Is This the Best (or Worst) Late Night TV Moment of 2010?

A few weeks ago prior to a taping of Late Night With Jimmy Fallon, Roots leader and NWA enthusiast Questlove enlisted guest Ice Cube to revive the rap pioneers' "Straight Outta Compton." The video of the performance only made it online late Tuesday, depicting a sanitized, Rock Center-friendly rendition of a song whose original endures as one of the most searing tracks of the '80s. I can't lie: It raises goose bumps -- and at least a few questions.

First of all, was this even a good idea? More than missing its saltiness, the song has traded pure anger for pure cool. There's a hollowness that's bittersweet at best, grave at worst. Then again, as Questlove reminds listeners in the introduction lifted from the record, "You are now about to witness the strength of street knowledge." The knowledge itself may very well be that even as your pleasures change, your chemistry does not. As bracing as it sounds to hear Cube censor his self-description as a "crazy motherf***er named Ice Cube," I'm deeply reassured that he is still, in fact, a crazy motherf***er named Ice Cube -- Are We There Yet? notwithstanding.

Which brings up the second thing: Ice Cube has long been among the easier targets to accuse of selling out. If indeed he is an entertainer with two generations of fans, each couldn't possibly be on more polarized, confused ends of the taste spectrum than the other. Can this performance change that? Should it change that? Think about it while you listen again. And again. And again. Because even if you abhor Cube for selling out, Kirk Douglas's Eazy-E verse is kind of a gift that keeps on giving.

[via The Awl]