Eminem (file)
Photo: John Shearer

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Westside Connection (file)
Photo: mtv.com

Like their collective name implies, Ice Cube, Mack 10 and WC are staying west of the Mississippi for their upcoming tour.

The month-long trek begins April 28 in La Jolla, California, according to a Priority Records spokesperson. The hip-hop trio play four more shows in California before heading to Reno, Nevada, and Medford, Oregon. A spin in the Southwest precedes the tour's final destination, Las Vegas on May 27.

Westside Connection's tour, supporting their latest album, Terrorist Threats, may come as a surprise since the future of the group seemed uncertain last month. But Ice Cube apparently knew something the trash-talkers didn't. While he wouldn't address the alleged beef between the three, the rapper/actor said plans to tour weren't completely ruled out (see "Ice Cube Ready To Work On Solo LP, Still In Talks With Dre").

Prior to the tour's launch, the group will shoot a video April 10 and 11 for their current single, "So Many Rappers in Love." Terrorist Threats, Westside Connection's follow-up to 1996's Bow Down, has sold more than 679,000 copies, according to SoundScan.

Westside Connection tour dates, according to Priority Records:

• 4/28 - La Jolla, CA @ Rimac Arena
• 4/29 - Oxnard, CA @ Oxnard Performing Arts Center
• 4/30 - Los Angeles, CA @ Greek Theater
• 5/1 - Riverside, CA @ La Luna
• 5/2 - Bakersfield, CA @ Bakersfield Centennial Garden
• 5/3 - Reno, NV @ Wild 102.9 Radio Show (Lawyler Events Center)
• 5/4 - Santa Rosa, CA @ Hot 98 Radio Show (Fairgrounds)
• 5/5 - Medford, OR @ Medford Armory
• 5/14 - Houston, TX @ 610 Arena
• 5/16 - McAllen, TX @ La Villa Real
• 5/21 - Lubbock, TX @ Fairgrounds
• 5/22 - El Paso, TX @ Cohen Stadium
• 5/23 - Albuquerque, NM @ Sunshine Theater
• 5/24 - Phoenix, AZ @ Marquee Theater
• 5/25 - Tucson, AZ @ Rialto Theater
• 5/27 - Las Vegas, NV @ House of Blues

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Ruben Studdard (file)
Photo: MTV News

To the victor may go the spoils, but the runner-up sells more records. At least that's how the "American Idol" popularity contest played out.

Last week, second-season champ Ruben Studdard sold more than 416,000 copies of his debut album, Soulful, according to SoundScan, falling nearly 200,000 copies short of the first-week total of Clay Aiken's 2-month-old Measure of a Man, which ranks fourth on this year's list of best-selling chart debuts. Clay also bested Ruben by more than 100,000 copies when the "AI" finalists' singles were simultaneously released in June.

Still, Ruben's debut will place first on next week's Billboard 200 albums chart, and the "Velvet Teddy Bear" has proven to be one of the most popular new artists of 2003, recording a duet with fellow big man Fat Joe and his working with producers Swizz Beatz and R. Kelly on Soulful. (Missy Elliott and Ja Rule also contributed, but their songs didn't make the final cut.)

Soulful will be trailed by The Diary of Alicia Keys and Now That's What I Call Music! 14, which sold more than 342,000 and 260,000 copies, respectively. Because of Diary's massive debut a week ago — third biggest of the year with 618,000 copies — the only place it could go was down. Her second album is the only disc in the top 20 that didn't see a rise in sales last week as the gift-giving holidays grew nearer. Of that pack, Rod Stewart enjoyed the biggest Christmas goose, moving six spots to #7 with As Time Goes By ... The Great American Songbook Volume II after an 83 percent boost in sales.

The Very Best of Sheryl Crow holds at #9, though its sales went up 32 percent to more than 173,000 copies. The rest of the top 10 slides slightly, as Toby Keith's Shock'n Y'all drops two to #4 (more than 245,000 sold); Josh Groban's Closer falls two to #5 (237,000); Outkast's Speakerboxxx/The Love Below sinks one to #6 (215,000); Hilary Duff's Metamorphosis shifts down to #8; and Britney Spears' In the Zone dips three to #10 (158,000).

