N.W.A. vs Ice Cube (1989-1993)

Summary

The N.W.A. vs Ice Cube beef is the most consequential breakup in West Coast hip-hop history. Ice Cube left N.W.A. in December 1989 in a dispute over royalty payments and a refusal to sign a contract presented by Ruthless Records manager Jerry Heller. Per Jeff Chang in Can't Stop Won't Stop and Ben Westhoff in Original Gangstas, Cube's lawyer concluded that the financial terms on offer were significantly below industry standard. Cube's solo debut AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted (May 1990), recorded in New York with the Bomb Squad, was a critical and commercial success. N.W.A. responded with the 100 Miles and Runnin' EP (August 1990) and the album Niggaz4Life (May 1991), both of which contained Cube-targeting tracks. Cube's reply, 'No Vaseline' on Death Certificate (October 1991), is widely cited by Complex, Rolling Stone and XXL retrospectives as one of the most devastating diss tracks in hip-hop history — targeting all surviving N.W.A. members by name and reserving its sharpest attacks for Jerry Heller, whom Cube accused of exploiting the group. The reconciliation was multi-stage. Per the Straight Outta Compton (2015) biopic, which Cube produced and which is the most widely cited public account, Eazy-E and Cube made peace before Eazy's death from AIDS-related complications in March 1995. Dr. Dre and Cube reconnected to record 'Natural Born Killaz' in 1994 and have collaborated repeatedly since. By the time of the 2015 Compton: A Soundtrack and the biopic, the surviving members (Dre, Cube, MC Ren, DJ Yella) were publicly aligned.