YES I DID see Ice Cube this last weekend. I know I am not a kid anymore. I know I am not representing the thug life that I once threw down for. But, it was so close, and I had never been to The Grove in Anaheim. And it was CUBE! He is an icon in the entertainment industry. He has gone WAY beyond gangster rap and come out with all kinds of dopey flicks that number almost equally with the good ones. In fact, his acting career has made some suspect about his ability to “keep it real” and still be able to rock the house like he has always been known to do.

Well LET ME TELL YOU this was NO different. I saw him 10 years ago when I lived in SF and this was JUST as high energy, JUST as powerful and JUST as gangster as it was back then. He has been at it a while now, so the sound was perfect, the vocals were clear and dead on…no forgetting all his songs like that crappy Tribe Called Quest (they are far and AWAY the worst rap act to see live ANY time HANDS DOWN). Also, Cube bucks the rap world by actually coming out close to on time (even with 4 no name openers going at it) and playing for more than 20 minutes. In fact, it was close to an hour and a half! He was a true professional while really giving it the hard gangster rap show. The crowd was TOTALLY into every minute and he played it to a real strength making the show just BLASTING with power!

He played all the hits including Check YoSef, Today was a Good Day, Gangsta Gangsta (NWA!!!) Bop Gun, You can Do It, and songs from his long history of putting out some of the best rap in the history of the genre. He was giving shout outs to The Westside the entire time and his caller or back-up guy was infamous rapper and member of the Westside Connection, Dub C (also a true talent on his own particularly noteworthy is his album ‘Curb Servin’) which only added to the power of the Westcoast Gangster flavor. He also had the Dj (DJ Crazy Tunes) play mixes of tunes from the 80s and then would say “Wait a minute, I had a hit in the 80s too…” and bust into a wicked version of one of his hits and also did that for the 90s. It was great fun.

The place was loaded with Vatos, Essays, hoods and gangsters of all creeds and colors. I think Cube and I were the only ones in there with gray in our beards but you know what? We both are still full on Westside OGs!!!! Oh and sorry for the terrible iPhone photo in the dark. S’all I got!?!?!