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Interviewing Ice-T

On the set of Law & Order: SVU

The first rap album I bought was LL Cool J’s Walking Like A Panther, but what really got me into hip hop and started me on my way to appreciating music with a message was the movie New Jack City and, of course, its soundtrack. I seriously watched that movie once a week for as long as I can remember when it came out on video and I listened to the soundtrack SO much that I remember having to bring the cassette (yes kids, cassette) back to the store to get a new one.

I should be specific here and make it clear that it was the track New Jack Hustler by Ice-T that I listened to over and over and not I Wanna Sex You Up by Color Me Badd - I’m just sayin’.

It was also Ice-T who led me on my way to listening to hardcore and metal because of his band Body Count. So by 1992 I could thank Ice-T for totally changing the way I thought about music and movies - because of New Jack City and Body Count I went on a strict diet of gangster flicks, hip hip, hardcore and metal.

Jump ahead to 2008 and I’m in New York with Ice for our ninth episode of Where You At, Baby? Obviously it’s clear I really didn’t need any extra excitement for this episode, but it just so happened that Ice’s pin-up wife Coco was there every step of the way, and let’s just say they ain’t your average married couple. Some of the most awkward moments of my life are in this episode.

Ice is like a wise prophet or something, everything that came out of his mouth made sense to me and made me think about things a little differently. We talked about marriage, monogamy, friends, family, the music industry and even politics, he somehow even brought a conversation about soggy cereal back to a lesson on how everyone is entitled to their own opinion and ways in life - I shit you not. It went something like this:

Coco and I agreed that Frosted Flakes and Captain Crunch should be eaten crunchy and Ice, on the other hand, likes his cereal to sit in the bowl and turn into mush. After much debate Ice eventually said (and I’m paraphrasing here) “look, that’s the problem with the world, I like my cereal soggy and you like yours crunchy and you can’t understand that so you try to impose your likes and beliefs on me when all I want to do is eat my cereal the way I like it; if the way I eat cereal doesn’t affect your life then shut the f**k up and let me eat my cereal the way I enjoy it and we won’t have a problem”. Probably the best conversation I’ve ever had in my life.

Some Tidbits That Didn’t Make The Show:

* Ice made $38K for starring in New Jack City and he does NOT get any residuals from DVD sales.
* Ice and Coco are going to renew their vows in the near future and it will be overseen by Don “Magic” Jaun; fashion designer, hip hop artist…pimp.
* Coco has pin up calendars that have been made into “prison cell” size.
* Ice has an original 1992 Reservoir Dogs movie poster from the Cannes Film festival on his wall in his home.
* When we interviewed Grandmaster Caz in Brooklyn for the show he was fresh off being shot at the night before (really). So he was accompanied by a dude who introduced himself as “Puerto Rico”, and Puerto Rico just stayed next to Caz, didn’t speak and just kinda scanned the area.

Honestly though, all the best moments are in this episode; we talk about the Soulja Boy controversy and are actually in the studio with Ice as he records a BRAND NEW track in response to it all…and you’ll hear it on our show before it is even released on his album!! My guess is that on no other show in the history of TV will you get to experience a man considered the originator of gansta rap vote for a U.S. president for the first time on his way to his acting job as a cop on Law and Order AND prove that his wife’s MEGA booty is all natural.

I see no better way to start 2009 - Where You At, Baby! Ice-T airs Sunday, January 4 @ 9:30pm ET and Tuesday at 7:30pm ET on MuchMoreMusic. (watch it again online right here)

Happy New Year!
=matt

Posted on Friday, January 2nd, 2009 at 4:28 pm by Matt Wells and is filed under We <3 TV.

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