Ice Cube has had a busy few months. Not only did he receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on April 15, he also announced his first solo arena tour in more than 20 years the same day. Prior to that, he confirmed Last Friday was officially in the works after years of stalled negotiations.
As suggested by the title, it will be the final installment in the Friday franchise that premiered in 1995. He’s also been promoting his latest album, Man Down, which arrived in November 2024 with features by Da Lynch Mob’s J-Dee, Cypress Hill’s B-Real, Snoop Dogg, E-40 and Too $hort, among others.
But at this point in his 40-year career, it’s normal for Ice Cube to have a packed schedule. After all, he’s been famous for decades, beginning with his groundbreaking role in N.W.A. He’ll cover all of that and then some in his upcoming trek, the aptly titled the 4 Decades of Attitude Tour.
“It’s been a while,” he tells AllHipHop. “I haven’t done a production this big since probably the Up in Smoke Tour, so it’s pretty epic to me. I looked up and it was like, ‘Man, I’ve been in the game 40 years.’ My first record came out in 1985, which was ‘Boyz in the Hood,’ the song that Eazy-E recorded.
“When you got 40 years in the game, it’s time to celebrate that. It’s time to look back on the journey with the fans and celebrate this much music—from Straight Outta Compton [N.W.A] to Man Down and everything in between. And not only celebrate the music, but celebrate the journey, understand some of the influences that got me to where I am and made me do the kind of music that I do. It’s time for a show where I’m not just a headliner, but it’s kind of like an evening with Ice Cube.”
Kicking off on September 4 at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center, the tour makes stops at places like Denver’s Ball Arena, Atlanta’s State Farm Arena, Los Angeles’ Crypto.Com Arena and Chicago’s United Center before wrapping up October 9 at Toronto’s Scotiabank Arena. Each venue is massive and can hold upwards of 21,000 people.
“I’ve done festivals where it was 80,000 to 100,000 people, and we was able to connect,” he says of performing in arenas. “I just think it’s really about the music and my skills on bringing the fans closer, playing music that you probably haven’t heard me play before. Most of the time I’m just running through the hits, but now I can go a little deeper into my catalog. I can bring people through a journey that’s a little different than me doing a Summer Jam or something like that.”
As of now, there are no special guests—at least not on the flyer. But that might change with each stop. When asked about that, Cube laughed, “I’ll see you at the show and then we’ll see if J-Dee comes out.”
For many in the audience, Cube’s music will take them back to their youth, when they had just heard “F### Tha Police” or “It Was A Good Day.” It will provoke memories of listening to his first solo album, Amerikkka’s Most Wanted, which was produced by Public Enemy’s production team, The Bomb Squad, a bold move at the time considering Cube was from the West Coast and The Bomb Squad was from the East. But, as Ice Cube, explains, he has a special place in his heart for Public Enemy frontman Chuck D.
“He’s my hero in the game,” Cube says matter-of-factly. “Chuck gets along with everybody. Besides Flavor Flav being mad at him every once in awhile, everybody loves Chuck. I learned that from him. You don’t have to be beefing with everybody. You don’t have to be in competition with everybody. You can just, see him as me and the gang together. I want you to win. You want me to win. You got records out. I got records out, may the best records win, so to speak.”
Ice Cube has clearly been a good student. Despite all of his accolades—including being a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee—he remains down to earth and one of the most approachable movie stars out there. Revisit Man Down above and find his tour dates here.
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