By Michael Saponara

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Jeremiah Lazo

Ice Cube is back and he’s taking no prisoners with his latest politically-charged effort, Man Up, which serves as the companion album to his 2024 Man Down project, which arrived on Friday (Sept. 12).

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The Compton native stars front and center on the 14-track album, leaning on Houston rap legend Scarface for a rare assist.

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“I’ve always stood on speaking truth to power and making music that reflects reality,” Cube said in a statment. “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.”

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Other standout moments on the project find Cube flipping Patrice Rushen’s 1982 “Forget Me Nots” for “California Dreamin” and he recruits Nova Scotia’s Quake Matthews, who was the winner of his fan verse challenge, and doesn’t waste his once-in-a-lifetime opportunity on “It’s My Ego 3Mix.”

Billboard caught up with Cube last year, when he teased Man Up, which he explained being inspired by America getting a little too soft for his liking.

“It’s about men not accepting nonsense and speaking up and not just taking a backseat letting other people take the lead,” he said at the time. “We gotta take the lead.”

Cube is getting back on the road for Four Decades of Attitude Tour, which will find the N.W.A. legend invading arenas across North America. The trek is set to kick off in Denver on Sept. 16 and make stops in Seattle, Oakland, Los Angeles, Glendale, Chicago, Toronto, Atlanta, Austin and Houston.

Stream Man Up below.

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