’90s hip-hop continues to be the gift that keeps on giving. 2024 has seen hip-hop artists Missy Elliott, Busta Rhymes, Nelly, LL Cool J, and members of the Wu Tang Clan sell out theaters and arenas in Detroit. That energy continued Saturday night as Ice Cube, Scarface, EPMD, and MC Eiht brought their “Grand Finale” tour to Detroit’s Fox Theatre.
“Real fans of the music, and to me if you were able to make it in the ’90s then it was no accident,” Ice Cube told Metro Times last week before his big show at the Fox. “People that were extremely lucky might have a hit song here and there, but the ones with the staying power — I just think they made their mark and made an impression.”
Ice Cube, now 55, has been one of hip-hop’s biggest artists and entertainment moguls. The South Los Angeles native has penned 15 solo and group albums, acted in and produced over 40 movies, and owns the Big3 basketball league.
But despite all these successful endeavors, music remains where his heart is. “I’m a b-boy at the end of the day. I did hip-hop for fun — I didn’t know I was going to make no money off of it,” he says with a chuckle.
“I love to do records,” he adds “It satisfies me creatively. With a movie, you're with so many people to create a big big piece of content like that. But with a record, a producer and engineer can knock it out.”
With his new album, Man Down, Cube gives a mix of classic ’90s West Coast G-funk and newer 2020 vibes.
“I just try to give people quintessential Ice Cube,” he says. “If you’ve been a Day One fan, I wanted to serve you. … I want to give you a record that you can love and take you back to those feelings in the ’90s.”
Led by Kendrick Lamar, West Coast hip-hop has gained a renewed interest this year. His Juneteenth “Pop Out” concert has garnered nearly 62 million combined streams and introduced hip-hop fans to a plethora of new West Coast emcees.
“It's beautiful,” Cube says. “It's definitely perfect for what I'm doing. And the pendulum swings — it goes east, west, south … everybody gets their run.”
Cube says he’s always admired how passionate Detroit fans are about his music and has several memorable stories about rocking Detroit stages. But the famed 1989 NWA concert at Joe Louis Arena that was impeded by Detroit police officers will always be his favorite.
“It's cool — they just had to prove their point: You can’t come to Detroit with that kind of song,” he says. “But they still love us in Detroit.”
Last night’s show was all ’90s nostalgia and without any police interference. Cube took the stage in a blue mink coat and performed material from his entire discography, including “Check Yo Self,” “Jackin’ for Beats,” “Friday,” “We Be Clubbin’,” and many more.
His friend and fellow emcee WC played the role of hype man as scenes from Cube’s films were shown in the background. After teasing the crowd, saying, “I’m going to do one more song” toward the end, Cube closed out the night with “It Was a Good Day,” his first song to amass a billion streams on Spotify.