Hip-hop and R&B albums lead the pack of chart newbies, with Musiq's third album, Soulstar, fronting the charge at #13. Featuring Ice Cube, Mack 10 and WC, Westside Connection's return from a seven-year absence, Terrorist Threats, bows at #16, while singer Avant's third album, Private Room, comes in at #18.

The Big Tymers' Big Money Heavy debuts at #21, just missing a spot in the top 20 thanks to the Beatles' Let It Be ... Naked, which outsold it by around 500 copies. Despite the popularity of her Tasty single, "Milkshake," Kelis' third album bows at #27 with more than 93,000 copies sold. At least her record label decided to release it in the U.S., which is more than can be said for the singer's second album, Wanderland.

Rockers take their positions further down the chart. The Offspring's seventh album of their 14-year career, Splinter, debuts at #30 (87,000), a big drop from the mark set by their last album, 2000's Conspiracy of One, which placed at #9 with more than 125,000 sold. Hoobastank's second album, The Reason, bows at #45.

Other notable debuts include Nick Cannon's self-titled premiere at #83, Fefe Dobson's eponymous debut at #111, and Ryan Adams' second volume of his Love Is Hell twin EPs at #171.

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Ice Cube
Photo: Priority Records

They said that gangstas make the world go 'round, and now the original gangstas from the Left Coast have set a date to make the earth spin again.

Terrorist Threats, the new album from Westside Connection, the Los Angeles all-star trio of Ice Cube, WC and Mack 10, will drop on December 9.

All those rappers looking for their next check from a new R&B collabo, beware. On the song "Rappers in Love," the three MCs heckle those peers they think have undermined their own masculinity with said collaborations (see "Westside Connection Take Aim At Lovesick R&B Rappers"). Clearly, Mack 10 has forgotten his thug-love duet with wife T-Boz, "Tight to Def."

The first Westside Connection LP, Bow Down, was released seven years ago. In the time since, the idea of reconnecting for another record was alive but continually sidetracked while WC and Mack 10 released solo albums, and while Ice Cube worked in both the music and movie worlds.

The first single from Terrorist Threats is the song "Gangsta Nations." It features resident g-funk crooner Nate Dogg and was produced by frequent Snoop producer Fred Wreck. A video for the song is expected to be shot soon.

Other producers on the album include Sir Jinx, Megahertz and "21 Questions" producers Midi Mafia.

Previously, Westside Connection shot a video for the song "Lights Out," which is also included on this record. That track doubled as the lead single for Mack 10's recent compilation, Ghetto, Gutter and Gangsta.

Track list for Terrorist Threats, according to Priority Records:

• "Intro"
• "911"
• "Potential Victims"
• "Gangsta Nations" (featuring Nate Dogg)
• "Get Ignit"
• "Pimp the System"
• "Don't Get Out of Pocket"
• "Izm"
• "Rappers in Love"
• "Lights Out"
• "Bangin' @ the Party"
• "Got to the Heart"
• "Terrorist Threats"
• "Super Star"

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Mack 10
Photo: Universal

If you ask Mack 10, he'll tell you that the rap game is going right down the toilet.

He says it's getting too soft, with too many MCs more focused on professing their devotion to a girl than on ripping a track. So the mission for the newly reformed Westside Connection on their new LP, Terrorist Threats, is laid out: "We gotta bring hardcore hip-hop back," Mack said.

"We're the masters of gangsta rap," he assured recently on the Los Angeles set of Westside Connection's new video, "Lights Out." "The [rap game] got bitch made. Hip-hop done turned to R&B. You go to a show and can't get anybody out of their seats because all the songs are love songs. N---as ain't got time for that sh--. We need to get that gangsterism back. It's not the same."

