Summerjam celebrates 10 years of hip-hop

U92 (92.1 FM) is celebrating its 10th anniversary this weekend, along with 10 years of Summerjam concerts.

The first Summerjam was at Franklin Covey Field (now Spring Mobile Ballpark) in 1999, with performances by Busta Rhymes and Naughty By Nature. Since then, the Summerjam has brought to Utah such acts as Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Eminem, Akon, Nelly, Ludacris, Bow Wow, The Game, Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, Ying Yang Twins and Baby Bash.

But this year has arguably the best lineup yet, with Ice Cube headlining, joined by Fabolous, Twista, Maino, Mr. Capone-e, Clipse and Mr. Criminal. To mark Summerjam's 10th anniversary, The Tribune talked with Ice Cube, Fabolous and Twista:

Ice Cube » Ice Cube

has a message for anyone who doubts his commitment to music after the string of family-friendly films he has starred in lately. "As an artist, when you stop touring, you stop being relevant," Ice Cube said. "I'm back in the game. I'm not going anywhere."

From Compton, Calif., Ice Cube came to prominence as one of the members of the seminal rap group N.W.A., which led the charge of so-called "gangsta rap" in the late 1980s as well as establishing the West Coast as the epicenter of progressive rap. In 1990, he left to begin a solo career, and that year "AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted" cemented his status as one of the most visible and thought-provoking rappers. He claims he hasn't abandoned music, even while he became a film star with movies

such as "Boyz n the Hood," "Friday," "Barbershop" and "Are We There Yet?"

Ice Cube's most recent album is 2008's "Raw Footage," although as he tours, he continues to perform work from his entire career. He likes seeing that his fans are bringing their kids, some now teenagers, with them "to introduce them to Cube," he said. "You have to go in there with some N.W.A., 'Today Was a Good Day,' 'Check Yourself,' " he said. "If I just did 'Raw Footage,' I'd leave out a lot of work."

In the meantime, he's preparing for his next film role, a collaboration with Bow Wow where the young actor finds a winning lottery ticket but must keep quiet about it for a weekend. Ice Cube will portray an old boxer giving Bow Wow advice. "It will be new, playing someone old," Ice Cube said. "I got a couple of gray hairs here and there, so they'll have to go all the way."

Fabolous » This Brooklyn-based rapper was one of the first East Coast rappers whose work displayed Southern hip-hop influences. The 31-year-old's fifth album, "Loso's Way," released in July, debuted at the No. 1 spot on the Billboard album chart.

"It was a little exciting. [I was] a little surprised," Faboluous said, because most of the album had been leaked online weeks before its official release.

The concept album is based loosely on "Carlito's Way," the 1993 crime film starring Al Pacino as an ex-con vowing to go straight but who ultimately can't escape his past. After having seen the film "countless times," Fabolous watched it again right before writing his latest album. He was looking for a theme, and in the Pacino film, the rapper found it. "I wanted to get more personal," Fabolous said of the album. "Hopefully, people react well to the music."

Twista » The Chicago gangsta-rapper is becoming so much more than just the guy who once held the title of fastest emcee in the world, according to the 1992 Guinness Book of World Records, when he was clocked as being able to pronounce 11.2 syllables per second.

Twista's 2004 album "Kamikaze" went to No. 1 on the U.S. Billboard 200 album chart after the success of his No. 1 single "Slow Jamz" (which was a collaboration with Kanye West also included on West's zeitgeist-grabbing debut "The College Dropout").

The rapper's sixth album, "Category F5," debuted at No. 8 on the album chart when it was released in July.

This time around, Twista chose to work with R. Kelly, as well as producer The Legendary Traxster, who worked on "Kamikaze." He uses an analogy to explain his decision to work with the "Kamikaze" producer again. "The reason I got back with him is that Snoop Dogg sounds best when he works with Dr. Dre."

In his current music, he has a different goal that is no longer about exhibiting world-record speed. "I slowed it down now," Twista said, "so it's a Michael Jordan dunk."