Ice Cube
Photo: MGM

Pretty soon you'll be seeing each of them with one hand raised and their middle fingers twisted around their ring fingers — Ice Cube, Mack 10 and WC are ready to ride as Westside Connection again.

The three put out the song "It's the Holidaze" last year and "Lights Out" this year, and they've consistently appeared on each other's solo projects and have even toured together, but only recently did they officially reform to record a follow-up to 1996's Bow Down. According to their spokesperson, Cube, Mack and Dub C are already eight songs deep into the recording process for what they're calling Terrorist Threat, expected out in October.

Cube's lyrical hoo-banging with his Cali brethren won't be his only focus this summer. Aside from his own solo album that he's been working on with Dr. Dre (see "Dr. Dre To Produce Next Ice Cube Record"), the frosty filmmaker has signed on for "Barbershop 2" and begins shooting the sequel next month in Chicago, according to his spokesperson.

Cube has an abundance of other movie projects forthcoming, but the next time we'll see him on the silver screen will be in January, when his bike thriller, "Torque," opens (see "Ice Cube Switching From Barber To Biker For Next Flick").

• Westside Connection
• Ice Cube
• Mack 10
• W.C.

Snoop Dogg at the Snoop Bowl
Photo: MTV News

LONG BEACH, California — WC, on the sidelines of the inaugural Snoop Bowl, said it best: "The police is gettin' their ass whooped. Finally y'all on the other end of the stick."

Snoop Dogg, who has certainly clashed with authorities a few times over the years, settled the score on Wednesday at Long Beach City College Veteran Stadium, where his All-Stars beat the Inland Empire Police Department Enforcers 33 to 21. (Click to see photos.)

And the D-O-Double-G left the game a hero, not only for organizing the event, but for scoring six of the Snoop Dogg All-Stars' points and entertaining players on both teams with his touchdown dance.

"It was a tight dance, I'll give him that," said Levi Baker, a lineman for the Enforcers.

After catching a slant in the center of the end zone, Snoop got down on his knees, put his hands behind his head as his teammates "frisked" him and then motioned as though he were being handcuffed.

"I got in the position where the police should have arrested me, 'cause I was doing too much," Snoop joked at halftime.

Although there were some monster hits and a few scuffles, the vibe at the Snoop Bowl, a fund-raiser for the Loma Linda Children's Hospital, was mostly — what else — laid-back.

"It's all out of love," said WC, the self-proclaimed Ghetto Heisman winner who performed at halftime. "All the funds are going to charity, and I'm loving it. Everybody's supporting the community. A lot of kids are out here. It's great."

Snoop got the idea for Snoop Bowl after he played against police in a celebrity basketball game early this year, he explained in the locker room as he adjusted his #5 jersey (the numbers were made from blue do-rags). He was supposed to play the Los Angeles Police Department, "but they backed out," he said. "I don't know why."

Keith Roberson, a defender for the Enforcers, said his team was glad to play in the game, despite Snoop's criminal record. "It's find of funny, kind of ironic," he said, "But you know, the brotha's trying to do something positive for the community, and we're all for that."

Snoop refused to make a big deal of his competition. "It ain't strange," he said. "They people, they athletes. ... I worked a long time to get where I'm at right now. I'm at a status where I'm comfortable with myself and I'm able to do things like this, you know, interact with police, interact with kids, interact with people in general, show people that I'm a people person. I'm just trying to have fun. Snoop Dogg is an entertainer."

Still, that Snoop was able to organize a fund-raiser with the authorities definitely made a statement, punctuated by the fact that Rodney King came to support the event.

"It shows wanting a solution and being part of a community in a positive way," King said. "It's real good for Snoop to put this together, and I give the police a thumbs up for playing. This is a big piece of history in a real way. Only in America can you match up something like this."

While some members of the Enforcers claimed the Snoop Dogg All-Stars included Arena Football League players and the rapper's bodyguards ("If they're his bodyguards out there, they ain't protecting much," one joked), Snoop insisted they were his "homies."

"A lot of these people I played football with as kids," Snoop said. "I'm normally a quarterback, but the quarterback that my homeboy brought out here was so tight, I said let me go to wide receiver, I can't even get with him."

Indeed, the All-Stars' quarterback was impressive, threading the needle for several touchdowns. The defense also held strong, holding the Enforcers to seven points in the first half and causing several turnovers, including an interception returned more than 50 yards for a score.

