As a Sideshow for his slot headlining this years Fat As Butter festival, Ice Cube – easily one of the greatest and most influential hip-hop artists to come out of America’s west coast – packed out Luna Park’s Big Top with local and international supports to bring the feel of raw gangsta rap to Sydney.

After waiting in a massive line, I entered the venue to the sounds of Scorcher; a UK grime MC ready to showcase his talent to a near-sold out venue. With tracks that payed way too much attention to cheesy hooks such as “I Make Money,” (repeated over 10 times) he did little to impress the very silent crowd. Trying to win fans over, Scorcher had DJ Victor Lopez drop the well-known “Bonkers” by Dizzee Rascal as he proceeded to, well, shout a few words over it, which received a very small reaction from a very impatient crowd.

DJ Victor Lopez did a great job warming the crowd up for Cube’s arrival by taking us through popular classics from Cypress Hill’s ‘How Could I Just Kill A Man’ to, surprisingly, “93 ‘Till Infinity” by Souls of Mischief. By the end of this DJ interlude the fans were craving for the headline act.

Luckily, and very rarely at Hip-Hop concerts in Australia; the proposed schedule was well adhered to as Ice Cube hit the stage at exactly 10pm with fellow Westside Connection member WC – the organisers (Red Ant touring) should be commended.
Cube made a welcome decision to start from the beginning of his career and work his way through tracks in chronological order. 

He started by taking us all the way back to 1988 with the N.W.A classics “straight outta Compton” and “gangsta gangsta.” Making it known that he started a successful solo career in 1990 with “AmeriKKKas Most Wanted” he performed my personal favourite “the n**** ya love to hate” and continued to storm through tracks from his subsequent albums (leaving out “Kill at Will EP” and “The War Disc”) right up until Westside Connection’s ‘Bow Down’, where he skipped all the way to his massive club hit “you can do it.”

By this point in the concert, the crowd were eating out of the palm of Cube’s hand, as he closed the main set with ‘Do Ya Thing’ from “Raw Footage.”

Cube didn’t keep us waiting for too long as he rushed back out with an encore consisting of a few tracks from his latest album “I Am The West” – a very appropriate title as he proved that no west coast rapper will ever out-do Ice Cube.

This was a history lesson from one of the most respected rappers of all time and it did not disappoint.

Set List
Straight outta Compton (From N.W.A’s “Straight Outta Compton”)
Gangsta Gangsta (From N.W.A’s “Straight Outta Compton”)
The N**** Ya Love To Hate (From “AmeriKKKa’s Most Wanted")
How To Survive In South Central (From “Boyz N The Hood Soundtrack”)
Jackin’ For Beats (From "AmeriKKKa’s Most Wanted")
Steady Mobbin’ (From “Death Certificate”)
Check Yo’ Self (From “The Predator”)
Today Was A Good Day (From “The Predator”)
You Know How We Do It (From “Lethal Injection”)
Bop Gun (One Nation) (From “Lethal Injection”)
Bow Down (From Westside Connection’s “Bow Down”)
Gangsta Nation (From Westside Connection’s “Terrorist Threats”)
You Can Do It (From “War & Peace Vol 2: The Peace Disc”)
Hello (From “War & Peace Vol 2: The Peace Disc”)
Why We Thugs (From “Laugh Now, Cry Later”)
Smoke Some Weed (From “Laugh Now, Cry Later”)
Go To Church (From “Laugh Now, Cry Later”)
Do Ya Thing (From “Raw Footage”)
ENCORE:
Life In California (From “I Am The West")
Urbanian (From “I Am The West”)
Drink The Kool-Aid (From “I Am The West”)
I Rep That West (From “I Am The West”)