Ice-T

Yeah that was bullshit and Dan Quayle. If you’re a rock band and you’ve got the blessing of the United States government, you’re doing the wrong kind of music. I don’t know what you’re really doing. The government is always going to kick up their heels and get pissed off.

Yeah but I never really looked at Body Count like that. They gave it the rap-rock thing, but to me it was just rock. I never was trying to mesh the two because I do rap. I always have a rap album to rap on. So when we came out, we were just basically trying to be rock but in our own format. They gave it this term and then after that people like Limp Bizkit and Rage Against the Machine and all these other groups came around. I think having different vocal deliveries and different ways of getting the point across is all good. I listen to a lot of so-called rock bands and I’m like, “They’re not singing.” It’s not like they’re carrying a note anywhere. They’re just pretty much putting it out there. I don’t really know if it’s rap-rock. Rap is far away from rock.

We picked up the drummer early. Our drummer actually used to drum for The Temptations. But rock and roll is more show off music. Everybody really gets to go balls out. If you’re a guitar player you know you want to do those solos. You want to get off. So we had an audition and he came in and the put a double kick up and he just went off. I was like, “Okay. I really, really want you.” So that’s how we found OT. Our bass player, Vincent Price, happened to work in the rehearsal hall where we rehearse. We rehearse in the same place where White Zombie and all kinds of crazy groups used to rehearse. So he was right there. He actually works for Prince. So he’s like, “You need a bass player?” So that’s how we got Vincent Price. He came in and turned it out. Then Bendrix was Ernie C’s guitar tech. So he’d been there all the time. It was just stepping up into that position. Guitar techs all over the world know that they can at any moment end up playing lead.

Yeah. We had music. Then what happened was D-Roc went into the studio and they laid all the tracks on this record and then they were sending them to me in New York. I was starting to do a little vocal here, a little vocal there. Then when he passed, I told the guys, “The only way we’re going to put this record out is if we use those original rocks D-Roc did.” So we took those tracks and then we overdubbed them and finished them up and used them for the Murder 4 Hire album. So that’s actually D-Roc, rest in peace, playing on the record. I wasn’t going to restart the band over again. I was like, “Nah. We got to use his music.”

I think musicians should always step away for a minute. It’s good because it makes you hungry. You’ve got to want to do music. I’ve been writing lyrics for over 20 years and the worst thing you can do is sit down in front of a pad and try to make yourself write a record. I find that I had gotten all these acting roles and I was not taking it seriously. I was just enjoying it, having fun with it but when my father was alive, he said, “If you’re doing anything and you’re not doing it to your full potential, it couldn’t be a bigger waste of time.” I was like, “Man. Look. I’m acting. Everybody would love to act and I’m not even really taking time to study my script and really do it the best.” So I said I’d take two or three years off and really focus. I’ve been on Law & Order and I’ve been really working and people have said they’ve seen the improvement in my acting. That’s a good thing. I love acting. It’s a great thing. I never expected to do it, but while I was doing it, I always would have lyrics in my head and ideas. So when it was time to do this album, I was ready. If you write lyrics, you’ll probably be writing them until you die. I think it’s just something natural.

When I’m on the set, they know they’ve got tension. But I think cops are used to people that are apprehensive about them and don’t really trust them. That’s just the nature of that job. So a lot of time cops go out of they way to try to be cool to me. I’ve always known there’s been cops that are out there trying to just do they job. My anger has never really been toward them. My anger has been more at brutal cops and people who abuse authority. Cop killing really isn’t eff the police. It’s really eff authority as a whole. When people sing that song, they’re eff the security guard, eff anybody who ever got in my way or told me no. That’s a normal attitude. People like cops until the cops put their hand in front of them and tell them they can’t do something. Then they don’t like the cops. So I haven’t changed my attitude. I stood fast with it. [Law & Order creator] Dick Wolf said to me “Well Ice, we know you don’t dig the police, but play the kind of cop we need.” So I try to give them that coolness and that vibe and that sensibility that humans want, just not that idiot cop.