Mack said fans can expect the same roughneck anthems and 'hood tales from Terrorists Threats that he, Ice Cube and W.C. delivered on the first Westside Connection LP, 1996's Bow Down. The new project is due in October, and they've already completed tracks with Sir Jinx, Megahertz and "21 Questions" producers Midi Mafia.

"We got a song called 'So Many Rappers in Love,' " 10 said. "Everybody is trying to please a [girl] on the radio now, huh? Nobody is making gangsta records no more? We got a song called 'Terrorist Threats' and 'Call 911.' It's that Westside Connection sh-- you like. When you hear it, you gonna be like, 'Them n---as is a--holes.' "

Aside from the content on their LP, 10 said he also anticipates that he Cube and Dub C may raise a few eyebrows with their album title, but he's not worried.

"It is what it is," he scoffed. "Terrorist Threats. Perfect timing. It brings shock value to it. ... I understand that. A n---a been catching terrorist threats in the 'hood forever. You tell [somebody] you gonna kill him or f--- him up, that's a terrorist threat. It ain't got nothing to do with the war. We didn't have to have no war for it to be a terrorist threat. I done had a couple of terrorist threat cases [in the 'hood]."

Although it's been seven years since the trio's first LP, Cube, Mack and W.C. have all remained tight and have collaborated on each other's solo projects. They had been thinking about realigning for a full project but were convinced after they received overwhelming fan support while headlining a recent Los Angeles Summer Jam concert.

"The last record sold 2 million records, and it's time to give it to them again," Mack explained. "Just like it took Dre 10 years to do a second Chronic album, it took us seven years to decide we wanted to do another album. Wasn't nobody starving; n---as been having money, so it wasn't about that."

While "Lights Out" will be featured on Terrorist Threats, first it'll be the lead single for Mack's compilation Ghetto, Gutter and Gangsta, due July 22. Mack released a DVD by the same name earlier this year.

"It's a house party," Mack explained of the concept for the Darren Grant-directed clip. "It's ghetto, gutter and gangsta. Lowriders, bitches and dogs. It's going down fo' sho."

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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").

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Ice Cube in "Barbershop"
Photo: MGM

If you crossed "Boyz N the Hood" with the "Star Wars" prequels, who would win in a battle between Doughboy and Mace Windu?

Though there are already plenty of reasons we'll probably never see that scenario pan out, Westside Connection just added a new one in the form of the song "Lights Out." In it, frontman Ice Cube responds to reports that Samuel L. Jackson made disparaging comments about rappers trying to become actors.

"You can tell Samuel L. I'm'a keep acting," Cube defiantly raps over producer Damizza's spacey funk track.

Cube has never been one to bite his tongue. On "Lights Out" he also likens himself to a young Osama, says MCs should bow down to him as if he were Yoda and levies shots at yet another Jackson — the Rev. Jesse Jackson.

The activist, along with the Rev. Al Sharpton, publicly complained about a scene in Cube's film "Barbershop" in which a character makes light of Rosa Parks' contribution to the civil rights movement. The two called for the scene to be deleted from the movie.

"You can even tell that muthaf---in' Jesse Jackson/ Pay your child support/ Keep your payments up/ Put a rubber on," Cube spits later in the verse, poking fun at Jackson, who last year admitted to fathering a child out of wedlock. Meanwhile, Cube's partners, Mack 10 and WC, keep names out of their lyrics and focus on tales of rough riding through the badlands of Cali.

"Lights Out" is part of the Ghetto, Gutta and Gangster compilation due in May as a joint venture from Mack 10's Hoo Bangin' record company and Damizza's Baby Ree label. On the solo tip, Cube has been in the studio working on tracks provided by Dr. Dre. A deal to bring Cube to Dre's Aftermath label has been all but finalized, according to both rappers.

Though a spokesperson for Samuel L. Jackson could not be reached for comment, Jesse Jackson's publicist responded to the song with a statement reading: "We are in America, and thank God we're in a country where we have an option to speak our opinions. It's unfortunate that [Ice Cube] chooses to use that freedom in a negative fashion and to have disparaging remarks versus a man who has fought for civil rights in this country for almost 40 years."

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

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