1 of 1 Photo: Getty Images
The legendary Ice T is well known for defining Gangsta rap. In addition to being a hip-hop pioneer, he recently became the longest-running male actor in a TV series for his role on Law & Order: SVU. However, what many may not know is Ice T is also a Grammy award-winning, platinum-selling heavy metal performer.
In an interview with HeartRadio’s Jazmyn Summers, Ice chops it up about his life, career, and 20-year marriage to his lady love Coco Austin.
Tell us about your early years.
I'm writing a song right now where I'm reflecting back on where I came from. Wherever you start, you take advantage of what opportunities are available at that time. I grew up [in a time where] the only people that I could look up to were the hustlers and the players and the pimps and the gangsters. One thing about the streets, they don't require an application. You are hired, and then you have to earn. I was hanging around kids just like me, and we looked at crime as a way to get paid.
Your mom passed away when you were in third grade, and your dad passed away a few years later. How did that impact you?
Me being an orphan, I had a chip on my shoulder. I was kind of like, man, why did I get dealt this bad hand? Why is my life so f***ed up? And so I had it out for life, but it made me understand there was nobody to fall back on. Sometimes having a family can affect you negatively because there's always somebody to catch your back if things go wrong. I never had that. That's why I never got high. I never joined gangs. I never did drugs. I never smoked weed. 'Cause I thought it would compromise my situation. If I hit the ground it was my job to pick me up. I have no brothers or sisters. I have no living relatives. So it's like I knew that I was on my own.
Photo: Getty Images
You're a west coast rapper, but who would you say influenced you the most?
New York put hip hop on the map for sure. What started my trek into what they call gangsta rap, it was Schoolly D out of Philly because he's repping PSK, which is Parkside killers. And when he did that, I'm like, oh that's okay. Then I'm about to show him what this really is. I'm going to get really explicit with the crime element that I was living in. And that turned out to be a genre. When I made the records, I didn't think that many kids were living that life, but I was very mistaken. They were living it in Detroit. They were living it in New York. They were living it around the country.
Why is it important for your music to always have a message?
Gangsta rap is a musical form that comes from that life. Now many people say it's sent our communities on a bad direction, but does art imitate life or life imitate art? I don't think you could rap about this stuff if it wasn't real. When I hear the kids now doing the drill records, I'm like, you might think it's negative, but you need to know that mentality is out there. But to talk about the life of crime without telling you the B side of the game, you're going to go to prison, you're probably going to end up dead, then you're faking it. So I've always tried to balance what's so intoxicating about that life, but also the penalties that go along with it, Most of my friends are in prison or dead, and as I started to make this music, they were like, don't send ni**as to jail Ice. Don't lie, tell the truth. That's how I can look in the mirror.
What made you get into heavy metal and start the band Body Count?
Body Count's been out since '92. I had gone to Europe with PE [Public Enemy], and I saw the kids moshing off of Rock Off rap, and I was like, damn man, I need a rock band. So I came back, and I put together some of my guys from Crenshaw, and we put the band together. I said, we'll sing about the same sh*t I'm rapping about but we'll just make it metal. And we put out the first album. We went on a Lollapalooza tour, sold a million records, and then they hit us for a Cop Killer. In the last three albums, Manslaughter, Blood Lust, and Carnivore, we've just continuously gotten better. So the new record I'm working on right now is called Merciless, and it has to be better than Carnivore. A lot of Black people don't even know I'm still doing metal. Like Ice ain't doing music, but I’m selling records up the a** over here.
Congratulations on becoming the longest-running male actor in a TV series for your 24 seasons on Law & Order: SVU. At this point in your career, do you prefer acting or making music?
Acting on television is different because that's not [me]. I'm just going in and saying the lines, acting like a character. But when I do music that's me. So as long as we keep going, I know we're going to do seasons 25, 26. When you set a record, you don't want anybody else to be able to take it back.
You've been married to your wife Coco for 20 years. What's the secret?
I think getting married is like casting for a movie. You have to pick somebody who's ready for all the scenes. There's going to be tough scenes. There's going to be pain. There's going to be fun. There's going to be excitement. But are they ready for all of the scenes? New Edition says sunny days, everybody loves them. But can you stand the rain? You have to match each other’s energy, so when she walks in the room, she spins the room. But when I walk into the room, I spin it too. We're very happy.
[Marriage] is like a plant though. You gotta always check it. You gotta make sure you're happy; make sure your partner’s happy. Don't just set it and forget it. I plan on being with Coco for the rest of the way out. I already told Coco, I'm 20 years older than her but you know us, players, we stay thin in the waist, handsome in the face. With Coco, I gotta live to 80 cuz I'm not putting her back on the market till she's 60, 65.
As someone in an interracial relationship, what do you think about those who say they don't date Black women?
That's stupid. I don't understand why you wouldn't date Black women. Women are women. It's basically who makes you feel good and can make you feel happy. Picking a race, that’s racist. At the end of the day when success comes, you just wanna be happy, and a man rests his head where he finds peace., I've been with Black women. I've been with every flavor at Baskin Robbins. I never really thought I was going to necessarily fall in love with a white girl. That wasn't my agenda. If a Martian had landed and made me feel the way Coco does, I'd be with some Martian p***y right now.
This conversation was edited for clarity.
Photo: Getty Images
Ice T’s book “Split Decision,” a compelling memoir of his life, is available now.
You can watch Ice T's full interview with Jazmyn Summers on Youtube.
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