Ice Cube live

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Ice Cube live
AVA Amphitheatre
Tucson, AZ
May 28.2023

By Mary Andrews

It’s little wonder that Ice Cube appears in Tucson every one to two years. He once again played to a sold out house of 5,000 fans. He stated early in the set that this is his main gig, rapping to the fans. The acting, film making and directing is his “hobby” not his main gig. He created hip-hop using lyrics and his gangsta rap performances when it was just a dream in other performers minds.

Cube’s music career has spanned well over 40 years with 10 solo albums, plus group albums with N.W.A, Westside Connection, and most recently Mount Westmore. IIce Cube has been inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame as part of N.W.A, produced the critically acclaimed biopic about the group, Straight Outta Compton, co-starred in a few action-comedy films including Ride Along, 21 Jump Street and their sequels, and has been managing the BIG3 basketball league as its founder and CEO. On the music front, he most recently formed the group Mount Westmore with Snoop Dogg, E-40 and Too $hort, releasing both an NFT-exclusive album and a more widespread release version of it on streaming services in 2022, reclaiming the throne as one of the all-time greats when it comes to West-Coast Hip-Hop.

Too Short or Todd Anthony Shaw was the opening act for the night. He became famous in the West Coast hip hop scene in the late 1980s, with lyrics often based on pimping and promiscuity, but also drug culture and street survival.

In 1983, he gathered a large following in his native Oakland. In 1987, his fourth album, Born to Mack, attracted the attention of Jive Records, who signed him and distributed the album nationally. His subsequent 1988 album Life Is. . . Too Short was highly successful, going double platinum, and he remained prominent into the 1990s. He is known for his work with Tupac Shakur, The Notorious B.I.G., Scarface, and Pimp C. Tonight, fans up front knew the lyrics to his songs and sang with him. His favorite word was ‘bitch’ and he wasn’t afraid to throw it around during the set.

No matter how good Too Short was, most people in the arena were there to see Ice Cube. The set was like a party from beginning to end.
The stage was bare as the Temptations intro played in the background as he entered the stage. He waved to the screaming fans and immediately began his performance of “We Be Clubbin.’” He teased the intro from “West Up,” getting the crowd to join in. Rather than performing the full track, Cube would abruptly switch into another classic suitable to kick off a show, “Bow Down.” The crowd knew what was coming when he said the words “I started this gangsta shit… and this the motherf**king thanks I get?!”

He was accompanied by WC, a rapper Cube grew up with. WC was there throughout the set with all the enthusiasm as the ‘man’ himself.

Cube told the crowd“check yo’ self before you wreck yo’ self,” this of course led into a performance of “Check Yo’ Self,” as the crowd grooved to the old-school beat. Much of Ice Cube’s performance would go this way, as he’d talk the crowd up or have a funny back-and-forth with WC to introduce most of the songs. Cube would make a joke about how everyday with Ice Cube is a Friday, before performing that same title track from the soundtrack to his 1995 film debut as a co-writer, Friday.

The entire set was a look back over the last 50 years including leaving NWA and going solo. He performed “No Vaseline” in full all disses included declaring ‘this is the greatest diss track in Hiphop history, Telling the haters to “check yo’ self before you wreck yo’ self.” This of course led into a performance of “Check Yo’ Self ,” as the crowd grooved to the old-school beat and Cube nailed every verse to the track. Much of Ice Cube’s performance would go this way, as he’d talk the crowd up or have a funny back-and-forth with WC to introduce most of the songs he performed, then went in to nail the songs with perfect execution.

Ice Cube and WC would make a joke about how everyday with Ice Cube is a Friday, before performing that same title track from the soundtrack to his 1995 film debut as a co-writer, Friday. Cube mentioned that diss tracks can still be performed respectfully years after the beef has ended, for the love of the art and competition. Cube jumped to his most recent solo album, 2018’s Everythang’s Corrupt, performing a more upbeat track with “Ain’t Got No Haters.” Cube and WC both performed their verses from the Westside Connection track, and they both did some dancing across the stage. He performed his most iconic single, “It Was A Good Day.”

Ice Cube talked to the crowd throughout the set and honored the 50 year history of Hip-Hop and his influence on Hip-Hop since its beginning. If you can catch Ice Cube live, by all means, do it.