Ice Cube on Tour

These days, Ice Cube appears more in movies as an actor than as a musician putting down new records, but he still finds time to tour a stage show that’s filled with some of the biggest hits in hip-hop history. Ice Cube’s library of songs pulls from all of the projects that he’s helped take to the top. The West Coast legend can mix it up with jams like “Straight Outta Compton” from his days with N.W.A., “Bow Down” and “Gangsta Nation” from the Westside Connection supergroup songbook and, especially, unmistakable cuts from his solo canon like “Check Yo Self” and “It Was a Good Day.” An Ice Cube live show is like a trip through rap history’s most pivotal moments, because Cube has been there for it all. Whether he’s playing Staples Center in Los Angeles or a casino amphitheater across the country, this is gangster rap in its purest form, from the man who rallied a generation around questioning the sociopolitical system three decades ago — and he’s still a damn fine entertainer on stage.

Ice Cube in Concert

In 1969, O’Shea Jackson was born in South Central Los Angeles. He formed the original gangster rap group N.W.A. in 1987 with Dr. Dre, MC Ren, Eazy-E, Arabian Prince and DJ Yella. They released their debut album, Straight Outta Compton, the following year and became arguably rap music’s biggest stars. A hip-hop renaissance man to say the least, Ice Cube has gone on to release 10 solo albums (five are platinum certified), and he’s sold over 20 million albums worldwide. As an actor, he’s starred in films like Boyz n the Hood, Higher Learning and Barbershop, and he’s produced and starred in the entire Friday and Ride Along movie franchises. He even coproduced the 2015 N.W.A. biopic with Dr. Dre. As if his stardom needed any more validation, in 2017 he received a star on Hollywood’s Walk of Fame.