USC and UCLA square off today at the Coliseum, but it wasn't allegiance to the Trojans or Bruins that brought Ice Cube to the empty stadium earlier this week. He was lamenting a team that hasn't taken the field here in more than 14 years.
Rather than celebrating the cardinal-and-gold or the blue-and-gold, the rapper-actor-producer roamed the stands recalling the darker, more ominous colors belonging to the last NFL team to call the Coliseum home -- the Los Angeles Raiders, a band of outlaw athletes who united rowdy football fanatics and hip-hoppers with roughhouse antics and championship play.
"The silver and black may have another home," said Cube, motioning to the vast emptiness of the stadium as a small camera crew followed him, "but the Raiders will always belong to the people of Los Angeles."
Cube was finishing up his upcoming salute to the departed Raiders -- now in the midst of another losing season in Oakland -- for ESPN as part of the cable network's "30 for 30," a slate of documentaries by several noted filmmakers including Barry Levinson, Peter Berg and John Singleton. Cube produced the film, which will combine archival footage with interviews with numerous celebrities, athletes and journalists (several Los Angeles Times sportswriters are participating in the film).
The title of Cube's project, "Straight Outta L.A." is a play on the title of the landmark album he and gangsta rap group N.W.A. recorded just over 20 years ago, "Straight Outta Compton."
"Straight Outta L.A.," which does not yet have an air date, chronicles how the Raiders between 1982 and the team's announced departure in 1995 were embraced by gangsta rappers as hip-hop exploded on the music scene. In one of the first instances of merchandising synergy between sports teams and cultural cliques, rappers started wearing Raiders gear -- black and silver jackets, hats and hoodies emblazoned with the team's logo of an eye-patch-wearing pirate. They showed up at games, and their rowdy behavior was an integral element of the ambience that intimidated calmer fans.
"The Raiders had a cast of characters that looked like a gang of pirates," he said, fingering the Raiders windbreaker he wore over his Raiders shirt. "Any kind of outlaw mentality we loved. It wasn't that they were bad. They just played by their own rules."
