Michael Heizer: Well, it was convenient to New York. And I did a lot of stuff in the Mojave out of L.A. because L.A. was—
Ice Cube: Going to New York for me wasn’t even an option.
Heizer: I didn’t even own a camera. Back then, it wasn't so fun, was it?
Ice Cube: No. [both laugh] It was like a marathon.
Heizer: A lot of bad things happened after that.
***
Ice Cube: When your senses are at a high, you’re absorbing more information than you probably would when you’re at home, so I think I was a little bit more focused.
Heizer: So you can’t escape it. No point in trying to.
Ice Cube: In a way, yes. That becomes a badge of honor.
Heizer: You spend the next 50 years broke.
Ice Cube: Audiences don’t care.
***
Heizer: If you wanted an image that showed the end result, you could stand above it and shoot looking down at the circular hole in the ground.
Ice Cube: Hell, yes. That’s how you get respect in Hollywood.
Heizer: That's the first time I ever saw a projection in my life, other than colors blown on the side of some castle falling apart in Italy.
Ice Cube: A lot of people have a misconception of what the ghetto is all about.
Heizer: You’re forgetting something.