No, not really. My perspective has changed a lot since I used to break the law every day. When you’re a criminal, the cops are the opponents. It’s a cat and mouse game. But if the cops bust you, you don’t hate the cops. You go, “I got pinched. You won.” So it’s not even that kind of hatred, it’s more of “I don’t want you to catch me.” Anybody who smokes weed, for that minute they’re like “Eff the cops.” The second somebody breaks into their house, they call the cops. So I think everybody has a hypocritical view of the police. I come from the hood so we never really used the police. If something happened to my friend, we handle it. A lot of people do it like that. But I feel sorry for some of the cops. They do a lot of work. I’m like, “If you’re a legitimate cop and you’re doing your right job, I got nothing but love and respect for you.”

They’re not really familiar with me and what I do. My real judges are the people I grew up with, the cats on the streets, the people that I connect to. The people I connect to are more proud of me than anybody. Guys from my neighborhood, guys I grew up with, guys I’ve been to jail with, they’re happy for me. Now if some white kid in the suburb is like, “I thought he was hardcore and now he’s not,” they never really even had an understanding of what I do. He’s the kind of guy that thinks a drug dealer should always sell drugs. They get connected to something that they feel is tough and they try to tell you what it is. They probably look at Al Pacino and be like, “Well, wait a minute. He’s not Scarface. He sold out.” They’re so twisted in really understanding who the person is. To me, selling out is when you go against your agenda or your true beliefs. If I go against something I believe in, then that would be selling out. But I haven’t done that yet. If I was a sellout and you asked me about the cops, I would be like, “I was wrong. They’re the greatest people in the world.” But I’m still saying they can kiss my ass.

Escapi got at us before we even had a record. They wanted to do a Body Count DVD because somebody over there at Escapi was a Body Count fan. We were just minding our business. They said, “Could you do a Live at the Troubadour DVD?” The band needed something to get it going. So I was like, “Yeah. We’ll do it.” So we did a video for them and they put it out. Then they just stayed on us for an album. “Will you do an album? Will you guys do an album? Can we get the album?” I’ve always moved with the people who have been passionate about what I did. I never been somebody who went out there and went to the biggest dollar. I was like, “If you really believe in me, then I’ll do a record with you.” So this record is the first Body Count record in a long time, but the guys are already making another album. The band has gone on tour. We went all through Europe. We did Stockholm. We did Prague. We did the Leeds and the Reading Festival. We saw the audience is still there. Those guys are real motivated and they’re back making music.

Totally. When VH1 first said, “Hey. We’re doing Hip Hop Honors” all the rappers kind of raised their eyebrows. They were like, “We’re outlaws and outcasts and VH1? Isn’t that Chris Isaak singing?” But VH1 went out and got some people who were really in it like Fab 5 Freddy and Nelson George. Smart people that been around hip hop since I started. They decided they were going to really try and reach back and grab the origin of hip hop. VH1 has inducted a lot of people who helped start hip-hop, they inducted Kool Herc. Last year they inducted myself, Big Daddy Kane and LL Cool J. So it’s more like a rap hall of fame. They’ve been really true to it. This year I’m hosting and they’re inducting Easy E, Rakim, the Beastie Boys, Afrika Bambaataa. Those are people nobody can argue with. We’re doing little comedy sketches. Actually the opening of the show is on the set of Law & Order.

Also I just did another show on VH1 called Ice-T’s Rap School, which is like Gene Simmons’ School of Rock.

It’s kind of like a reality show, but it’s not corny like that. It’s me teaching eight prep school kids from New York about hip hop, making them into a rap group. At the end of the show, they open for Public Enemy. I take them to the South Bronx and when I said I was going to take them to the Bronx, one girl said, “I’ll be raped and killed.” It’s really a culture clash. You leave a gangster alone with your kids and see what happens. But I’m giving them nothing but good knowledge and people are going to be really impressed with the way I handle them. I’m not a fool. I’m not taking them to the strip club or doing nothing stupid. I’m checking them every bit of the way showing them a little street sensibility, so it’s cool.

by Daniel Robert Epstein

SG Username: AndersWolleck