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Review: Ice Cube at Mohawk
Like Will Smith on a smaller scale, Ice Cube doesn’t have to rap to pay the bills. A riveting presence in “Boyz n the Hood,” he seemed destined to take himself way too seriously in issue films or lousy actions flicks. Instead, wisely, he’s established himself as a viable comic actor in comedies such as “Friday” and Barbershop” and family fare such as “Are We There Yet?”
But unlike Smith, he’s also one of the most charismatic, galvanizing rappers who ever lived. His group, N.W.A., formed when he was just in his teens, shifted the balance of power in hip-hop from the East to West coast for nearly a decade. Dude has some game.
And it was on display Sunday night at the Mohawk. Considering the controversy surrounding the opening act Trick Trick, it was a little disappointing to see a nice chunk of the crowd present for Trick Trick’s set, even if there were scattered boos. (Many of us wished he could have rapped to an empty room, even if that would have meant missing the excellent local act Gerald G.) That said, Trick Trick’s beats were classic West Coast thunder-funk, spare, bone-rattling bass and lots of gun sound effects. He also won over the crowd with a “(Expletive) Oklahoma” chant regarding the BCS standings.
Like many rappers of a certain age, Cube is essentially working a nostalgia circuit, playing club-sized rooms where he once commanded stadiums. No matter, the man is still riveting. And has a much deeper catalog than you might remember.
He opened with the comparatively obscure “Natural Born Killaz,” a 1995 single that reunited him with N.W.A. producer Dr. Dre. and segued into “Hello” (“I started this gangsta (expletive) and this is the (expletive) thanks I get!”). Deeper cuts such as “Why We Thugs” alternated with bigger hits: “Check Yo’ Self,” “Bow Down,” “Good Day” and “Bop Gun” got huge reactions.
But nothing like the N.W.A. set, which saw hundreds of (mostly white) arms frantically waving and jumping up and down to “Gangsta Gangsta” and “Straight Outta Compton.”
This is why N.W.A. were “the world’s most dangerous group.” Not the songs about the police, not the chatter about life in the Los Angeles ghetto. Ice Cube’s music changed lives, the majority of whom were white, because the majority of people in the country were white. Along with the rest of the hip-hop generation, they smashed open racial barriers that older Americans didn’t even know existed. Why do you think we have a black president coming into office?
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