When Selena Gomez dished about her first celebrity crush in a recent episode of GOAT Talk with Karol G, she didn’t pick the most typical kiddie-choice cover boy, the pop star heartthrob or teen idol. Instead, she took a joyfully unexpected turn: “Can I tell you the first one that I had a crush on? Ice Cube,” she admitted with a chuckle. “I had the most crush on him. I was, like, five. “It’s so bizarre, but I just thought he would have my back.”

Protective force field aside, Ice Cube, the rapper-turned-N.W.A. icon with his hard-edged rhymes and tough-guy persona, likely wasn’t on the crush lists of many pre-K kids, but Selena was in the business of seeing into the murky depths of time. She even paid lip service to Eminem, who she said her DJ father played for her as a young child, although First Ice Cube would forever hold her five-year-old heart.

So far, the rap legend himself has yet to respond. Still, the story became even more delightful when fans remembered that one of Ice Cube’s sons, actor and rapper O’Shea Jackson Jr., has had an enduring crush on Selena Gomez, and he hasn’t been quite as subtle about it.

In 2015, Jackson tweeted after seeing one of Gomez’s hair commercials, and wrote, “I don’t know bout you @selenagomez but let’s make these dudes pile up by some hair washing #donate #itwontkillu.” Later that year, when Ice Cube popped up in a photo with Taylor Swift at the MTV VMAs, Jackson added, “Long as Selena there I’m good.”

Fast-forward to 2023, and the crushes hadn’t cooled. Jackson had kind words for Gomez’s ballad “Lose You to Love Me,” which he called “still F##### amazing.” That’s almost a decade of public Selena shoutouts, and he’s been carrying that torch for a long time.

Now, here’s the twist: Gomez, who has historically been tight-lipped about her romance, is now engaged to music producer Benny Blanco. Sure, that news is a bit of a downer for Jackson’s long-shot dreams, but it also adds some bittersweet memories to this full-circle moment.

It’s the sort of story that could only happen in the maddening world of pop culture: A grade school crush on a rap star grows into a love triangle with tentacles that stretch generations, Twitter timelines, and shampoo ads.

There’s no mention of how Ice Cube feels about any of this yet, but if he was Gomez’s tween dream of a strong male protector, clearly his son caught something of that vibe, crush included. In the end, Selena Gomez may not be joining some family cipher with the Cube dynasty anytime soon, but she’s made her impression on two generations of West Coast royalty.