There are thousands of hip-hop fans out there who want to know how Ice-T is going to bring himself back to the kind of success and popularity he enjoyed in the late 80s and early 90s. Well, all your memories of Law & Order and Leprechaun in the Hood will fade away once you hear the new Body Count album, Murder 4 Hire. Though most of the original members of Body Count have passed away, Ice-T and Ernie C have brought together a new Count to show you what gangsta rap is all about.
Check out the official site for Ice-T
Daniel Robert Epstein: What made you decide to put Body Count together again?
Ice-T: Basically what happened was we had just gone through a lot of drama with the band. I lost three members. My drummer [Beatmaster V] died of leukemia early in the bands career. Then the bass player [Mooseman] got killed. Then we tried to start the band up and get ready to get another record together and then my other guitar player [D-Roc] passed away from cancer. So every time we got the band going, there was tragedy. My vibe was like, Okay. Lets stop. But then everybody kept on motivating me and pushing me. Then we were like. Well, fuck. Weve got a lot of material. So lets go with it. Thats basically it. Weve been going through different metamorphoses of the band, putting new people in and stuff like that.
DRE: Didnt the last President Bush rip into you guys years ago?
Ice: Yeah that was bullshit and Dan Quayle. If youre a rock band and youve got the blessing of the United States government, youre doing the wrong kind of music. I dont know what youre really doing. The government is always going to kick up their heels and get pissed off.
DRE: There was a time in the late 90s that the rap-rock thing got very popular. That mightve been a good time for you.
Ice: 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 Im like, Theyre not singing. Its not like theyre carrying a note anywhere. Theyre just pretty much putting it out there. I dont really know if its rap-rock. Rap is far away from rock.
DRE: How did you find the new guys?
Ice: 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 youre 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 thats 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 hes like, You need a bass player? So thats how we got Vincent Price. He came in and turned it out. Then Bendrix was Ernie Cs guitar tech. So hed 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.
DRE: Had you been creating bits of music here and there over the years for Body Count?
Ice: 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 were 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 thats actually D-Roc, rest in peace, playing on the record. I wasnt going to restart the band over again. I was like, Nah. We got to use his music.
DRE: With all the movies and TV youve been doing, was it tough to get back into that mindset of doing music again?
Ice: I think musicians should always step away for a minute. Its good because it makes you hungry. Youve got to want to do music. Ive 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 youre doing anything and youre not doing it to your full potential, it couldnt be a bigger waste of time. I was like, Man. Look. Im acting. Everybody would love to act and Im not even really taking time to study my script and really do it the best. So I said Id take two or three years off and really focus. Ive been on Law & Order and Ive been really working and people have said theyve seen the improvement in my acting. Thats a good thing. I love acting. Its 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, youll probably be writing them until you die. I think its just something natural.
DRE: Has being around all the cops that are on Law & Order given you a different perspective on your music?
Ice: When Im on the set, they know theyve got tension. But I think cops are used to people that are apprehensive about them and dont really trust them. Thats just the nature of that job. So a lot of time cops go out of they way to try to be cool to me. Ive always known theres 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 isnt eff the police. Its really eff authority as a whole. When people sing that song, theyre eff the security guard, eff anybody who ever got in my way or told me no. Thats a normal attitude. People like cops until the cops put their hand in front of them and tell them they cant do something. Then they dont like the cops. So I havent changed my attitude. I stood fast with it. [Law & Order creator] Dick Wolf said to me Well Ice, we know you dont 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.
DRE: Has your perspective on cops changed?
Ice: No, not really. My perspective has changed a lot since I used to break the law every day. When youre a criminal, the cops are the opponents. Its a cat and mouse game. But if the cops bust you, you dont hate the cops. You go, I got pinched. You won. So its not even that kind of hatred, its more of I dont want you to catch me. Anybody who smokes weed, for that minute theyre 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. Im like, If youre a legitimate cop and youre doing your right job, I got nothing but love and respect for you.
DRE: What would you say to people that say that youve sold out in the past ten years or so?
Ice: Theyre 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 Ive been to jail with, theyre happy for me. Now if some white kid in the suburb is like, I thought he was hardcore and now hes not, they never really even had an understanding of what I do. Hes 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. Hes not Scarface. He sold out. Theyre 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 havent done that yet. If I was a sellout and you asked me about the cops, I would be like, I was wrong. Theyre the greatest people in the world. But Im still saying they can kiss my ass.
DRE: Howd you pick Escapi Music as your new label?
Ice: 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. Well 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? Ive 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 Ill 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 theyre back making music.
DRE: Youre hosting the VH1 Hip Hop Honors. Is it funny to be doing that on VH1?
Ice: Totally. When VH1 first said, Hey. Were doing Hip Hop Honors all the rappers kind of raised their eyebrows. They were like, Were outlaws and outcasts and VH1? Isnt 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 its more like a rap hall of fame. Theyve been really true to it. This year Im hosting and theyre inducting Easy E, Rakim, the Beastie Boys, Afrika Bambaataa. Those are people nobody can argue with. Were 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-Ts Rap School, which is like Gene Simmons School of Rock.
DRE: I heard about it. Is it like a reality show?
Ice: Its kind of like a reality show, but its not corny like that. Its 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, Ill be raped and killed. Its really a culture clash. You leave a gangster alone with your kids and see what happens. But Im giving them nothing but good knowledge and people are going to be really impressed with the way I handle them. Im not a fool. Im not taking them to the strip club or doing nothing stupid. Im checking them every bit of the way showing them a little street sensibility, so its cool.
by Daniel Robert Epstein
SG Username: AndersWolleck
Check out the official site for Ice-T
Daniel Robert Epstein: What made you decide to put Body Count together again?
