Who knew that Ice Cube, the infamous rapper with '80s group NWA and actor, studied architectural drawing before he started rapping? Pacific Standard Time, a collaborative project launched this past October and including over 60 cultural institutions across Southern California, celebrates the birth of the Los Angeles art scene. Recently they began releasing a series of videos of Angelenos speaking on their favorite artists and institutions—Jason Schwartzman on John Baldessari, Anthony Kiedis on Ed Ruscha and Ice Cube on the Eames House. Ice Cube tells us, "Coming from South Central Los Angeles, you've got to use what you've got and make the best of it. What I love about the Eames is how resourceful they are." In an interview with The New York Times, he continues:

I had learned about [the Eames'] when I was studying architectural drafting. Back then, I didn't know I was going to make money. So being that they put together a house in two days and used discarded materials—something about their style caught on.

As I got older, I could equate it to sampling. I see that's what we were doing, taking discarded records from the '60s and '70s and revamping them.

Pacific Standard Time is an unprecedented collaboration of cultural institutions across Southern California coming together to celebrate the birth of the L.A. art scene. Beginning October 2011, over 60 cultural institutions will make their contributions to this region-wide initiative encompassing every major L.A. art movement from 1945 to 1980. Watch the full video with Ice Cube on the Eames House for Pacific Standard Time after the jump.