Ice Cube brings Nightmare on Cube Street concert tour to Phoenix

Nearly 50 years after the debut of seminal rap group N.W.A., some of its members are still among the biggest names in hip-hop.

Case in point: Ice Cube, who will appear at Footprint Center in Phoenix on Saturday night for Nightmare on Cube Street, a West Coast hip-hop tour that includes Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, Ying Yang Twins, Ginuwine, Zapp, Baby Bash and The Luniz.

In addition to the tour, Ice Cube recently debuted "It's My Ego," a song from his upcoming album, "Man Down," which will be released later this year.

Ice Cube spoke with Phoenix New Times in advance of the show.

What can people expect at the show?
We've been doing this for almost 40 years. I like to say 40 years because it sounds better. We've got a lot of music people like, good West Coast music with core fans that have been down since the '80s. So we're going to party.

Will we get to hear music from the new album, or will you be playing the hits?
Well, they're going to hear the hits. I think we'll do some new stuff after that and I might play a few songs for the crowd, but they won't get the full experience of the new album till it comes out. We gonna rock the OG classics, and I might try to do a few songs I haven't done in years, try to mix it up. I've come to Phoenix a lot, so we want to mix it up so people won't know what to expect when I come. So I have a lot of songs to rock the crowd.

"Man Down" is your first new solo album in eight years. How did you decide that the time was right for it?
I think over the years of, you know, I did a project with Snoop, E40 and Too Short called Mount Westmore, so after dropping that, I kept going, kept working, kept writing music, kept recording and I accumulated some great songs. When you get to that point, it's time to let your fans have it.

"Man Down" has been called an "exploration of the current state of manhood." What do you think is the current state of manhood?
That's somebody's assessment of it. I wouldn't say that's all the album is about. It's called "Man Down" because I just feel that alpha men gotta stand up. It's not one of those preachy records; it's an Ice Cube album talking about street knowledge.

How do you feel when a new album is about to drop? Nervous? Excited?
Excited for everybody to enjoy it is probably a better description. I don't get nervous no more because I put in my own money. It's not about me making sure anybody gets their money back. It's really about me doing the kind of art I really want to do, and I already like the album, so it's really letting the world in on my creativity.

Like a painter would do a painting: You paint it, you put it on the wall and you walk away. People might enjoy it. People may not. But it's up on the wall. So that's what we're going to do; we're going to put our music on the wall and go on to the next.

Do you have any acting projects in the works?
I'm focusing on music. The start of my career has happened through music, so I want to give it its respect and attention. And after we drop the record and promote it, then I'll focus back on movies.

Is there one aspect of what you do that you like best?
I like to do music the best, because it gives me freedom to be creative. On different levels, different songs. When you're acting, doing movies, it's a lot of energy on one project. Here, I can put a lot of energy on different projects, different songs, different ways to express myself.

Nightmare on Cube Street. 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 19. Footprint Center, 201 E. Jefferson St. Find resale tickets on the Ticketmaster website.