Time for T

He may be as regular a guest in living rooms as Richard and Judy, but anybody who thinks that TV stardom has mellowed ICE T – he insists on block capitals – is profoundly mistaken.

“I’m more dangerous than ever because I don’t have to sell a certain amount of records,” he barks as we settle down to discuss his two upcoming shows in Dublin.
“The tour is pretty much old school ICE T,” the 46-year-old resumes. “I don’t know if I’m actually going to be able to bring SMG, which is Smoothe and Trigger, but me and Marc Live are going to go out there and do some rappin’.”
For the benefit of youngsters who primarily know him as an actor, how would he describe ICE T - The Body Count Years?
“Basically Body Count was a group that was created by me and it kinda started the hardcore rap/rock vibe that you see today with Limp Bizkit and groups like Korn and Rage Against The Machine. Body Count is coming out with a new album, Murder For Hire, this year so they’ll be able to check it out themselves.”
Oops, that’s DMX, Q-Tip, 50 Cent and those other gangstas-by-numbers rumbled. A decade on, how does ICE look back on the ‘Cop Killer’ controversy?
“A lot of mess over nothin’,” he sneers politely. “It was a simple record that I didn’t really take to heart that much. I was just singing the words. It was about police brutality, but you know, at no time was I thinking about going out and shooting me a cop.”
He must have loved it when Michael Moore nailed his old right-wing adversary, Charlton Heston, on Bowling For Columbine.
“I haven’t seen Bowling For Columbine, but I can’t wait. I love Michael Moore – right now he’s the guy who’s what I call ‘puttin’ you on the front street.’ All of the things you say behind closed doors, he’ll somehow get a video clip of it and you’re fucked. I knew he was the man when he blew up that night at the Academy Awards. I was in a room full of squares and everybody was all uptight at him, but I loved it. I said, ‘yeah!’”
Is he disappointed that the hip hop community hasn’t been more vocal about the situation in Iraq?
“The hip hop community is vocal but you can’t hear the records,” he insists. “My man Pharoahe Monch did a record called Agent Orange, and there’s a lot of music coming out about Iraq, but the radio is only gonna play love records and bullshit. The music is out there, you just have to seek it out. The underground, you know.”
Bush or Kerry?
“If God had wanted us to vote he’d have given us candidates. Definitely not Bush, Bush is the anti-Christ.”
With all this ‘bling bling’ stuff, has hip hop become a caricature of itself?
“No, hip hop has always been about bling bling,” ICE maintains. “It’s always been about Big Bank Hank and I got a hotel and a mansion and a yacht. It’s about poor people saying they’re rich and trying to be rich, so it’s beautiful. Ain’t nothin’ wrong with a little bling bling, you dig?”
I’m shoveling as we speak. Career-wise, has he ever done anything more bizarre than playing a half-man/half-kangaroo?
“Tank Girl? No, that was the weirdest shit. And it was one of the most painful ordeals too, to wear that rubber fucking head for 21 days. I don’t want to do that again!”
Law & Order: SVU is like The Sopranos in that it has film-style production values. How does TV work compare to film work?
“It’s like making a movie that never ends. You keep shooting it and shooting it. But you gotta know with television that way more people see it than a movie. You’re talking about 25 million a week repeatedly watching you. So you have to have a string of hit movies in order to get as much visibility as on a television show.”
What’s his all-time favourite cop series?
“Hmmm. Damn. That’s a good question. Wow, I don’t know. Does Mission Impossible count as cops? Mission Impossible, they were kinda like cops. They were out to try and solve shit. I never really watched too much cop stuff. Maybe Dragnet. The original Dragnet.”
Is it more fun to play the good guy than the bad guy?
“The bad guy ‘cause you get to be more animated. You get to be more crazy and insane and more weird, whereas with the good guy you gotta be kind of straight.”
Does he miss music when he’s acting?å
“I have a lot of time when I’m doing Law & Order to gig,” ICE reveals. “It keeps me fresh that I don’t do music 24/7. And when I do go out there I’m excited. I want to give people a good show.”
Who are his musical and acting heroes?
“Acting, I like Harvey Keitel, Gary Oldman and Christopher Walken. I like weird eccentric characters that play strange people really well. And musically, my heroes are James Brown, George Clinton, Prince and Grandmaster Melle Mell. I love originality.”
Rabid metal fan that he is, what does ICE make of The Darkness and the resurgence of rock in general?
“I don’t like rock if it’s not hard and aggressive and violent,” he retorts. “I’m into groups like Slayer, shit that you can get off on even if you don’t understand the words. What I tried to do with Body Count is make it hard and aggressive and give you some lyrical content too. That’s the way I like it.”
Getting back to the hip hop side of things, are there any new acts he regards as kindred spirits?
“Watch for this young kid that just got signed to K-Slay, Papoose,” ICE enthuses. “He’s down with SMG, our crew, and is phenomenal. I like Dip Set, the cats that rap. They’re down with Cam’ron and stuff. I’m a big Mobb Depp fan. I stick with my groups that I like.”
Given hotpress’ popularity among the dirty mac brigade, it’d be remiss of me not to ask ICE about his starring role alongside Busta Rhymes in Pimpin’ 101.
“Pimpin’ 101 is a porno that was put together by one of my friends who does porno At first I told him ‘no’, but then he got me to do the segues between the different segments. It’s me humorously walking you through the Pimp Game by explaining the different ho’s.”
Which are?
“The Track Ho, The Carpet Ho, The Porno Ho, The Stripper Ho. Strippers are my favourite type because they don’t believe they’re prostitutes. A lot of them believe they’re entertainers. Well, if you’re an entertainer you don’t get off the goddamn stage. Lap-dancing is not entertaining. Lap-dancing is prostitution.”
Sounds very educational.
“It’s all done in fun,” he concludes, “but I definitely wasn’t taking my clothes off!”b

ICE T and his band play The Red Box, Dublin on July 18 and its sister venue Crawdaddy on the 20th