Post by hotcop on Jan 17, 2006 21:32:52 GMT -5
A little something for Fin's fan! I found this on a SVU yahoo group!
Ice-T warms up
By Kevin C. Johnson
POST-DISPATCH POP MUSIC CRITIC
01/18/2006
Rapper Ice-T, who once famously talked about killing cops, plays one on the television hit "Law & Order SVU."
"I'm not a fan of the police and never have been. But I can act like it," the trailblazing rapper said in a phone interview from New Jersey last week. "I had a kid come to my show and he was like, 'Yo Ice, you the original thugged-out gangsta, and now you're the police.' And I'm like, 'I'm not a cop. I act like a cop. And they give me a check,'" says the rule-breaking pioneer, who initially signed on for a limited role on the show.
"I didn't jump at it. I didn't know if I could cut it. I signed on for four years, and I'm going on seven years."
It's hard to forget that this TV cop, during his fiery gangsta rap heyday in 1992, recorded a song called "Cop Killer" as part of his group Body Count. The headline-making song went down in the annals of music history, creating an uproar after Warner Bros. first took the song off the album, "Home Invasion," then refused to release the album.
Looking back at that tumultuous time, the West Coast rapper known for "I'm Your Pusher" and "Colors" says, "I wouldn't have done anything differently. Everything I do is spontaneous, how I felt at the moment. Would I do 'Cop Killer' today? No. It's not 1992 or the Rodney King era. As you get older, you get more shrewd. You pick your targets. Henry Rollins told me to not be mad at everybody. Be mad at the right (stuff)."
Ice-T is sure to reflect on those days when he addresses his audience at the University of Missouri at St. Louis on Saturday night. He'll be appearing as part of the school's Anheuser-Busch Vision Speakers series.
Lecturing is old hat for Ice-T, who started public speaking back in his days touring with '80s rap cat Big Daddy Kane.
"Rappers were coming to town and doing this and doing that, but people were saying we weren't doing anything for the community. So we said let's talk to the schools," said Ice-T, whose book, "The Ice Opinion," was written from his many lectures.
"When I started, I didn't know what to talk about, but it turns out to be a motivational-philosophical talk. I walk people through my life experiences. I've been on both sides of the law and somehow translated it to music, film and TV careers. These kids at the universities are on their way to a good life, and they're looking up to someone who should be in a holding tank."
He says his frequent lecturing hasn't cut into the rest of his career as a rapper and an actor. He has a new Ice-T CD, "Gangsta Rap," on the way, along with a new Body Count CD, "Murder for Hire."
"I tell people I act for the money and do music to stay sane," he says. "No matter what, you have to do something that comes directly from you, something you can say, 'I did that.' When you act, it's a great gig, but you're not writing the words so it's not my whole total _expression.
"I don't rhyme for the sake of rhyming. Rapping about having a good time and partying is not something I can do. I'm not into the generic party rap. You've only got so long on the microphone, so you gotta say something. If you put me on the mic and gave me one song, I'm not going to say, 'All the girls shake your booty.'"
Of today's rap, Ice-T listens to the Wu-Tang Clan, Mobb Deep, the Game and 50 Cent, and surprisingly even to new Southern rapper Mike Jones.
"I like that," he says. "But at the same time, it's too hook-based. I want to hear more rapping. I think I've heard 'I Think They Like Me' enough."
An Evening with Ice-T
When: 8 p.m. Saturday
Where: Blanche M. Touhill Performing Arts Center, University of Missouri at St. Louis
How much: $20
More info: 314-516-4949