Ice Cube - Man Up [2LP]

Ice Cube keeps the West Coast fire burning on Man Up, his twelfth studio album, released in 2025 and pressed here as a double LP.

Arriving just a year after Man Down, the record finds the N.W.A veteran in a combative, reflective mood, looking back on what he helped build while taking aim at the present. It came out on his own Lench Mob Records, and a crew of producers including E-A-Ski and Erick Sermon keeps the beats lean, funky and rooted in classic West Coast bounce. More than three decades after he went solo, Cube still raps with the clipped authority of someone who has nothing left to prove and no intention of slowing down.

Lead single "Before Hip Hop" sets the tone, while "Man Power" opens the album with a blunt statement of intent. Houston legend Scarface joins for "Act My Age", a meeting of two veteran voices who have earned every word, and he returns alongside Quake Matthews on "It's My Ego". "California Dreamin'" and "Bring Everybody" round out a set that never strays far from his roots.

Man Up is lean and punchy, fourteen tracks with little filler and plenty of attitude.

This double LP is a strong addition for fans who have followed one of rap's most important voices from the beginning.