Post by Finaddict on Dec 10, 2007 19:01:54 GMT -5
As usual when Ice comes to talk about free speech people get offended.
Free speech is fine as long as you say what certain people want.
Do I agree with everything Ice says. Hell no, but if he can't speak what happens to the rest of us.
Chilly reception for Ice-T
Sunday, December 9, 2007
By VIRGIL DICKSON
HERALD NEWS
The students of William Paterson University knew that rapper and actor Ice-T was coming to talk to them about free speech. What they didn't know was how uncensored he would be.
Before he took the stage in the Student Center on Thursday, an unnamed track began to play over large black speakers on both sides of the stage. T's voice filled the room with a cacophony of swear words and derogatory terms associated with gay and black people. The music angered one black student so much that school administrators had to restrain him in his seat and explain that it was all part of the show. Two campus police officers were on standby, intently monitoring the incident to see if the student needed removal. Other students took offense to the lyrics, as well.
"When the music came on and I heard the N-word and the (derogatory term for gays), I thought, 'What have I done?'" Patrick Gartland, a senior and student organizer of the event, said after the lecture.
Though known today for his role on the TV show "Law and Order," Ice-T is known to hip-hop aficionados as a catalyst for the parental advisory label on music CDs. He spent Thursday evening talking about his rise as an artist and the challenges he faced as a West Coast rapper.
When the song ended, he took the stage in a navy blue suit and white collared shirt, his hair pulled back into a ponytail.
"If that record didn't offend you," T told his audience of about 150 students "then you are ready for this (talk)."
The talk that followed took the students on a journey through the life of Ice-T, born Tracy Lauren Marrow. That life has spanned an orphaned childhood that began in Newark, gangs and hustling in Los Angeles, a public chastisement by the first President Bush for inciting animosity from civilians toward police, and the launch of a successful movie and TV career. He said free speech is important to him in his music because it is the unfiltered truth of his life and he should have the right to speak his mind, as should the students, as long as it comes from a genuine place.
"I've been in school, the school of life, and I have information that (the students) may not have," T said in a phone interview prior to his lecture. "When you are in a university, you have different professors. I'm a life experience professor."
Early in the lecture, Andre Norris-Darby -- the student who had protested earlier -- raised his hand and began to criticize T for the overzealous use of the N-word. The conversation heated up.
T began to explain himself, but Norris-Darby only became angrier.
"I don't want to hear ignorance," Norris-Darby said. He gathered his belongings and continued to yell at T, and at the audience for listening to him.
T's own annoyance showed, too: "Don't get up and talk just to talk, and then run," he told the remaining audience. "(Otherwise) I'll consider it an invalid attack."
Norris-Darby later returned and apologized, but said he still felt that the N-word should not have been used.
"This room is filled mostly with white students," he explained, "and African-Americans are the minority in here. He spoke in a manner that I felt defeated his purpose."
T said he is used to ruffling feathers, and he emphasized that the term was something he picked up from his father as a way of challenging people not being genuine to their cultural background.
T began his rap career after hearing the song "Rapper's Delight" on the radio. As a member of the Crips, he would often perform what he called "gang rhymes" for them. When he heard actual rap, he thought it would be an easy transition. After trying unsuccessfully to mimic the Sugar Hill Gang, the song's creators, he became more successful when he began using the dark material he talked about in his gang rhymes.
Ice-T's public image took a dive in 1992 when President George H.W. Bush assailed him for writing the song "Cop Killer" for the heavy metal band Body Count. Bush and Vice President Dan Quayle called it an incendiary threat to law enforcement officials. Ultimately Ice-T voluntarily pulled "Cop Killer" from the album due to the public pressure.
He said things got scary after that. "My daughter was pulled out of school and questioned by the Secret Service," T said. "I had ice cream trucks in front of my house in the dead of winter," which he interpreted as undercover surveillance.
T also said he uses profane lyrics to be as genuine as possible, and that it is not his intention to be offensive. He concluded by saying he encourages individual thought and didn't expect the audience to see eye-to-eye with him.
Afterward, some students said they appreciated his candor.
"At first I was offended," said senior Kamilah Bayete. "But I wanted to hear his explanation for using these words and now, even though I don't agree with it, I'm hearing the message behind his music, not just the profanity."
Freshman Patricia Todisco agreed, saying, "I think he accomplished a lot, and I better understand him. Everyone has their opinion and, like he said, people don't have to agree with him."
