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Pop Music Review : Ice Cube Keeps Cool, Chills Clash

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Times Pop Music Critic

Rap music, already widely linked in the public mind to gang violence, came within a heartbeat of another black mark Thursday night when a fight broke out near the stage during N.W.A.’s concert at the Celebrity Theatre in Anaheim.

It was an especially delicate moment because N.W.A. is the hot new Los Angeles-area group whose sometimes X-rated tales about gang violence are already drawing criticisms from those who feel the records glorify gang behavior.

As part of the regular precaution for rap shows at the 2,500-seat theater, security guards held hand metal detection devices against everyone who entered the building and made women open their purses.

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Inside, the atmosphere was calm as the three opening acts served up rap with varying degrees of effectiveness.

But the intensity level increased dramatically when N.W.A. walked on stage shortly after 9:30 and soon went into “Gangsta, Gangsta” and “---- tha Police,” two of the most provocative numbers on the quintet’s “Straight Outta Compton” album.

Midway through the equally graphic “Dopeman,” the fight broke out and a chill of tension swept the hall. Ice Cube, one of the principal N.W.A. writers and rappers, saw the flurry of activity and was faced with a challenge. Would he maintain the group’s “neutrality” stance or simply ignore what was going on to appear cool?

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In a brave and revealing moment, Ice Cube, 19, stopped the song and used the microphone to try to combat the potential flare-up. Speaking in the same angry tone as the song, he shouted: “This ain’t (the movie) ‘Colors’. . . . You didn’t come to see a fight, you came to see a concert.’ ”

With the help of security guards, order was quickly restored, although about 40 males later spilled outside, causing nearby Anaheim police to dispatch a dozen squad cars. The youths then raced away; no arrests were made.

Inside the theater the concert continued uneventfully. Ice-T, who helped popularize the L.A. gangster rap image, was the evening’s headliner, but N.W.A. was the more galvanizing force. For all its crudeness, the group--which also includes Eazy-E, MC Ren, Dr. Dre and D. J. Yella--exhibits a sense of artistic spirit and vision.

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