The year 2025 marks 40 years since Ice Cube entered the music business. First making his mark as the writer behind what would eventually become Eazy-E’s 1987 debut single, “Boyz-n-the-Hood,” Ice Cube went on to push the boundaries of free speech in music and fight the important fights with the group N.W.A., who decades later would be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and have their legacy celebrated with the award-winning biopic Straight Outta Compton. He of course continued on as a solo artist, becoming one of Hip-Hop’s most prolific west-coast emcees throughout the ’90s and 2000s, and contributed to bringing Hip-Hop culture to Hollywood with his film career, getting into writing, producing, acting and directing. In recent years he’s launched the professional 3-on-3 basketball league, BIG3, and most recently returned to music with two new albums, 2024’s Man Down and 2025’s Man Up.

With this incredible legacy behind him, Ice Cube has embarked on a special concert tour to celebrate his 40-year milestone while also promoting the new music. Dubbed the Truth To Power: Four Decades of Attitude Tour, this would be one of the biggest tours of Cube’s career, as he’d be headlining arenas across North America, performing in some of the biggest venues he’s ever done in each city. For this concert in Toronto, Scotiabank Arena was far from sold out, with the entire upper-bowl being closed off and fans being upgraded to lower-bowl seats, but it was still the biggest show Cube has headlined in Toronto by himself, and probably his biggest since the Up In Smoke Tour with Eminem, Snoop Dogg & Dr. Dre in 2000.

Scotiabank Arena slowly filled up as a DJ spun records from all eras of west-coast Hip-Hop, from Eazy-E to Kendrick Lamar, and he also threw some east-coast and down south throwbacks into the mix. Besides the DJ, there were no openers at this concert, as Ice Cube had an entire 2+ hour time slot on stage to himself, and he’d get the show started just after 8:30pm.

As a fan who’s seen Ice Cube perform three other times before this concert, you could tell right away that the production value of Ice Cube’s live show was stepped up significantly for the arena setting. The music video for the 2025 single “Before Hip-Hop” played on a projector screen, followed by an introduction with Ice Cube narrating his beginnings with N.W.A., and while our side-angle seats gave us no view of the actual screen, you could feel the anticipation building. Pretty soon the man himself graced the stage, and the building got hyped as the familiar intro played from a song even seasoned fans hadn’t seen Cube perform live in years, the first words rapped into the mic to start the show: “Fuck Tha Police!”

With incidents like the Eric Garner and George Floyd killings happening decades after the song came out, the message behind “Fuck Tha Police” and the depth of Cube’s verse still resonates all these years later, and if anything, the aggression behind Cube’s delivery proved to be a surefire way to get the crowd hyped to start the show. Wanting to take things back to the beginning of his career, Ice Cube continued on with his first N.W.A. single, “Dopeman,” followed by what he called his true beginning with a song written in 1985: “Boyz-n-the-Hood.” Cube would have a special treat in store for the fans, as rather than simply pay tribute to Eazy-E and have the crowd shout the lyrics for him, he would bring out the fallen N.W.A. member’s son, Lil Eazy, to perform his father’s verses. With the nice added touch of having Lil Eazy there to cover the group’s breakout single, Cube would rock a couple more N.W.A. classics with “Gangsta Gangsta” and “Straight Outta Compton” before heading backstage for a video interlude. “Damn, that shit was dope!!”

Seeming to move chronologically from the ’80s to the ’90s, the video interlude had Ice Cube narrating about leaving N.W.A. and joining forces with Public Enemy and The Bomb Squad to record his solo debut, AmeriKKKa’s Most Wanted. He’d return to the stage performing track two off of that album, “The N**** Ya Love To Hate,” getting the crowd to shout out “fuck you Ice Cube!” on the hook, and spoke on real emcees being able to rap every word and every verse in a live setting before going in with more classics from that era, including “Once Upon A Time In The Projects” and “Jackin’ For Beats.” Standing by his word, Cube nailed every verse, even with the beat changes on that latter track, and he’d highlight how the last bar of that song may have caused tension with N.W.A.: “…and if I jack ya and you keep comin’ / I’ll have you marks a hundred miles and runnin'” (referring to N.W.A.’s EP released after he left the group, 100 Miles and Runnin’).

We all knew what was coming next, as after N.W.A. threw shots at Cube on that EP, Cube went on to record one of the greatest diss songs in Hip-Hop history: “No Vaseline.” Even though the members of the group are all at peace with each other today, Cube still performed the track for its historical significance, getting the energy in the building hyped before he heading backstage again for another video interlude. This time narrating on the time between 1990 and 1991, when he first met John Singleton and got into filmmaking, the stage was set for Cube to get into a segment highlighting both his contributions to the 1991 film Boyz N The Hood as well as his classic ’91 album, Death Certificate. The Funk grooves got heads nodding and arms waving as Cube got into tracks like “How To Survive In South Central,” “Steady Mobbin'” and “My Summer Vacation,” showing off the vivid imagery and storytelling in his lyricism. He’d next jump ahead to 1993 and cap off the segment with a rare performance of “Ghetto Bird,” the helicopter in the song setting the stage for the next video interlude.

