American rapper, Ice-T, 65, who is considered one of the pioneers of the hip-hop genre that would be dubbed gangsta rap in the 1980s, has slammed modern-day rappers, branding them ‘soft’ and ‘goofy.’
Ice-T, whose real name is Tracy Marrow, is a former New York gang member, who took over the music scene with his hard-hitting street style in the 1980s and ’90s with songs like ‘6 in the Mornin’ and ‘New Jack Hustler.’
In 1991, he also co-founded the heavy metal band Body Count, which in 1992 released the hugely controversial song ‘Cop Killer.’
Ice-T continues to work with Body Count today, but has only one solo album since the turn of the century, 2006’s ‘Gangsta Rap.’
When asked why he hadn’t made a solo album since 2006 during an interview with Variety, the Law & Order: Special Victims Unit star revealed he just doesn’t connect with modern-day rappers and hip-hop.
‘The music got goofy to me. The kids started looking weird. It all turned into something I wasn’t comfortable with,’ he said of his aversion to making another solo rap record.
‘There was a point where I was selling tons of records, then it cooled off. I felt a certain way. Then I realized Public Enemy, Rakim, Big Daddy Kane, and Wu-Tang Clan weren’t selling records, either. There was a paradigm shift.’
He went on to confess: ‘These kids got softer, and soft is not something I’m able to give audiences.
‘The first word in hip-hop is ‘hip’ so how something stays hip for over 10 years is difficult.’
Wanting to take advantage of the opportunities that were being presented to him at the time, Ice-T got into the acting game at the height of his reign as a rapper.
‘I never wanted to act. I was ready to turn it down because they wanted me to play a cop, at the same time I’m putting out an album called “OG.”‘
‘Are you kidding me? Play a cop? But my friends were like “Motherf***er, if you turn this down, you’re a real-life sucker.” So, I did it. I didn’t know I was going to be successful at it,’ he admitted.
While the former New York gang member grew up on the East Coast, the burgeoning MC and dancer ended up being introduced to Los Angeles gang culture after his parents passed away and he moved out west to Los Angeles.
