In a move that could certainly make DMX or any other "rough-riding" rapper/actor jealous, Ice Cube is riding crotch rockets in his next movie.

The "Barbershop" star is switching from barber to biker for "Torque," a new motorcycle gang flick currently filming in Los Angeles. ([article id="1457923"]Click to see photos from the set.[/article])

"[It's] a lot of speed, big chase, you know, villains, good guys, bad guys -- with a lot of action in between," Cube explained on the "Torque" set. "I'm one of the bad guys.

"I play a guy named Trey, he's the leader of a motorcycle gang called the Reapers, out of Inglewood," he continued. "He kinda gets after the lead character when he thinks that he has something to do with [his] brother's death. So I'm kinda after him half the movie."

"Torque" will mark the feature-film debut of music video director Joseph Kahn, whose resume reads like the Billboard 200. Kahn has worked with Christina Aguilera, Destiny's Child, the Backstreet Boys, 'NSYNC and Korn, to name a few. He's also the man behind Eminem's cartoonish "Without Me," Em nemesis Moby's "We Are All Made of Stars" and Cube's 1997 video for "The World Is Mine."

"I actually turned down the movie two times before I [decided to do] it," Kahn admitted. "I was offered like every motorcycle script in Hollywood. 'Cause everybody thinks that motorcycles are the next big thing. So I was thinking, 'I don't want to make a motorcycle movie, I mean, how cool can that be?'

"But then I was thinking ... take yourself outside of the concept of just the motorcycle and think of it as a chase movie and an action movie," he continued. "All of a sudden, all these images started coming -- how would I shoot an action scene, what would my heroes look like, how would they dress, how do I want the motorcycles to move ... Then I got really excited."

"Torque" also stars Martin Henderson ("Windtalkers"), Monet Mazur ("40 Days and 40 Nights"), Jaime Pressly ("Not Another Teen Movie") and Jay Hernandez ("Joy Ride") in its relatively large cast. In addition to the Reapers, there's a gang called the Hellions. Henderson's character is the "good guy" framed for the murder of Trey's brother, who spends much of the movie on the run from both the FBI and Trey's gang.

The movie is slated for release next summer.

"It's going to be a kick-ass movie, with stunts that you've pretty much never seen before," Kahn promised. "And a visual style that'll just floor you."

"It's a hell of a movie," Cube agreed. "It's 'The Fast and the Furious' and 'XXX' times 10."