Moving along into the mid-’90s, the next video interlude highlighted the Rodney King verdict and the subsequent 1992 L.A. riots, again setting the tone for the next batch of Ice Cube songs. This time Ice Cube would appear at the top part of the stage, our view of him from the side-angle seats obstructed, but we still got turned up as he performed the classic “Check Yo’ Self (Remix).” Although we started in 1992, this segment would really take us through the rest of the ’90s decade, as Cube went on into 1993’s “Really Doe” and ’98’s “Pushin’ Weight” before coming back down to the front of the stage where we could see him. Once Cube got down, it was time for the fans to get down as he rocked a few ’90s club hits, including “Friday,” “Bop Gun (One Nation),” “We Be Clubbin'” and “You Know How We Do It,” all certified head-nodders.

With the energy levels high, Cube would again leave the stage, but this time had a special guest come out before the next video interlude: WC. While WC has been at every Ice Cube concert I’ve seen, usually sharing the stage as his hypeman, this would be the first time I’d see him get the stage to himself for a segment, as he performed “The Streets,” with that Nate Dogg hook and the thumping bass getting asses out of seats. WC would crush his solo before returning backstage, and after an interlude introduced the group Westside Connection, Cube and WC would return to the top stage to represent, cranking the energy up to their ’96 classic “Bow Down.”

Cube and WC would go all the way in on a Westside Connection segment, returning to the front of the stage and getting the crowd to join in on the chant as they pulled out the deep album cut “The Gangsta, The Killa And The Dope Dealer.” Cube would rock his verse at the front of the stage, and WC, known to bust a dope crip walk on stage, looked like he was gliding down the platform as a conveyer belt moved him to where Cube was standing. From there, the platform at the edge of the stage lifted both Ice Cube and WC into the air as they got the whole building moving to their 2003 classic “Gangsta Nation,” another Nate Dogg hook getting the energy turned all the way up. They would next pull out a rare cut off of Ice Cube’s 2010 album I Am The West, another high-energy banger “I Rep That West,” and that was a signal to fans that we were moving into another era of Hip-Hop.

Returning backstage for the last interlude of the night, a video would play with Ice Cube narrating about the 2000s, which brought on the digital era of music and his reunion with Dr. Dre. Before jumping straight into that decade though, he’d return to the stage with a bang, coming back to the 1994 Dr. Dre-produced track he’s used to open his concerts for years before this tour, “Natural Born Killaz.” From the bomb-drop at the beginning of the song to the hard-hitting bass, “Natural Born Killaz” is always a dope way for Ice Cube to make an entrance, and he was able to use that to crank the energy up for this last segment of the show. Now diving into the 2000s, he’d perform “Hello,” getting the crowd to join in as he rapped “I started this gangsta shit / and this the motherfuckin’ thanks I get?!” followed by the only track he’d perform all night off of 2008’s Raw Footage, “Gangsta Rap Made Me Do It.” 2006’s Laugh Now, Cry Later would get some shine next, as he performed the singles “Why We Thugs” and got the crowd joining in on the Lil Jon chants on “Go To Church.”

Throughout the setlist, no matter which era of songs he was performing, Ice Cube would always do a mix of both the hit records that are essentials to any Ice Cube concert as well as the rarities we don’t often get to see him perform. It would be the same for this 2000s segment, as he’d perform his Krayzie Bone collab “Until We Rich” and would jump to another decade with his 2018 single “Ain’t Got No Haters.” With Cube not touring as often since he dropped 2018’s Everythangs Corrupt, I would’ve liked to see other cuts off of that album he hasn’t performed live yet, like “Arrest The President” or “One For The Money,” but he was running out of stage time at this point and still had a few classics left to rock. Performing another club banger for the ladies, he’d take it back to 2000 with “You Can Do It,” getting everyone to dance one last time with some high energy before he left the stage.

Knowing damn well there was at least one more hit record left off the setlist, WC encouraged the fans to chant for an encore, and after a minute of cheering, a blimp would appear and start flying around the arena. If the blimp itself wasn’t enough of a hint, the words “Ice Cube’s A Pimp!” were written across it, pulling imagery right out of Cube’s 1992 classic, “It Was A Good Day.” Ice Cube would return to the stage, and all the fans in the building waved their arms to the slow-paced beat as he performed the entire track from beginning to end, getting an extra dope moment being able to point to an actual blimp as he rapped about it. Taking a moment to thank the fans one more time, Cube could have ended the show right there and we’d call it the perfect ending, but he decided to give us one more song as a bonus. With the setlist of the concert structured relatively chronological, Ice Cube had performed songs from the ’80s, ’90s, 2000s, and even a couple from the 2010s; to cap off the evening, he’d pull out one song from the 2020s, rocking the ’24 single “It’s My Ego” for some more upbeat, feel-good energy to end the night.

Overall, the Truth To Power Tour proved to be the ultimate celebration of Ice Cube’s career, with a beautifully curated setlist that showcased his longevity and ability to transcend multiple eras of Hip-Hop. With this being my fourth time seeing Ice Cube perform live, it was hands down my favourite setlist I’ve seen him perform, and the added production with rising platforms and a blimp flying around made it unlike any past concert I’ve seen from him. While there were definitely songs left off the setlist that I would’ve liked to see, you can’t be mad at how Ice Cube delivered the hits while still pulling out rare album cuts he doesn’t do as often, even if you may have chosen different cuts. The shows Ice Cube is doing on this tour are some of the biggest he’s done in each city he’s visiting, and what he does on stage definitely makes it feel that way, without taking away any of the authenticity or rawness that you expect from a Hip-Hop emcee of his caliber.

The Truth To Power Tour only has a few more shows left! Tour dates and tickets can be found here.

Check out this playlist of concert videos from all the times I’ve seen Ice Cube over the years!

Check out the SYpherSights Youtube channel for more concert videos.

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