say What N.W.A Doesn't Stand For","datePublished":"2015-08-06T11:22:57.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:23:05.610Z","description":"Nine White Accountants?","url":"https://time.com/3987064/ice-cube-jimmy-fallon-nwa/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Television","Music"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc2af4ccbf3f9d1c2/69885e262dce01bdb19e4f18/ice-cube-jimmy-fallon.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Tessa Berenson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc2af4ccbf3f9d1c2/69885e262dce01bdb19e4f18/ice-cube-jimmy-fallon.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Ice Cube","caption":"Ice Cube","creditText":"Douglas Gorenstein—NBC/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3987064/ice-cube-jimmy-fallon-nwa/","name":"Watch Ice Cube Say What N.W.A Doesn't Stand For"}}]}] ```