Father Cube

In the meantime, Cube is offering up War and Peace, which balance social exposes like "3 Strikes You In" and "Ghetto Vet" with "War and Peace" and "Limos, Demos and Bimbos," the last two featuring samples by No Doubt and the Police, respectively. (Puffy would approve.)

There's also "Fuck Dying," to which Korn contributed after the completion of "Children of the Korn." Cube implies that the combination of these songs and the Family Values tour may result in an album-length teaming between him and the band. "I want to do something so good that the hard-core rap fans are going to love it and the hard-core rock fans are going to love it, too," he says.

That's a tall order, but Cube believes that it's within his grasp. He admits, however, that perfecting the synthesis of rock and rap isn't as important to him as who's waiting for him at home at the end of the day. "My biggest challenge in life is to take the position that I'm in and expand it to where I can benefit my family, and my kids' kids, and their kids' kids. I'm the only person in my family who's been in the position that I'm in, so I want to take full advantage of every opportunity that I have to make sure that my kids don't have to worry about what I had to worry about."

Ice Cube is scheduled to perform as part of the Family Values tour, along with Korn, Rammstein, Limp Bizkit, and Orgy, at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, October 8, at America West Arena. Call 379-7800.