The world’s most dangerous group is getting back together and not just on the big screen. As Ice Cube exclusively told Rolling Stone that he will be reuniting N.W.A. for a special performance at the BET Experience for BET Awards weekend at the end of this month in Los Angeles.
The iconic gangsta rap emcee, along with surviving members MC Ren and DJ Yella, will perform N.W.A. tracks from the group’s seminal debut Straight Outta Compton for the first time in 15 years at the BET Experience concert at Staples Center in Los Angeles on June 27th.
Cube said that it’ll be the first time he’s performed with DJ Yella since 1989. (He and MC Ren performed together in 2000.) It remains to be seen if Dr. Dre will join the reunion.
With Cube telling Rolling Stone during the recent interview, “You know, if you wish upon a star, you never know. You never know. It’s like, I hope he blesses us with his presence. But if not, I’ve been rockin’ for a long time without anybody. So whoever shows up, I’m still gonna rock. Whoever don’t show up, we still gonna rock.”
N.W.A.’s other core member, Eazy-E, died 20 years ago in 1995. With the reunion preceding the Aug. 14th release of Straight Outta Compton, the N.W.A. biopic Cube co-produced with Dr. Dre and Eazy’s widow Tomica Woods-Wright.
Snoop Dogg, Kendrick Lamar, ScHoolboy Q and Jay Rock are also scheduled to perform at the BET Experience that night. With Cube telling Rolling Stone of all the hometown L.A. performers, “It’s just gonna be one those ‘I wish I were in L.A. nights. And we’re gonna rock that shit, no problem.”
Ice Cube also told Rolling Stone that N.W.A. might be working on new music for the soundtrack to Straight Outta Compton. “We’re definitely dibbling and dabbling, so to speak,” he said. “It’s all about how great it comes out when we’re creating something. We can throw anything together, we can put rhymes and beats together easy. But our expectation level is so high, and if we meet our threshold, the world gets to hear what it is. If we don’t, we still need more time together to make it happen. It’s really some TLC, tender love and care, being put into these records. We’ll see what it is.”