Ice Cube and Mack 10’s two-decade long stalemate won’t be resolved anytime soon.
Sh*t is a shame considering the powerful history between them, both as artists and brothers in an industry known to divide. According to the California-bred wordsmiths, however, their tension doesn’t stem from professional gripes, but a familial one, which can make reconciliation even more difficult to maneuver.
According to Mack, the end of Westside Connection and his relationship with Cube stemmed from an incident involving Cube’s brother-in-law. In a since-deleted 2010 interview with AllHipHop, the “Foe Life” MC claimed he made several attempts to resolve the issue with the “disrespectful” individual by voicing his frustration to Cube “four or five times,” a fact he doubled-down on within his 2020 sit-down with VladTV when its host said he heard Cube’s brother-in-law got “beat up.”
“What else did you hear…It ain’t like that just happened. There was conflict, yeah. But I went to Cube about four or five times before the conflict jumped off and told him to correct the situation. So that’s the part that everybody leave out, I think. Nobody didn’t intend on starting nothing or nothing even escalating to that level. If you go to somebody five time before it escalate, then you was trying to be diplomatic about the situation.”
Mack added within his AllHipHop Q&A (via HipHopDX) that he didn’t think the issue should’ve resulted in disbandment, insisting that an “argument” amongst comrades shouldn’t have been serious enough to cut off their professional relationship.
“Basically, I didn’t do anything to him and he didn’t do anything to me,” Mack claimed. “We had an argument and I guess it was taken the wrong way because his wife was present. If she wasn’t there, we would probably still be doing records. His brother-in-law was disrespectful in a certain way. I don’t know what kind of dude he is now, but back then he was disrespectful. It was brought to Cube about three or four times before the bullsh*t happened.”
The Inglewood-native even told VIBE in 2011 that he wasn’t sure if they’d “ever speak again.”
There are also reports that Mack felt some type of way about Cube refusing a second tour to promote Westside Connection’s final studio album, 2003’s Terrorist Threats, though neither party has publicly addressed that particular rumor.
As for Cube, he’s chosen not to go too in-depth into the issue publicly, but did describe Mack’s behavior as a “violation that can’t be overlooked” in a recent sit-down with Cam’ron on his It Is What It Is podcast. He was also sure to acknowledge Westside Connection’s third member, WC, who’s been loyal to the “Friday” rapper since day one and had no involvement in his groupmates’ fallout.
“Nah, we don’t get down like that,” the BIG3 founder said of his “You Can Do It” collaborator. “It’s just me and Dub. Me and Dub, we from the same neighborhood, we grew up right around the corner from each other, so we always been down since day one… I’m just happy he’s still hanging out and go out — he’s his own artist, but he still goes out with me [on stage]. We’ve been all over the world together, so it’s a great thing.”
The lil Compton girl in me longs for the day all three of them can speak highly of one another again. Their influence on all of West Coast Hip-Hop is undeniable, but holds a special significance for those of us from the same SoCal blocks they spit about, who went to the same middle and high schools and passed around CDs between classes, smoked and danced at the same parties, and were raised on the same classics that banged through our speakers via LA radio before they eventually took over the nation.
In an effort to get that old feeling back, reminisce with me as I revisit Mack 10 and Ice Cube’s best collaborations, both in and out of Westside Connection. Even if they don’t f**k with each other at the moment, true fans still love both artists for providing the soundtrack to so many moments in our lives.
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“Foe Life”
Image Credit: Mack 10 YouTube. Album: Mack 10 by Mack 10
Year: 1995
Featured Artist: Ice Cube
Quotable From Mack 10: “Fool I’mma vet, you can bet
That I can dance underwater, and not get wet
It’s the nappy headed ni**a that can kill and rap
Everybody run when I bust a cap
Puttin’ Inglewood up on the map
Look at what I do when I pulls my strap.”Quotable From Ice Cube: “Mack 10 you know you rule hip-hop and
Ice Cube you know you rule hip-hop and
Mack 10 you know you rule hip-hop and
Wait a minute, that ain’t how the West Coast rock, ni**a!” -
“Westside Slaughterhouse" (Common Diss)
Image Credit: Photo By Raymond Boyd/Getty Images. Album: Mack 10 by Mack 10
Year: 1995
Featured Artists: Ice Cube, WC
Quotable From Ice Cube: “All you suckers want to diss the pacific
But you buster ni**as never get specific
Used to love her, mad cause we f**ked her
Pu**y whipped bi**h, with no common sense
Hip hop started in the west,
Ice cube bailing through the east without a vest.”Quotable From Mack 10: “So sun-down to sun-up, run up with my gun up
All brakes get to pumpin’, you know a ni**a dumpin’
You dread like a Rasta when I lock like a terrier
Mack 10 — that ni**a with the heat that’ll bury ya.” -
“Hoo-Bangin”
Album: The Substitute Soundtrack (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack), Song by Mack 10
Year: 1996
Featured Artist: Ice Cube
Quotable From Mack 10: “I’m on the hunt for the loot, watch your pockets cause I pat em
Bailin through the hood in chucks and stacey adams
Got the spot still poppin, got your legs still rockin
Ever since “Foe Life”, my ex bi**h been jockin’.”Quotable From Ice Cube: “You are now rockin with the west
We don’t f**k with the stress
Westside connect-Gangin, hoo-bangin
And we got thousands, so f**k what you claimin’.” -
“Bow Down”
Image Credit: YouTube Album: Bow Down by Westside Connection
Year: 1996
Quotable From Mack 10: “So recognize these real Gs, chase the cheese
The Westside Connec’ keep it rolling like gold D’s
Three-wheeling and dealing, it’s like the California style
But in the meanwhile, in my town, you got to bow (bow down).”Quotable From Ice Cube: “The world is mine, ni**a, get back
Don’t f**k with my stack, the gauge is racked
About to drop the bomb, I’m the motherf**kin’ don
Big fish in a small pond.” -
“Gangstas Make The World Go Round”
Image Credit: Photo By Raymond Boyd/Getty Images. Album: Bow Down by Westside Connection
Year: 1996
Quotable From Ice Cube: “Go to school is what you tell us
But ni**as in school is scared of the Goodfellas
We got the Yayo you can just say no
But nobody makes a f**kin’ move until I say so
That’s how it is and that’s how it’s gonna be
Kids when you grow up who the f**k you wanna be?
