In 1998, Korn were on top of the world. Their third album, Follow the Leader, was a smash hit, thanks to alternately angsty and braggadocios singles like "Freak on a Leash" and "Got the Life," the style they had pioneered — nu-metal — was the hottest thing in rock, and they had launched their own traveling festival, the Family Values Tour. The first-ever trek of that name featured support from a state-of-the-moment lineup of Orgy, Rammstein, Limp Bizkit and hip-hop pioneer Ice Cube (Incubus jumped on the bill in the place of Cube for five dates). Not to be topped by Bizkit's flying saucer and fly girls, or Rammstein's simulated bandmate butt-sex, the former N.W.A MC brought out the big guns, dropping an array of solo hits but also a few incendiary cuts that he made famous with his former group. Included among the latter was, of course, his watershed diatribe "Fuck Tha Police," which he introduced with aplomb in New Orleans on October 18th: "We're on the Family Values Tour, man," he said. "This is the hardcore crowd right here ... They wanna hear something hardcore." And the crowd got something hardcore once Cube kicked into the controversial anthem. Check out the performance at the 18:30 mark.
See Ice Cube Perform N.W.A's "Fuck Tha Police" on Family Values Tour 1998
Rapper brought out controversial anthem on Korn's inaugural festival
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