Ice Cube has hit back at fans criticising his new song Act My Age after a clip of him dressed as a baby left people begging him to ‘stop’.
The track, featuring Scarface, is from his album Man Up, which dropped last month as the follow-up to 2024’s Man Down.
In the music video, the rappers are edited to look like babies wearing bonnets and onesies as they criticise the ageism in the industry.
‘Never tell me to act my age,’ he says and asks for ‘real lyricists’ who have a message and are making an impact.
It gained traction on X after one user posted a snippet with the caption: ‘This is a prime example of why as a rapper you just gotta know when it’s time to hang the mic up.’
The 56-year-old rapper wasn’t going to let the disrespect stand, especially as this was what he was discussing in the song, and publicly fired back at the criticism.
‘I would never listen to you and hang up my mic,’ he retorted. ‘You’ve obviously lost your sense of humour.
‘You need to go find it and stay out my business.’
However, the original poster wasn’t the only one finding the song and its video a little cringe.
‘Did they really need to dress up as kids tho ? Lmao,’ wrote romeytheruler on X as Starreezy said: ‘I need Cube to stop.’
Lanceyvalentino added: ‘These are the same two that made Hand of the Dead Body. wtf is going on right here.’
‘This is a mess. 2 of my favourite mcs putting out this nonsense,’ wrote therealnairaman.
‘This might just be the best and worst video of the year,’ joked etherealwavecap.
While fans may not have thought this was Ice Cube or Scarface’s best work, many were defending them over the dismissal of their music due to their age.
NickDuggal wrote: ‘World is cooked when someone tells a legend what to do LOL. Go read a book.’
‘Man, people got one life, let them live it. The way we try to control artists is so boring &entitled,’ said andrejgee. ‘”He’s ruining (my perception of) his legacy” that’s a personal problem.’
H1lls praised Ice Cube’s response and said: ‘You’re thriving and having a good time in your 50’s and people can’t stand that. They want to get on the internet and dictate when you should rap, on what beat and with who, lol. Thanks for not listening Ice Cube! 😎.’
Afterwards, the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer posted a picture from a recent show of the crowd going wild as he performed.
’40 years in and the love is louder than ever,’ he captioned the post. ‘Salute to everybody that’s pulled up to the Truth to Power Tour. Let’s do it again 40 years from now.’
Ice Cube, real name O’Shea Jackson, burst onto the Los Angeles rap scene in the late 80s with N.W.A and their seminal record Straight Outta Compton.
He left the group after royalty disputes, having written a significant portion of the lyrics himself, and pursued solo music instead.
The remaining four – MC Ren, Dr. Dre, Eazy-E, and DJ Yella – threw shade at their former bandmate in their next albums, with a feud escalating until after Eazy-E’s death 1995.
Alongside his rap career, Ice Cube starred in numerous films including both Jump Street films, the Ride Along franchise, War of the Worlds, and an N.W.A biopic.
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