Ice Cube is not a fan of rappers mailing in their performances — and has let his feelings be heard loud and clear.
During a recent concert in Houston, the N.W.A legend paused his set to scold his hip-hop peers who don’t put enough effort into their live shows and instead rely on the crowd to carry them through performances.
“Don’t you hate that shit? You spend all your money for the fucking tickets. Pay for parking. You got your hair did, you got an outfit and sht. And you gotta come to the show and sing all the fucking words. Come on, man. Damn!” he vented.
“I hate performers [who spend] half the show like this,” Cube continued, mimicking an artist holding out the mic to the crowd for them to rap (or sing) the lyrics. “It’s some bullshit, man. I came hear to hear you rap, muthafucka!”
Ice Cube says he hates performers who make the crowd rap their lyrics for half the show.
“That’s some bulls**t, man. I came to hear you rap motherf*a”
— The Art Of Dialogue (@ArtOfDialogue_) November 4, 2025
Ice Cube is not the only rap veteran who feels this way.
In 2023, Busta Rhymes — who is widely regarded as one of hip-hop’s greatest showmen — slammed the trend of rappers performing with backing tracks.
“We come from a time where there was no additives. No unnecessary mixing and diluting and tampering with the holy, sacred and pure,” he said during his set at Lovers & Friends Festival in Las Vegas. “We [are] the holy, sacred and pure.”
The following year, Bus-a-Bus shifted his critical gaze to fans themselves, cursing out the crowd at Essence Festival for using their phones during his performance.
“Ayo, fuck them camera phones! Let’s get back to interacting like humans,” he barked onstage. “Put them weird-ass devices down! I ain’t from that era. Them shits don’t control the soul. Fuck your phone!”
Singling out fans who were seated during his set, Busta added: “I will point every last one of y’all out until y’all asses is up!”
That pretty much sums up all the rappers nowadays.
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All they want is the money bro. They’re capitalists. I don’t support that bullshit.
that, and rapping over your own vocals, instead of an instrumental (the way its supposed to be).
Fake thug be quiet don’t you have a bus that got set on fire in Oregon. NBA YoungBoy better than these fake rappers of the past like Ice Cube or Dre who is a abuser and probably rainbow.
NBA Youngboy has herpes; that shit never goes away.😂
Neither will his police record
Keyboard warrior
is robert always like this
For the car? New generation gay.
Cube should concentrate on making dope music and stop worrying about what everyone else is doing. Dude has been below average for over 2 decades at this point. Not to mention all the Co0n’n he’s been up to. Disgusting behavior.
@Weak Sauce Yeah I’m sure he’d much rather be living your life lol
Facts
Cube the last person to mention anything about a live performance or rapping in general…your albums and flow been trash for a minute and it all started after you made that fake ass Don Mega persona…you don’t put the same quality in your raps, and the last time you had something decent was that War And Peace album, and even that was mid, it only had a few memorable songs. You fucked up when you didn’t let Sir Jinx produce your shit! Why don’t YOU stop with the fake pimp ]pastor persona, stop making wack ass weed plate music and stop it with the weak flow and these bottom feeder producers with trash beats. You didn’t fall off, you got kicked off