ICE CUBE - MAN UP (Official Discussion)

[JeremyM]

Had no idea that was old Ronnie Reagan. I thought it sounded like Lee Van Cleef, the actor from The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly. Great info there, Predator.

[doggfather]

Kam is saying this album is trash and dated 

Kam is a hater.

[The Predator]

Kam is saying this album is trash and dated 

Cube should 'Man Up' and fire back @ Kam on wax.

[Westdog]

Kam is saying this album is trash and dated 

Kam never even came close to the level of Ice Cube's golden era songs. so let him show some respect

[WCThang]

Kam been steady hating

[The Predator]

Man Up
Ice Cube · 2025

(Apple Music)

Ice Cube’s Man Up is a sequel of sorts, a companion piece to his 2024 album, Man Down.

Whereas Man Down was buoyed by braggadocious rap cuts like “It’s My Ego” and the vicious gangsta rap throwback “So Sensitive,” Man Up leans into Cube’s more philosophical side.

He plays the activist and leader on his 2025 effort:
 
On “Before Hip Hop,” he examines the ways in which rap music is blamed for many societal ills that existed long before the genre came to fruition.

“Act My Age,” which features Scarface, is an homage to and encouragement toward all the MCs who are rapping into middle age and bringing valuable perspectives to a genre led by younger artists. It’s uplifting, and though it’s one of many tracks imbued with a positive social message, Cube still leaves plenty of time to mess around and talk shit over classic gangsta rap beats.

“Forget Me If You Ain’t Wit Me” is crafted for top-down cruises on the 91, and “That Salt and Pepper” is an intergalactic-funk reminder that age is only a number—especially when you’re Ice Cube.

[The Predator]

Documentary sample @ the start of the last song ''All Work, No Play'' is from -

Trailer, sample snippet @01:23 -

“Black is beautiful. Black isn’t power. Knowledge is power. You can be black as a crow or white as snow but if you don’t know and you ain’t got no dough, you can’t go and that’s for sho’.”
― Lewis H. Michaux

Watch full -

The Black Power Mixtape 1967–1975 is a 2011 Swedish documentary film directed by Göran Hugo Olsson, that examines the evolution of the Black Power movement in American society from 1967 to 1975 as viewed through Swedish journalists and filmmakers. It features footage of the movement shot by Swedish journalists in the United States at that time, with appearances by Angela Davis, Bobby Seale, Huey P. Newton, Eldridge Cleaver, and other activists, artists, and leaders central to the movement.

[Sccit]

Kam is saying this album is trash and dated 

kam is mentally ill

[RoscoeOutlaw]

kam is mentally ill

exactly.

[hitsaw]

kam is mentally ill

100%

[JeremyM]

Does anyone know who/where the sampled vocal scratched is from for the chorus of California Dreamin is from? I feel like it's Will Smith, which is kind of funny since the main sample is the same (Forget Me Nots) used for Men in Black.

Speaking of, I love all the scratching on this album.

[Duck Duck Doggy]

This album is fire. Better than the snoop and Daz albums for sure

Act my age BUMPS in the whip easily my fav track. Was bumping that while smoking 1 heading down the 101. Shit slaps.

[Sccit]

album is dope .. on par with man down .. way better than daz's recent output

[doggfather]

way better than daz's recent output

This never was a question...

[D-Nice]

Diggin the production on this. Very cohesive. Lyrically it’s simplistic but still solid it parts