Ice Cube, Cypress Hill review: Rap legends light up Brisbane Entertainment Centre

Legendary rapper Ice Cube, alongside legends Cypress Hill, have shown he has lost none of his skills as he thrilled 13,000 fans at a sold-out Brisbane show on Tuesday night.

He might have been in the rap game for more than 30 years, but Ice Cube has shown 13,000 ecstatic fans why he is one of the greatest to pick up a mic during a heaving show at Boondall.

With legendary crew Cypress Hill also in tow, the Brisbane Entertainment Centre was treated to some of the most famous hip-hop ever to come out of the West Coast.

Just like for fellow gangsta rap icon Snoop Dogg a few weeks ago, it’s an extremely eclectic crowd - and one that skewed younger than you might expect for music of this era. OG fans, rap diehards, teenage girls and parents with their kids pack into Boondall to see the rap masters at work.

“There’s a lot of eshay shoes in here,” I hear a nearby woman say.

Aussie act A.B. Original clearly revel in their role as last-moment replacements for serial show-cancelling US rapper The Game, with Briggs and Trials hyping the sellout crowd before the night’s main events.

Cypress Hill played the Brisbane Entertainment Centre on Tuesday night. Picture: Alex Strachan

Pretty soon Boondall is smelling like it could be somewhere in California, where (legal) cannabis dispensaries are as ubiquitous as Starbucks these days.

The intense clouds of smoke signal the start of the set from Cypress Hill, who appropriately begin by ripping into a mega-mix of some of their most famous odes to Mary Jane, including I Wanna Get High, Dr Greenthumb and Hits from the Bong.

MCs B-Real and Sen Dog are in fine form in the act’s first Brisbane performance in almost a decade, pleasing the crowd early with classics such as When the Shit Goes Down, Hand on the Pump and Lowrider.

But this isn’t just a regular greatest hits set. The band repeatedly changes flow and mixes in samples from other songs and fresh beats, with B-Real even joining percussionist Eric Bobo on the bongos.

Unfortunately the second half of their set is plagued by technical difficulties to DJ Lord’s setup, but the group make the best of a bad situation with an outstanding version of Ain’t Going Out Like That, backed only by Bobo’s pounding percussion.

The audience laps it up before the Los Angeles crew closes on a high (literally) with How I Could Just Kill A Man, (Rock) Superstar and Insane in the Brain.

Ice Cube and Cypress Hill played the Brisbane Entertainment Centre on Tuesday night. Picture: Alex Strachan

After a montage of Ice Cube fan art on the big screens in the interlude, it’s finally time for the man himself.

These days he might be just as well known for his wide-ranging acting career, but soon enough he is demonstrating the skills that made him one of the influential rappers of all time.

Emerging to Natural Born Killaz, Cube is soon telling fans “I started this gangsta s**t” in Hello before launching into Check Yo’ Self.

By now the crowd noise has gone up several decibels, and you could be fooled that this wasn’t a school night. Ever the performer, Cube and his hype man WC spend much of their time whooping up the audience with the classic hip-hop crowd participation trope, and everyone’s happy to play along.

“Whenever you see Cube in person it’s always a motherf***ing Friday!” the rapper yells.

Ice Cube returns to Australia for his first tour since Covid.

With striking visuals paying homage to his rap and movie careers, Cube talks about his rise, including his time with “the world’s most dangerous group” before performing the N.W.A. classics Straight Outta Compton and Gangsta Gangsta.

He immediately follows with No Vaseline, the diss track he wrote about his former bandmates after he left the group.

“The mother***ing group broke up after that song,” he proudly tells the audience. “But I wrote that song in 1991. Now I’ve got nothing but love for them.”

After a raucous version of You Can Do It, Cube wraps up the night with his classic, It Was a Good Day. 13,000 people undoubtedly agree.