On Saturday September 12, Ice Cube headlined a sold out show at the Queen Mary’s outdoor pavilion in Long Beach, California with a slew of other performers including Ashanti, Second II None, Baby Bash and T-Pain.
That night both Ashanti and T-Pain performed as if they had something to prove as Ashanti promoted her new single ‘You Deserve’ and T-Pain stressed the fact that he could sing without Auto-tune altering his vocals.
Ice Cube who has been riding high with the success of ‘Straight Outa Compton,’ the movie that chronicled his time as founding member of the Hip Hop group NWA, which has earned a whopping $157 million and counting world-wide.
“I love this s–t,” said Cube, as he began his set shadowed by his hype man WC. Although he abruptly ended the show after fights erupted in the VIP area just a few feet shy of the pit barricade, initial reports that the show ended quickly after it began have been exaggerated.
There were three fights in all. The first went off shortly after Cube’s son finished performing ‘Gangsta Gangsta’ about six songs into his hour and a half long set, being ignored by the performers. The second, which occurred a few songs later, caused Cube to pause the show and ask for piece.
After the third scuffle broke out a few songs later, and pleas by both Cube and WC were ignored, Cube angrily exited the stage.
But before the show ended an expected surprise came with the arrival of O’Shae Jackson Jr., Ice Cube’s son, who also starred as him in ‘Straight out of Compton.’
Jackson Jr. exploded on stage and performed ‘Gangsta Gangsta’ mimicking his father’s classic style.
The mistake free delivery that Ice Cube made popular shortly after going solo with ‘Amerikkka’s Most Wanted’ back in 1990 was evident throughout his hour and a half show. Those few souls that knew the lyrics to all of his songs were pressed to hear any differences from his live performance delivery and the recorded tracks on their CDs at home.
For more information on Ice Cube, go to http://icecube.com/.
