I'm at a point where I don't have to wait for the income from the record to survive, so I'm in a comfortable zone, but I'll make rap records as long as I feel I have something to rap about.
We have groups that do that, but I can't rap with the mentality of an 18 year old when I'm in my 30's.
Oh man, nobody is as tough as Mr T. Ice T is pretty tough though as well.
So you don't have to take us too seriously; I mean, we're already intimidating enough on stage.
If I'm going to be a jazz player, I need to understand Miles Davis.
Most interviewers are looking for a headline. They're not skilled. They're looking for shock value.
The next day, I got a phone call from him and he told me to come and read for a movie called New Jack City. So I went over there and they told me I was gonna wear dreads and play a cop.
No, I'll stay Ice-T. This is what got me here, I'm always going to stay true to that. If it weren't for hip-hop I wouldn't be doing all these other things.
If I do a song where I'm angry, when it's time to perform it live I'm not mad, I'm happy. I'm at a concert. But I have to somehow drum up that rage. That's acting.
When I was in the 12th grade, I got my girlfriend pregnant. I just got out of school, she was a 10th-grader. I'm a teen parent, and I'm at a point where I'm like, 'Man I've got to do something.'
I started writing rhymes first and then put it to the music. I figured out I could lock it to the beat better if I heard the music first. I like to get a lot of tracks, put the track up and let the music talk to me about what it's about.
Well, I am very happy that I was able to play a part in bringing music from the streets onto the radio and into modern culture, I worked very hard and always believed in the sounds I was creating.
Ice-T in the music has done some outrageous things.
I think men, growing up, you have to go through some form of hardship. You've got to harden the metal.
I think that men need to have a little bit of manism. You have feminism. I don't have a problem with that.
The music led to the acting. But movies aren't something you can just will yourself into. Someone has to choose you, and you have to be quite fortunate to be chosen.