Ice-T: Basically what happened was we had just gone through a lot of drama with the band. I lost three members. My drummer [Beatmaster V] died of leukemia early in the bands career. Then the bass player [Mooseman] got killed. Then we tried to start the band up and get ready to get another record together and then my other guitar player [D-Roc] passed away from cancer. So every time we got the band going, there was tragedy. My vibe was like, Okay. Lets stop. But then everybody kept on motivating me and pushing me. Then we were like. Well, fuck. Weve got a lot of material. So lets go with it. Thats basically it. Weve been going through different metamorphoses of the band, putting new people in and stuff like that.
DRE: Didnt the last President Bush rip into you guys years ago?
Ice: Yeah that was bullshit and Dan Quayle. If youre a rock band and youve got the blessing of the United States government, youre doing the wrong kind of music. I dont know what youre really doing. The government is always going to kick up their heels and get pissed off.
DRE: There was a time in the late 90s that the rap-rock thing got very popular. That mightve been a good time for you.
Ice: 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 Im like, Theyre not singing. Its not like theyre carrying a note anywhere. Theyre just pretty much putting it out there. I dont really know if its rap-rock. Rap is far away from rock.
DRE: How did you find the new guys?
Ice: 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 youre 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 thats 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 hes like, You need a bass player? So thats how we got Vincent Price. He came in and turned it out. Then Bendrix was Ernie Cs guitar tech. So hed 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.
DRE: Had you been creating bits of music here and there over the years for Body Count?
Ice: 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 were 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 thats actually D-Roc, rest in peace, playing on the record. I wasnt going to restart the band over again. I was like, Nah. We got to use his music.
DRE: With all the movies and TV youve been doing, was it tough to get back into that mindset of doing music again?
Ice: I think musicians should always step away for a minute. Its good because it makes you hungry. Youve got to want to do music. Ive 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 youre doing anything and youre not doing it to your full potential, it couldnt be a bigger waste of time. I was like, Man. Look. Im acting. Everybody would love to act and Im not even really taking time to study my script and really do it the best. So I said Id take two or three years off and really focus. Ive been on Law & Order and Ive been really working and people have said theyve seen the improvement in my acting. Thats a good thing. I love acting. Its 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, youll probably be writing them until you die. I think its just something natural.
DRE: Has being around all the cops that are on Law & Order given you a different perspective on your music?
Ice: When Im on the set, they know theyve got tension. But I think cops are used to people that are apprehensive about them and dont really trust them. Thats just the nature of that job. So a lot of time cops go out of they way to try to be cool to me. Ive always known theres 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 isnt eff the police. Its really eff authority as a whole. When people sing that song, theyre eff the security guard, eff anybody who ever got in my way or told me no. Thats a normal attitude. People like cops until the cops put their hand in front of them and tell them they cant do something. Then they dont like the cops. So I havent changed my attitude. I stood fast with it. [Law & Order creator] Dick Wolf said to me Well Ice, we know you dont 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.
DRE: Has your perspective on cops changed?
Ice: No, not really. My perspective has changed a lot since I used to break the law every day. When youre a criminal, the cops are the opponents. Its a cat and mouse game. But if the cops bust you, you dont hate the cops. You go, I got pinched. You won. So its not even that kind of hatred, its more of I dont want you to catch me. Anybody who smokes weed, for that minute theyre 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. Im like, If youre a legitimate cop and youre doing your right job, I got nothing but love and respect for you.
DRE: What would you say to people that say that youve sold out in the past ten years or so?
Ice: Theyre 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 Ive been to jail with, theyre happy for me. Now if some white kid in the suburb is like, I thought he was hardcore and now hes not, they never really even had an understanding of what I do. Hes 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. Hes not Scarface. He sold out. Theyre 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 havent done that yet. If I was a sellout and you asked me about the cops, I would be like, I was wrong. Theyre the greatest people in the world. But Im still saying they can kiss my ass.
DRE: Howd you pick Escapi Music as your new label?
Ice: 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. Well 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? Ive 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 Ill 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 theyre back making music.
DRE: Youre hosting the VH1 Hip Hop Honors. Is it funny to be doing that on VH1?
Ice: Totally. When VH1 first said, Hey. Were doing Hip Hop Honors all the rappers kind of raised their eyebrows. They were like, Were outlaws and outcasts and VH1? Isnt 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 its more like a rap hall of fame. Theyve been really true to it. This year Im hosting and theyre inducting Easy E, Rakim, the Beastie Boys, Afrika Bambaataa. Those are people nobody can argue with. Were 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-Ts Rap School, which is like Gene Simmons School of Rock.
DRE: I heard about it. Is it like a reality show?
Ice: Its kind of like a reality show, but its not corny like that. Its 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, Ill be raped and killed. Its really a culture clash. You leave a gangster alone with your kids and see what happens. But Im giving them nothing but good knowledge and people are going to be really impressed with the way I handle them. Im not a fool. Im not taking them to the strip club or doing nothing stupid. Im checking them every bit of the way showing them a little street sensibility, so its cool.
by Daniel Robert Epstein
SG Username: AndersWolleck
VIEW 18 of 18 COMMENTS
mckenzie:
hes a hottie!
thunderbolts:
I hung out with him after a show in Montreal in 1989, He thought my friends and I were skinheads so we explained our scene (80's HC Punk) to him and gave him a CD, he was very interested in what we were doing and what we had to say ..interestingly, Body Count came out a year later. I like to think that we had some small part in influencing that inspiration, I honestly have no idea, but it's a nice thought.