Reach Virgil Dickson at 973-569-7172 or dickson@northjersey.com.
Free speech is fine as long as you say what certain people want.
Do I agree with everything Ice says. Hell no, but if he can't speak what happens to the rest of us.
Chilly reception for Ice-T
Sunday, December 9, 2007
By VIRGIL DICKSON
HERALD NEWS
The students of William Paterson University knew that rapper and actor Ice-T was coming to talk to them about free speech. What they didn't know was how uncensored he would be.
Before he took the stage in the Student Center on Thursday, an unnamed track began to play over large black speakers on both sides of the stage. T's voice filled the room with a cacophony of swear words and derogatory terms associated with gay and black people. The music angered one black student so much that school administrators had to restrain him in his seat and explain that it was all part of the show. Two campus police officers were on standby, intently monitoring the incident to see if the student needed removal. Other students took offense to the lyrics, as well.
"When the music came on and I heard the N-word and the (derogatory term for gays), I thought, 'What have I done?'" Patrick Gartland, a senior and student organizer of the event, said after the lecture.
Though known today for his role on the TV show "Law and Order," Ice-T is known to hip-hop aficionados as a catalyst for the parental advisory label on music CDs. He spent Thursday evening talking about his rise as an artist and the challenges he faced as a West Coast rapper.
When the song ended, he took the stage in a navy blue suit and white collared shirt, his hair pulled back into a ponytail.
"If that record didn't offend you," T told his audience of about 150 students "then you are ready for this (talk)."
The talk that followed took the students on a journey through the life of Ice-T, born Tracy Lauren Marrow. That life has spanned an orphaned childhood that began in Newark, gangs and hustling in Los Angeles, a public chastisement by the first President Bush for inciting animosity from civilians toward police, and the launch of a successful movie and TV career. He said free speech is important to him in his music because it is the unfiltered truth of his life and he should have the right to speak his mind, as should the students, as long as it comes from a genuine place.
"I've been in school, the school of life, and I have information that (the students) may not have," T said in a phone interview prior to his lecture. "When you are in a university, you have different professors. I'm a life experience professor."
Early in the lecture, Andre Norris-Darby -- the student who had protested earlier -- raised his hand and began to criticize T for the overzealous use of the N-word. The conversation heated up.
T began to explain himself, but Norris-Darby only became angrier.
"I don't want to hear ignorance," Norris-Darby said. He gathered his belongings and continued to yell at T, and at the audience for listening to him.
T's own annoyance showed, too: "Don't get up and talk just to talk, and then run," he told the remaining audience. "(Otherwise) I'll consider it an invalid attack."
Norris-Darby later returned and apologized, but said he still felt that the N-word should not have been used.
"This room is filled mostly with white students," he explained, "and African-Americans are the minority in here. He spoke in a manner that I felt defeated his purpose."
T said he is used to ruffling feathers, and he emphasized that the term was something he picked up from his father as a way of challenging people not being genuine to their cultural background.
T began his rap career after hearing the song "Rapper's Delight" on the radio. As a member of the Crips, he would often perform what he called "gang rhymes" for them. When he heard actual rap, he thought it would be an easy transition. After trying unsuccessfully to mimic the Sugar Hill Gang, the song's creators, he became more successful when he began using the dark material he talked about in his gang rhymes.
Ice-T's public image took a dive in 1992 when President George H.W. Bush assailed him for writing the song "Cop Killer" for the heavy metal band Body Count. Bush and Vice President Dan Quayle called it an incendiary threat to law enforcement officials. Ultimately Ice-T voluntarily pulled "Cop Killer" from the album due to the public pressure.
He said things got scary after that. "My daughter was pulled out of school and questioned by the Secret Service," T said. "I had ice cream trucks in front of my house in the dead of winter," which he interpreted as undercover surveillance.
T also said he uses profane lyrics to be as genuine as possible, and that it is not his intention to be offensive. He concluded by saying he encourages individual thought and didn't expect the audience to see eye-to-eye with him.
Afterward, some students said they appreciated his candor.
"At first I was offended," said senior Kamilah Bayete. "But I wanted to hear his explanation for using these words and now, even though I don't agree with it, I'm hearing the message behind his music, not just the profanity."
Freshman Patricia Todisco agreed, saying, "I think he accomplished a lot, and I better understand him. Everyone has their opinion and, like he said, people don't have to agree with him."
Reach Virgil Dickson at 973-569-7172 or dickson@northjersey.com.