Snoop, who will also be distributing toys and food to children's hospitals "to end the year off on a good note," was visibly energized after leaving the field, despite taking a few shoulder pads during the game.

"He'll be hurting tomorrow," joked the Enforcers' Baker of the hit Snoop received after his touchdown. "Motrin will wear off."

"It was nothing," Snoop said, shrugging it off. "Did I jump up?"

Yes, yes he did.

• Snoop Dogg
• W.C.

WC
Photo: Island/Def Jam

Ice Cube, Mack 10, Scarface, Snoop Dogg, MC Ren, Nate Dogg and Case have all collaborated with Westside Connection member WC on his second solo album, Ghetto Heisman, which comes out October 22.

While the album's first single, "The Streets," features Nate Dogg and Snoop (see "WC Holds Ghetto Olympics With Snoop Dogg And Nate Dogg"), it originally included rapping by Xzibit.

"My record was dropping the same time that Xzibit was dropping his single on the air," WC explained. "And Nate Dogg was on both of the choruses. So it was hard for us to really drop it at the same time. So I wrote another verse replacing Xzibit's and I kept Snoop's on there."

Other songs on the album include "Let's Make a Deal," "Tears of a Killa," "Something 2 Live 4" and "Flirt," featuring Case, which will be the disc's second single.

Ghetto Heisman was produced by a host of talent including Battlecat, Scott Storch, Crazy Toones, Rick Rock and Bucwild. The album will be the rapper's first for Def Jam, where he landed after his last record company was folded into Universal, and he couldn't be happier at his new home.

"I feel that finally I can get that look that I deserve, [but that] throughout all my career I never got," WC said. "And I know that with that comes solid material."

WC first surfaced in 1989 as a member of the group Low Profile. Two years later he released the first of three albums by WC and the MAAD Circle, Ain't a Damn Thang Changed. In 1995 he joined Westside Connection with Ice Cube and Mack 10 and the next year they released their debut, Bow Down. While Westside Connection are not officially working on an album, they plan to record together in the future and have some performance dates coming up.

"We got about two or three shows lined up that we pop up and do within the next two months or so," WC said. " 'Cause lately we been working on each other's projects. And a lot of people, they hear us on a record together, and they say, 'Damn, can we just get you to come in and do a show or something?' We just testing the waters to see the crowd's reaction, and the reactions have been real big. But Cube's doing his thing with the movies, Mack is doing his thing, and I'm doing mine."

WC's debut solo record, The Shadiest One, was released in 1998 and featured appearances by Cube, Mack 10, E-40 and Too Short, among others.

"That album was on fire," he said, "it just really didn't get the look that it deserved."

• W.C.
• Scarface
• Ice Cube
• Snoop Dogg

Rapper WC has been added to the line-up of Korn's upcoming Family Values tour, where he will join fellow Westside Connection bandmate Ice Cube on-stage as part of his set.

The tour, which kicks-off in Rochester, New York, on September 22, will give WC a chance to get back behind a mic after spending so much time in front of a camera recently, as WC is currently juggling roles in five films.

The rapper is currently rotating shooting schedules for "Foolish" (which also stars Master P), "Thicker Than Water" with Mack 10 and Fat Joe, "The Breaks" with Yo-Yo and Xzibit, "White Boy" with Jan Michael-Vincent and "Game of Life" with Snoop Dogg.

WC has also just wrapped a new version of MC Ren's "If It Ain't Ruff" for the NWA tribute, "Straught Outta Compton 10th Anniversary," due out on November 3.

• W.C.
• Korn
• Ice Cube
• Master P
• Mack 10

After scoring a Top 3 album last year as part of the Westside Connection along with Ice Cube and Mack 10, rapper WC has just released a new solo album, called "The Shadiest One."

Both Cube and Mack 10 are featured prominently on WC's new album, including the current single, "Cheddar," while other rap notables, including Too Short, Daz Dillinger and E-40 turn in guest appearances as well.

WC is currently mulling over several songs, including "Better Days," "Keep Hustlin'," "House Party" and "Can't Hold Back," to be his next single, and plans to launch a tour in the early summer.

A spokesperson for WC also said that the rapper is finalizing plans for his own label, Alliance Entertainment, and is also considering a film role. WC previously acted in "Friday" and "Set It Off."

• Ice Cube
• Mack 10
• W.C.
• Too Short
• Daz Dillinger

Nelly, Kim, LL, Sean Paul, More On Source Awards Red Carpet

• Nelly
• Lil' Kim
• LL Cool J
• Sean Paul
• Clipse