Common on Ice Cube Beef: 'We Had a Little Confrontation and I Was Like, Man, This Might Get Ugly'

The two rappers sparred in the mid-'90s when Cube took offense to a line in Com's "I Used to Love H.E.R."

May 16, 2024

Common and Ice Cube pose separately, Common in a beige jacket, Ice Cube in a blue jacket with graphic tee, at music events

Beef seems to be a rite of passage in rap.

Common stopped by Carmelo Anthony and The Kid Mero’s podcast, 7PM in Brooklyn, to discuss feuding with Ice Cube in the 90s. The Chicago native had the final word with 1996’s “The Bitch in Yoo,” which followed Cube’s diss on Mack 10’s “Westside Slaughterhouse.”

“At the end of the day I'm a warrior too,” Common told the hosts around the 30:45 minute mark. “Meaning I'm from the south side of Chicago. If you at a certain point, if you just come at me, I'mma defend myself and I'mma go at you, I'mma fight to kill, John Wick style.”

“But ultimately because I felt good that we kept it just on wax,” he continued. “It was getting to that point with me and Cube, because they just was looking at me like, ‘Oh, Common just the backpack dude.’ But then we had a little confrontation in Atlanta and this was like '95 where, and like I said, me and Cube, it is all love...now, but at that point it was like a little, we had a little confrontation and I was like, ‘Man, this might get ugly.’

“And thank God for Minister Farrakhan ‘cause at that time, Biggie had just passed, obviously [2Pac] passed before him and it was just like, man, you don't know who going to do what, he continued”

Ice Cube had originally taken offense to Com’s analogy in “I Used to Love H.E.R.,” with the line, "I wasn't salty she was with them Boyz N the Hood.” Cube later returned fire on Mack 10’s song, rapping, "All you suckas wanna diss the Pacific, but you busta n***as never get specific/Used to love H.E.R., mad 'cause we fucked her/Pussy-whipped bitch, with no Common Sense."

Common shot back on “The Bitch in Yoo,” cautioning that he had no “busta” in him, and that Cube had “backed into a Four Corner Hustler.” He also deemed Cube to be a washed-up gangsta rapper whose last good album was Amerikkka’s Most Wanted. The beef was squashed with the help of Minister Louis Farrakhan, who arranged a sit-down with the two rappers.