Ice Cube, De La Soul, Talib Kweli and D12 performed live in Berlin. We were there.
As part of the “High Rollers Tour”, Ice Cube, The Game, De La Soul and D12 played two concerts in Germany. After the first stop in Oberhausen, the rappers came to Berlin’s Max-Schmeling-Halle on December 15th. And if any concert celebrated 50 years of hip hop in 2023, it was definitely this one.
As starters, D12 and De La Soul were already seen as main acts, not only in terms of popularity but also in terms of the length of the show. In three and a half hours, the groups seemed to want to battle it out in terms of skills and mood. And even though Ice Cube ultimately stood out as the final act, he could have saved himself one or two gangster shows.
Sometimes the pre-glow is better than the party
When you go to an OG concert like Ice Cube’s, exactly two things are predictable: 1) There will hardly be any Gen Zers there, but 2) there will be even more alleged gangsters. Seeing the latter dancing is almost like a wonder of the world due to their internalized coziness, which from the viewer’s point of view doesn’t have to be that bad (keyword: space). However, you don’t want to swap places with the rappers on stage who kept trying to heat up the crowd. This is also the case with D12 with their banger tracks, which once even featured Eminem. A clear plus, which was also evident in the audience, who swung their heads and arms vigorously to the beat. They set the mood smoothly without having to ask for it.
De La Soul, on the other hand, gave their best, but were a little disappointed here and there with the atmosphere in the hall and simply couldn’t hide it. Maseo, who mainly stood behind the DJ booth, didn’t miss the opportunity to come out sometimes to show his moves to everyone present – and they were impressive!
The duo also presented themselves very coordinated in both dancing and rapping. What meant: If one rapped a larger part, the other animated the crowd and took over the adlips. People were up for it and were certainly encouraged to rock along, but then there was no longer any room for screaming or jumping along.
Posdnuos noticed this and often explained that he was used to something different in Berlin, but at the same time he managed to get a lot out of the audience – even if he had to jump from the stage directly into the crowd. He gave full physical effort. De La Soul just wanted the venue to feel their good mood.
The previously announced special guest, Talib Kweli, also came on stage towards the end for a few joint tracks with the duo and got the crowd going at the end, especially with a party track like “A Roller Skating Jam Named, Staurday”. x 100.
Ice Cube’s experience was clearly heard
Well, there’s nothing else you can say about Ice Cube’s rapping skills except: clean, clean, clean. He hit every beat, every intonation was right and he rapped the songs as if there was nothing easier than that. However, he created less of an atmosphere than his rap colleague WC, who kept talking to his counterpart. Ice Cube, on the other hand, tore up the atmosphere with the tracklist, which made all rap fans’ hearts beat faster, from “Natural Born Killah” to “It Was A Good Day” to “Ain’t Got No Haters”.
Both rappers were in tune with each other down to the last syllable. It seemed like they knew each other’s next moves, even if they seemed improvised. Although in the end nothing came out of spontaneity – including Ice Cube’s complaint in the middle of his show. The US rapper often complained that the two spotlights would miss the rappers. On the one hand, understandably annoying, but on the other hand, no reason to leave the stage – because that’s exactly what happened afterwards. The MC made an announcement that the light spot should be taken care of. The technology guy sitting high up in his little cabin probably didn’t feel the half-threatening tone of command, because he then turned off the spotlights completely. Ice Cube then stormed off angry and cursing, only to then of course come back, perform the next song and praise the Spotlights again…
The mood changed so quickly that Ice Cube was either very irritable, but also calmed down very quickly. Everything according to plan or just the usual chaos? Nobody made any sense of it. Plus: Also the statement “I love all women, especially the pretty ones. But I still have a little love left for the ugly ones,” you could have simply saved yourself. Objectifying women is really out, right?
Conclusion: The “High Rollers” offered the audience the full program of old-school rap. That’s probably the pro and at the same time the con of Ice Cube’s show finale. Even if The Game was unfortunately conspicuous by its absence, it didn’t affect the overall package. One rap legend after the other came on stage, which ultimately resulted in several hours of programming at the highest level.