I don't know but he was completely miscast. There ain't no gang banging thug who knows a damn thing about cinemotography or using a movie camera, let alone be hired to way he acted, looked, and sounded. But this was the diversity boat so I guess they had to add every demographic they could.

Ice cube give the street cried

Ice Cube's character announced obvious things to the audience that we didn't get. Like "he fell in the water", or "I hope they've got some fuel", or
"let's look for fuel", or
"our main purpose for entering this building is to get fuel. Fuel for our boat. We're on a boat that needs fuel, and we don't have enough (fuel)."
I choose to believe what I was programmed to believe

It's pretty obvious he's the camera man for the documentary.
If you should be questioning anyone's relevance to the film it should be Kari Wuhrer's character. It says she's the production manager but we never see her do anything other than stand around and look pretty.

Ice Cube looks like a silly little boy, so far from the tough image i had of him after hearing his music
Darkness lies an inch ahead

From
Roger Ebert
's review:
The leader of the expedition is Terri Flores (Jennifer Lopez, from "Selena"), who will direct the documentary. Ice Cube plays Danny, her cinematographer. Eric Stoltz is Dr. Steven Cale, a scientist. The other members include Jonathan Hyde as their fastidious British narrator, Owen Wilson as the sound man ("Ever notice how the jungle makes you horny?''), Vincent Castellanos as the sinister boat pilot, and Kari Wuhrer as a production assistant.