In January of this year, Ice Cube revealed on The Talk that he was “going to try to bring the members of N.W.A. together and join me onstage [at Coachella].” Cube wanted to “give everybody a little history lesson on Ice Cube and N.W.A., Westside Connection, everything I’ve been doing over the years.”
Ice Cube has made good on those statements, and last week he brought MC Ren and DJ Yella out on stage to perform Straight Outta Compton, Dopeman (with son and film likeness O’Shea Jackson Jr.) and the notorious Fuck Tha Police, which Cube was warned about performing. N.W.A. were told not to perform Fuck Tha Police back in the ‘80s and now almost 30 years on, the song still holds its power.
Despite three out of the four remaining members of N.W.A. performing some of their classics, fans wanted more. This weekend, Cube brought out MC Ren and DJ Yella again for Straight Outta Compton, before bringing Lil Eazy-E out for a rendition of his father Eazy-E’s classic, Boyz-N-The-Hood. Showing that he had not Forgot About Dre, Cube then asked, “Is there a doctor in the motherfucking house?” Seconds later, Dr. Dre emerged from backstage, and for the first time in 27 years all remaining members of N.W.A. were on stage together.
Although it wasn’t the reunion we were all hoping for, as they didn’t perform any N.W.A. songs once Dre graced the stage, it gives hope for die hard West Coast fans like myself that this is the start of something – potentially a N.W.A. tour?
Dre performed Still Dre and the Tupac classic, California Love, but wasn’t the only surprise up Cube’s sleeve, as his set also featured WC from Westside Connection to perform Why We Thugs, and The Game came out for Don’t Trip.
To close the set (which he dedicated to the late Prince), Cube brought out Compton’s current finest Kendrick Lamar to perform his megahit Alright. Kendrick Lamar inducted N.W.A. into the Rock-N-Roll Hall of Fame a few weeks ago.
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