Ice Cube brings four decades of music, artistry to Tucson's AVA

He's picking back up this spring with another dozen dates, including his stop Friday, April 17, at the AVA at Casino del Sol.

This stretch isn't part of the "Truth to Power" tour, but it's the same sentiment, the rapper, aka O'Shea Jackson, said during a phone call in February. 

"This is me rocking out, you know," he said. "This is me going through that extensive catalog I got, giving people the hits and some surprises in between. Rock the house, have fun, party."

The 56-year-old said his handful of mostly weekend dates through late June is something special for his day-one fans who have been with him since he launched his career as a teen in 1986 to his breakthrough as part of the gangsta rap trio N.W.A. with Eazy-E and Dr. Dre in the late 1980s.

"It's gonna be spectacular. And you're gonna get (music) from NWA all the way through to 'Good Day' ('It Was A Good Day') 'Check Yo Self,' 'You Know How We Do It' and  some of my newer songs — 'Church' ('Go to Church'), 'Ain't Got No Haters'," he said. "You're gonna get 40 years of music for sure."

N.W.A. did not invent gangsta rap; that credit goes to Schoolly D and Ice-T. But its impact was consequential; N.W.A.'s seminal 1989 album "Straight Outta Compton" was the first of the rap subgenre to sell platinum (1 million plus copies).

It also attracted headlines for its lyrics that condemned the police and depicted gang life in Compton, California, elevating gangsta rap's rise in mainstream hip-hop. 

Ice Cube went on to a successful solo career in the 1990s, releasing a dozen albums, including his back-to-back concept albums "Man Down" in 2024 and last year's "Man Up."

" 'Man Down' was a standalone record. And then as I'm working on the record, I'm thinking of concepts. It kind of don't fit that record, but fit another record, you know," he explained. "Ideas started to come. It's just me in a good groove, and I just wanted to keep recording. So I started wrapping my head around the 'Man Up' concept."

"Man Down" was Ice Cube's first album since 2018's "Everythings Corrupt." 

"I'm always recording, but I also have to be inspired," he said. "And I'm not gonna just do it ... like a job, right? You know, it's all inspiration."

Inspiration is one thing that is never lacking for Ice Cube, whose multi-hyphenate career includes filmmaking (the iconic "Friday" series, whose fourth and final installment, "The Last Friday," is in production), acting (recent roles include "War of the Worlds," "Anaconda") and professional basketball.

No, he wasn't drafted by the Lakers or Clippers in his hometown L.A. But he has a few of those former players on his BIG3 professional 3-on-3 league that he founded with entertainment exec and longtime collaborator Jeff Kwatinetz in 2017.

"It is crazy, without a doubt," he said when asked what possessed him to get into professional sports. "The music and the movies is in my wheelhouse. Starting this league is the discovery channel, you know. You learn a lot real fast and we're fighting off an 800-pound gorilla called the NBA. But to me, I want to be looked at as a true artist, not just a rapper or movie star or whatever. Just somebody who was creative in a lot of different areas and understood as an artist that brought something new to the table."

There's art to basketball, he will argue.

"The things you have to do to score the bucket is portraying motion. It's artistry. It's like watching somebody do a dance number, and you know, it's magical because you're doing it with a basketball connected to you and it's five people trying to get that ball from you, and you're just one person with it," he explained. "To make a basket or to shoot a basket, perfect art. Perfect angle for trajectory. Perfect spin. Perfect shot without positioning your face. So to me, it's all art."

BIG3's ninth season starts on June 20. 

His show Friday at the AVA, 5655 W. Valencia Road, starts at 8 p.m., with guest Warren G. Reserved seats are sold out; lawn tickets are $57.40 through casinodelsol.com.