Rapper and Body Count frontman Ice T has weighed in on the ongoing feud between Kendrick Lamar and Drake, declaring that competition is important to hip-hop.
Ice T, 66, is currently on a new tour with his self-described “grindhouse” band, ahead of their forthcoming album, Merciless. They recently released the record’s lead single, “Psychopath”, featuring singer Joe Bad.
Speaking to The Independent, Ice T, real name Tracy Marrow, reflected on the recent months of traded barbs between two of the biggest names in rap.
“The best part to me, like Snoop [Dogg] said, is it made people start listening to lyrics again,” the Law and Order: SVU star said. “For a while [with hip-hop], people weren’t even listening to the f***ing words.”
“As far as lyrics, as far as song-making and writing because the writing has been upped since the confrontation or whatever you call it, whatever they went through,” Snoop told Entertainment Tonight in May.
“You can't mumble your way and gimmick your way to a song no more, buddy. So, thank y'all.”
“A good battle will make people step up – and then also Kendrick was able to pull a lot of unity out of LA,” Ice continued. “I think a lot of positives came out of it. You know, it’s a battle. Nobody got hurt.”
He acknowledged that Drake’s security guard did, in fact, get shot outside the rapper’s mansion in Toronto: “But that’s what happens when you start arguments, anything could happen. But I think more positive came out of it and negative.”
In the same interview, he observed that Donald Trump has “more criminal charges than anyone I grew up with”, calling the 2024 presidential candidate “the biggest con artist that the world has probably ever seen”.
“Like if you had all my guys together, they don’t have the same amount of charges as this dude and he’s running for president... and he doesn’t have an ankle bracelet on,” Ice said.
“I think all of this s*** is a big exposé on how foul politics is across the board,” he continued.
“I mean, you got Biden, he could sneeze and die at any minute, you know? It’s f***ed up that the people don’t really have candidates that are honourable and who we can believe in. The world is in turmoil right now.”
His band Body Count are out on the road after the pandemic prevented them from touring in support of their 2020 album, Carnivore.
“It’s full power, everybody is rocked by now,” Ice said of the live shows. Explaining his dedication to putting on a thrilling performance each night, he added: “This is not something that you can just stop and forget about. You have to stay on it. If you’re not nervous, then that means you’re not concerned.”
“I think I make music for crowd response,” he continued. “I want the audience to enjoy it: when you’re in a room with 5,000 people, they’ll let you know if something sucks.
“You don’t last 35 years if you take it for granted. A lot of artists do that: they get in this for one split second and they believe they’re important.”
Body Count will arrive in the UK on 30 June, when they will perform at London’s Kentish Town Forum before heading over to Manchester (1 July) and Glasgow (2 July).
“Life’s perfect,” Ice said, revealing that his family – including wife of 22 years Coco Austin and his three children – are travelling with him on the tour.
Asked about the secret to his lasting marriage, Ice responded: “Really, you gotta find somebody you really f***ing love at the end of the day. And you’ve gotta f*** a lot, you know, because once the sex goes out of the relationship, that’s the start of the ending.”
He continued: “The passion still needs to be there [along with] an extreme amount of communication. You gotta be able to talk and you have to communicate when you’re upset. Don’t let it fester – address it.
“And if both people really want to make each other happy equally, you’ve got a good situation. I really spend my days trying to make Coco happy and she’s trying to make me happy, and there you go.”
Body Count are on tour until 2 July. Their new album, ‘Merciless’, is out later this year.
