Ice Cube has given Common his flowers and shared that prior to their beef, he came to his aid and somewhat welcomed him with open arms.
In a new interview with Fake Shore Drive‘s Andrew Barber for a new White Sox documentary, Cube can be seen discussing his first-ever show in Chitown — which included a run-in with the Like Water For Chocolate rapper.
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“Love Chicago. My first show — my first big show outside of L.A. was at the Regal Theater in Chicago. We forgot our record. We forgot one of our records that we were performing,” he explains in the clip. “Guess who took me to the record store to buy the record? I had to go buy our own record. It was Common.”
He continued: “He was opening up for us. I mean, we didn’t really know who he was and you know that’s just ya know one of those footnotes. Chicago has always welcomed us before the rest of the country. It was Chicago.”
I recently interviewed Ice Cube for a doc I worked on w/ the White Sox. He told a story I'd never heard him – or anyone tell.
At his first Chicago show, Common was the opener. Cube's DJ forgot a record & Common had to drive Cube to a store to buy it.
Years before their beef. pic.twitter.com/IW2NAQ3FF6
— Andrew Barber (@fakeshoredrive) August 24, 2023
Earlier this week, Ice Cube and Common’s tumultuous past made headlines after Outlawz member Napoleon claimed 2Pac was ready to take aim at the Chicago rapper in the mid-1990s over their on-going public strife.
In a sit-down interview with The Art of Dialogue, ‘Pac’s former protégé said the late All Eyez On Me rapper “looked up to Cube” and was down to defend him against Common — only he was dealing with his own friction with the N.W.A. legend.
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“I remember when the East Coast-West Coast thing was heating up, I think Common and Cube was going through their beef, like they were dissing each other,” Napoleon said. “I remember ‘Pac was like, ‘See, if I was cool with Cube right now, I’d be going after Common for him, but now I’m staying out of it.’”
He continued: “‘Pac had a lot of love for Cube. I never heard him say anything negative about him. I think at one particular time they were closer, and maybe they just went their separate ways. But that’s the only thing I heard him say about Cube, but he definitely respected Cube.”
Napoleon went on to say that because 2Pac and Common “had a lot in common,” his former groupmate “would’ve regretted going at him.”
“Good thing he didn’t go at Common ’cause they like the same. If they ever had met each other, they would’ve had a lot of love and respect for each other.”
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In 1995, Ice Cube dissed Common on the Mack 10 track “Westside Slaughterhouse” in response to his classic ode to Hip Hop, “I Used to Love H.E.R.,” which he felt was a slight against West Coast rappers and their growing dominance in the industry.
Later, Common fired back with a diss record of his own, “The Bitch In Yoo.” Both men were able to squash their beef after meeting with Minister Louis Farrakhan in 1997 and later appeared in the 2016 movie Barbershop: The Next Cut together.
