Probably! There were lots of us grad students on Francis's floor! But I don't think he cared very much about that sort of thing. (Maybe more than he cared about being on my committee, though? OK, low bar.)
I really do think it's named that because it looks like a cube and it's made in the ice. So, y'know, icecube.
About 12 years ago someone told me Francis said they would've named IceCube something different if they'd known about the rapper. I can't find any references to that quote now, though.
Absolutely yes, though the original naming committee (Francis?) probably didn't think of it - it's literally a cube of instrumented ice. Not so much the other way around I suspect. A while back some IceCube folks paid for a shout-out from Ice Cube, the rapper (I guess they used Cameo).
Yeah but the question was about how familiar the people involved might be with the rapper. I would imagine any 30+ American or European (probably) would.
He was a founding member of N.W.A, which was very influential to the rap scene:
>They were among the earliest and most significant popularizers and controversial figures of the gangsta rap subgenre, and the group is widely considered one of the greatest and most influential groups in the history of hip hop music
>Rolling Stone ranked N.W.A at number 83 on its list of the "100 Greatest Artists of All Time".
