Last month, west coast vet Ice Cube announced plans for his ninth studio LP, which he's calling I Am The West. With the news out, the rapper says he's been getting a little flack over the title.

So, he took to his website, IceCube.com, to clear the air and explain.

In a blog entry posted last week, Cube says he's earned the right -- for his years in the genre -- to proclaim himself as "The West" simply because ... in his words ... "it's true."

"I knew, as soon as I named my record, I Am The West, suckas would come out the wood work and have something to say about it," Cube wrote. "First of all, it's true. I am the west. I have a few OGs in hip-hop that I show respect to for help starting the West Coast movement, like Ice-T, Dr. Dre, King Tee, DJ Pooh, DJ Quik, Too Short, MC Eiht and everybody from NWA, of course. But the rest of these MCs out here are some how some way just branches on the NWA tree. So basically, if you didn't have a record out before 1986 ... you probably can't tell me sh**."

Ice Cube also revealed that the first single from the upcoming album would be a song called "I Rep The West," which he says is currently getting mastered. Next week, he plans to film a music video for the track, but didn't divulge any details regarding its concept, saying he'd "let you see for yourself."

The single will debut exclusively at his website sometime in the near future. At press time, it was unknown when, exactly, the track would premiere.

So far, the rapper says I Am The West has no guest appearances. But, Cube says that may change in the coming months during recording. However, he made it clear that he's not actively reaching out for any collaborations.

"It has to be organic. I don’t do collabos just to do them," the rapper explained.

Beats from Dr. Dre? Not yet. Cube says he plans to ask the super producer for some soon though.

In his blog he also answered a few questions. Below are a few:

New Westside Connection? Nothing planned. But just for the record. I own the rights. I put Mack-10 in the Connect gang, he didn't put me in. That's my sh**.

Mid-West tour? Working on a promotional tour that'll take me to the Mid-West.

Mixtape? I'm working on a mixtape with Crazy Toones for my sons OMG & Doughboy. They spit fire. Look for them on the home page of the site in a few days.

I'll never be on Crib

No beats by Terrence Martin on this record.

For more info, make sure to visit IceCube.com.