Lemonade wasn’t the only musical event of the weekend. For the first time in almost 30 years, the four surviving members of N.W.A reunited to perform together at Coachella. Ice Cube, MC Ren, DJ Yella and yes, Dr. Dre took the stage during Cube’s set on Saturday night. This is a big f-cking deal. The group hasn’t performed together since Ice Cube left N.W.A in 1989. When they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and chose not to perform, it seemed like a reunion performance was a pipe dream. During Coachella’s first weekend, Cube performed with Ren and Yella with no sign of Dre. Well, with eight words, Cube made all of our 90s rap dreams come true: "Is there a doctor in the motherf-cking house?" Then Dre showed up and destroyed his classics California Love and Still D.R.E.
I would have killed to see this live. I love surprises almost as much as I love hip hop. If you ever surprise me, my reaction will not disappoint. A few years ago at Drake’s annual OVO fest, he unexpectedly brought out Kanye and TLC and I was so excited I elbowed a stranger in the face and broke a pair of shoes and sunglasses. My voice still hasn’t fully recovered. So if I was at Coachella for this, some flower crowns would have gotten really f-cked up.
I digress. People are hating on Dre for not doing any N.W.A songs. This is why we can’t have nice things. Can’t we just celebrate these legends for getting up on stage together 27 years after the biggest band breakup in hip-hop and still being in fine form? Can’t we just be excited that they paid tribute to Eazy-E by bringing his son Lil Eazy-E out to perform Boyz-N–The-Hood? and Kendrick showed up too? Let’s not be so cynical, enjoy the nostalgia and get ready for the next reunion when Dre spits some bars of Express Yourself to an audience not full of Coachella assholes wearing flowers in their hair and appropriating headdresses.
Here’s Ice Cube performing with Kendrick.
And I’ll leave you with the OG California Love because Monday. You’re welcome.
