Key Takeaways
- Ice Cube’s stance: He criticizes rappers who rely on the crowd during performances.
- Concert incident: During a Houston concert, he expressed frustration over artists not engaging with their audience.
- Busta Rhymes' view: He also condemned the use of backing tracks in live performances.
- Fan interaction: Busta Rhymes urged fans to put away their phones and engage more during shows.
Ice Cube is not a fan of rappers mailing in their performances — and has let his feelings be heard loud and clear.
During a recent concert in Houston, the N.W.A legend paused his set to scold his hip-hop peers who don’t put enough effort into their live shows and instead rely on the crowd to carry them through performances.
“Don’t you hate that shit? You spend all your money for the fucking tickets. Pay for parking. You got your hair did, you got an outfit and sht. And you gotta come to the show and sing all the fucking words. Come on, man. Damn!” he vented.
“I hate performers [who spend] half the show like this,” Cube continued, mimicking an artist holding out the mic to the crowd for them to rap (or sing) the lyrics. “It’s some bullshit, man. I came here to hear you rap, muthafucka!”
Ice Cube says he hates performers who make the crowd rap their lyrics for half the show.
“That’s some bulls**t, man. I came to hear you rap motherf*a”
— The Art Of Dialogue (@ArtOfDialogue_) November 4, 2025
Ice Cube is not the only rap veteran who feels this way.
In 2023, Busta Rhymes — who is widely regarded as one of hip-hop’s greatest showmen — slammed the trend of rappers performing with backing tracks.
“We come from a time where there was no additives. No unnecessary mixing and diluting and tampering with the holy, sacred and pure,” he said during his set at Lovers & Friends Festival in Las Vegas. “We [are] the holy, sacred and pure.”
The following year, Bus-a-Bus shifted his critical gaze to fans themselves, cursing out the crowd at Essence Festival for using their phones during his performance.
“Ayo, fuck them camera phones! Let’s get back to interacting like humans,” he barked onstage. “Put them weird-ass devices down! I ain’t from that era. Them shits don’t control the soul. Fuck your phone!”
Singling out fans who were seated during his set, Busta added: “I will point every last one of y’all out until y’all asses is up!”