Like me ya black superhero
Got enough zeros to hire Bob Shapiro.”Quotable from Mack 10: “So now I stand, with heat in hand
For my whole life span, ’cause evil lurks the land
Plus I got a packet with this gang-bang jacket
Gotta hold it, keep it loaded devoted, since quoted
Fo sho One-0 got the ups on these prankstas
While my world keep twistin’ as a Westside, gangsta.” -
“The Gangsta, The Killa And The Dope Dealer”
Image Credit: Photo by Scott Gries/Getty Images. Album: Bow Down by Westside Connection
Year: 1996
Quotable From Mack 10: “My homie Carlito plug me with the amigos
So, now, it’s kilos, five and six double zeros
Now, what’s next? I’m stuffed like Kotex
Blindin’ ni**as with the boogers in my Rolex
With my aces OT on a regular basis
We got pavé’d faces fightin’ federal cases (Ha!)
Cause ain’t nothin’ reala’ than ni**as gettin’ they scrilla
Like a gangsta, a killa, and Mack I’ll be the dope dealer.”Quotable From Ice Cube: “And it’s gonna take a miracle
To drive a car this color down Imperial
Yeah, I got heart
But ain’t trying to see Marcia Clark (Punk a** ni**a!)
So let’s wait ’til it get dark.” -
“Only In California”
Image Credit: YouTube Album: Based On A True Story by Mack 10
Year: 1997
Featured Artists: Ice Cube, Snoop Doggy Dogg
Quotable From Mack 10: “Ni**a please we ain’t trippin off C’s and B’s
It’s the Westside Connect with the DPG’s
For the cheese we jab with the gift of the gab
Always clappin (yeah), Mack, Cube and Snoop rappin
Now how did that happen, it’s all good (fool)
So peep game If you could
Snoop be from Long Beach and I be from Inglewood (yeah)
Now you despise cause it came to yo surprise (what)
Two well known enemies now becoming allies (damn).”Quotable From Ice Cube: “Tell em what you drank (Hennessy)
Never tell em what you thinkin
Never tell em where the body stankin
Fuck Lincoln, fuck Jackson, bankin Franklin what you thankin
Hope your man come with the ransom
Let me see you dance on, no longer handsome
If you don’t drop off than walk off, watch him.” -
“You Can Do It”
Image Credit: Ice Cube YouTube Album: War & Peace Vol. 2 (The Peace Disc) by Ice Cube
Year: 2000
Featured Artists: Mack 10 and Ms. Toi
Quotable from Ice Cube: “You can try to smoke an ounce to this
While I pronounce this sh*t, baby, bounce them tits
Mama, move them hips, baby, shake them cheeks
I got d**k for days, you got a** for weeks (Yay-yay).”Quotable from Mack 10: “Gotta love this thug sh*t, S-Class in the mud sh*t
Pockets on flood sh*t, OG, lyrical Blood sh*t
I don’t rent, I buy sh*t, niggas jealous of my sh*t
Unaware of this young nigga getting all this fly sh*t.” -
"Connected For Life"
Image Credit: Mack 10 YouTube. Album: Bang Or Ball by Mack 10
Year: 2001
Featured Artists: Ice Cube, WC, Butch Cassidy
Quotable From Mack 10: “With the brains blowed out, so the sun’s beamin’
I got the jackers droolin’, and the hoes fiendin’
And since I’m Westside Connected got the streets on hype
I got big deals, big skrill, big wheels, big pipes.”Quotable From Ice Cube: “To all the bi**hes that think they bootylicious
I think they nutritious, I think they do dishes
I’m makin’ three wishes, or takin’ they pictures
And spendin’ they riches and f**kin’ they bitches
Egomaniac, little homies call me brainiac
Ice Cube’s an a**hole and it ain’t an act.”