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Ice Cube has nothing to prove at this point. His contributions to NWA’s Straight Outta Compton, as well as solo albums AmeriKKKa’s Most Wanted, Death Certificate, and The Predator, have certified him as one of the greatest rappers.

These days, he’s no longer the chart-topping star he once was, often turning to acting for his next paydays. It’s clear that anything he does in music at this point is for the love of rap, which makes it all the more sweeter.

The Los Angeles rapper returned with his new album, Man Up, on September 12th. The album serves as the follow-up to 2024’s Man Down, which is a remarkably quick turnaround considering his typical output. It took him six years to release Man Down after 2018’s Everythang’s Corrupt, with eight years standing between that and 2010’s I Am the West.

Man Up is a companion album to Man Down, packed with the same politically charged content. In a statement, Cube said, “I’ve always stood on speaking truth to power and making music that reflects reality. Man Up is about accountability, resilience, and reminding people where the real problems come from. Hip-hop didn’t create the struggle — it gave us the language to call it out.”

Released on his own label, Lench Mob Records, the project includes 14 tracks with features from the legendary Scarface and Quake Matthews, who was the winner of his fan verse challenge. On one of the tracks, the fittingly titled ‘California Dreamin’, he samples Patrice Rushen’s 1982 song ‘Forget Me Nots’, which was famously used by Will Smith for ‘Men in Black’ in 1997.

Last year, Cube explained that the Man Up album title was inspired by his belief that America has become too sensitive. “It’s about men not accepting nonsense and speaking up and not just taking a backseat letting other people take the lead,” he told Billboard. “We gotta take the lead.”

Song titles on the album include ‘Man Power’, ‘Freedumb’, ‘Forget Me If You Ain’t Wit Me’, and ‘Ratchet Ass Bitch’, embodying the bold attitude Cube has always been associated with. He believes people need to stop apologising for who they are for others to be comfortable, pinning that down as the reason why society is being turned upside down.

“A lot [of] men are just sitting around watching the show and not, not doing what they need to do to make sure everything is going right,” he told Complex. “Everybody is worried about how they feel – that’s the change. Forget doing what you need to do, doing what’s right, doing what’s supposed to be done. It’s all about how you feel, and [if] you don’t feel like it, you don’t do it. Nobody feel like it, nothing get done.”

For the project, Cube teamed up with some notable producers, including Erick Sermon and Policy Kings for Organized Noize. 40 years after he started rapping, he’s proven that he’s far from done from a musical standpoint, providing fans with his 12th studio album less than 10 months after his last effort. Cube is motivated more than ever, and it shows.