Ice Cube live in Tucson
AVA Amphitheatre
Tucson, AZ
September 11, 2021
Ice Cube brought his explosive, animated performance to a packed, sold out house at AVA Amphitheatre. Ice Cube is known to have changed the face of hip-hop forever both as a member of N.W.A. and as a solo artist. Even though he has progressed to be an actor, director, and filmmaker, Ice Cube will be forever remembered as the West coast’s premier ‘gangsta’ rap performer and lyric writer.
Early in the show, Ice Cube introduced himself. “We started doing this shit in 1983, 1984. We had to do it our way to breakthrough. After 30 years of this shit, Tucson, . . .I ain’t got too much bullshit on this stage to clutter it up. This is how we started. Allow me to introduce myself.”
Ice Cube was accompanied by WC, a rapper that Ice Cube “grew up with.” WC hung in with Ice Cube throughout the 90-minute show with the same enthusiasm as the star.
Later, Ice Cube continued to describe his music. “If you’ve got a weak heart, you might want to leave the building right now. We started doing this music and it was so hardcore to some people. They didn’t know what to do with it. They didn’t know what to think of it. They didn’t know how to label it. They called it ‘gangsta’ rap. That’s cool. When we first started it, it was reality rap.” Ice Cube took the ecstatic fans back to 1989.
N.W.A. seemed to be a large segment of the show. Ice Cube explained, “I loved being a part of N.W.A. but they dissed me because I went solo because my money was funny. The mutha-fuckers got mad and dissed me. You know what happens when you dis me? I gotta dis you back. And when I dis you back, I’m going to give it to you good . . .But those are my people. I love them. I love the boys of N.W.A.”
Ice Cube and WC split up the crowd into segments to see which side could sing the loudest. It’s not a new tactic in a show, but the crowd complied and loved doing it.
He moved on to some tracks of his solo hits and ending the night with “It Was A Good Day.” Each song took the crowd back to the day when rap was poetic and sent a social message. Music videos of each track played on a screen in the background that brought cheers from the crowd. Just about everything Ice Cube did brought cheers from the crowd, even a song strictly for the ladies, “You Can Do It.”
Someone from behind the curtain informed Ice Cube it was time to end the show. He responded, “We are going to do it as long as we want to do it.” And the show went on until Ice Cube was ready to end it.
Tucson is in the midst of the pandemic that has arrested the country as a whole. Ice Cube managed to get a thousand fans to forget the outside world and have a “Good Day.”
For a complete setlist, click here
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