WEBVTT - That Moment with Daymond John: Ice T’s Unfiltered “Cop Killer” Story 0:00:18.079 --> 0:00:21.280 Welcome to that moment with Damon John and I am 0:00:21.400 --> 0:00:24.239 Damon John, and today we are going to get into 0:00:24.360 --> 0:00:27.520 it with the legendary Iced team. 0:00:28.160 --> 0:00:29.040 Let's get into it. Man. 0:00:29.520 --> 0:00:33.559 When you found out your album now is being blocked 0:00:33.560 --> 0:00:35.760 by Warner how was the initial reaction. 0:00:35.800 --> 0:00:38.519 Tell me about the initial reaction. What do you mean 0:00:38.560 --> 0:00:39.680 with the cop Killer record? 0:00:39.840 --> 0:00:41.519 Yeah, well, you know I know that they weren't going 0:00:41.600 --> 0:00:43.879 to put out anymore. You know, you worked hard on 0:00:43.920 --> 0:00:47.400 that on that album, and you know they just said 0:00:47.400 --> 0:00:50.599 we're not going to back this anymore. And I know that's. 0:00:51.920 --> 0:00:56.600 That's not how it happened day. It didn't happen like that. All. 0:00:56.840 --> 0:00:58.920 We made this song called cop Killer, I was on 0:00:59.040 --> 0:01:02.400 Sire Warner Brothers, and the record came out and it 0:01:02.480 --> 0:01:06.280 did phenomenal. The album came out of when gold Warner 0:01:06.319 --> 0:01:09.440 Brothers was really excited about it. You know, we actually 0:01:09.480 --> 0:01:12.800 had a party for the success of the record, and 0:01:13.360 --> 0:01:17.080 then we got hit by the Fraternal Order of Police 0:01:17.120 --> 0:01:20.600 out of Austin, Texas that said cop Killer was the 0:01:20.600 --> 0:01:23.840 cause of this problems or drama. Really, the police were 0:01:23.920 --> 0:01:27.280 under siege, just like they're under siege now, and somebody 0:01:27.360 --> 0:01:31.440 smart said, why don't we just push the narrative at 0:01:31.600 --> 0:01:36.120 Warner Brothers. Warner Brothers put out this record. Now, they 0:01:36.160 --> 0:01:38.240 couldn't really get mad at me because I'm a black 0:01:38.319 --> 0:01:41.640 man and I'm making, you know, noise about the corruption 0:01:41.760 --> 0:01:43.679 We've been dealing with our whole life. But they were like, 0:01:43.760 --> 0:01:48.800 Warner Brothers, big corporation, how can you allow this man 0:01:48.880 --> 0:01:52.640 this platform. But Warner Brothers stood, stayed down with me. 0:01:52.840 --> 0:01:56.040 Jeral Levin, who was ahead of time, Warner wrote a 0:01:56.040 --> 0:01:59.520 big letter to the Washington I mean, to the to 0:02:01.200 --> 0:02:05.160 Wall Street Journal, and they backed me. They backed me 0:02:05.200 --> 0:02:07.120 as much as they could. It hit them in the 0:02:07.160 --> 0:02:10.800 stock you know, stock prices started to drive and what 0:02:10.840 --> 0:02:11.640 the problem was. 0:02:12.520 --> 0:02:19.279 What I was saying. They understood. But they're a white corporation. 0:02:19.440 --> 0:02:22.480 They're a corporation. They're part of the system. So now 0:02:22.639 --> 0:02:24.919 this is challenging them and their stockholders. 0:02:25.400 --> 0:02:27.480 Now you got to remember, at the time, Warner Brothers 0:02:27.480 --> 0:02:30.720 had myself, They had Prince, they had Slayer, they had 0:02:30.760 --> 0:02:34.200 Sam Kinniston, they had Andrew Dice Clay, they had the 0:02:34.240 --> 0:02:38.920 Ghetto Boys, they had a lot of controversial edgy artists. 0:02:38.919 --> 0:02:43.200 Madonna and Warner knew that as soon as they allowed 0:02:43.240 --> 0:02:46.400 them to censor me. It was going to be a problem. 0:02:47.040 --> 0:02:49.639 And I went into a meeting with Lenny Warnaker and 0:02:49.720 --> 0:02:52.440 Moe Austin and they broke it down to me. There 0:02:52.480 --> 0:02:56.720 was a big corporate table in front of me, and 0:02:56.760 --> 0:03:01.760 they said, I see this is it. You're an artist 0:03:01.800 --> 0:03:03.920 on Warner Brothers. And the guy put a quarter on 0:03:03.960 --> 0:03:06.160 the table. He said, to see the size of this quarter. 0:03:06.600 --> 0:03:10.200 This is how big Warner music is compared to Time Warner. 0:03:11.600 --> 0:03:15.320 We're so you're a dot on that small quarter and 0:03:15.560 --> 0:03:20.320 what you're doing is it's hurting the entire thing. So 0:03:20.400 --> 0:03:25.040 I was like, damn, you know, and I just kind 0:03:25.040 --> 0:03:27.240 of felt some kind of way like they're doing everything 0:03:27.280 --> 0:03:30.000 they could to support me. So what happened was the 0:03:30.040 --> 0:03:32.239 next album I was putting out was a rap album 0:03:32.280 --> 0:03:35.880 which was called Home Invasion. And when I went in 0:03:35.920 --> 0:03:39.480 there to do that record, when I turned it in, 0:03:39.840 --> 0:03:41.800 they had me come in and they had every word 0:03:41.880 --> 0:03:45.200 on the record written out in big letters on a board. 0:03:45.840 --> 0:03:48.760 They were going through every little thing and there was 0:03:48.800 --> 0:03:51.720 some there was some sketchy lyrics in there. I had 0:03:51.920 --> 0:03:55.400 a lyrics said I don't give a fuck about a 0:03:55.440 --> 0:03:57.560 cop or a g man. They all talk shit they're 0:03:57.560 --> 0:04:00.360 breast smelling like semen. I catch them in that alley 0:04:00.400 --> 0:04:03.040 all alone, put them in the prone pop pop pop 0:04:03.120 --> 0:04:06.680 to the dome. So they like, you're killing cops again, right, 0:04:06.720 --> 0:04:10.920 But I'm like this gangster rap right. So it was 0:04:11.080 --> 0:04:15.040 so they were so uptight, Dame that I eventually just said, 0:04:15.080 --> 0:04:16.680 you know what, let me go. 0:04:17.960 --> 0:04:19.279 I asked for the release. 0:04:19.480 --> 0:04:21.560 I said, it's kind of like me and you are 0:04:21.560 --> 0:04:24.200 in business, and I'm like, my politics is messing with 0:04:24.240 --> 0:04:24.719 your money. 0:04:24.720 --> 0:04:28.360 But we friends. Let me go. Man, I'm no. 0:04:28.400 --> 0:04:31.880 Hard feelings, and I never had a hard feeling with 0:04:31.920 --> 0:04:32.600 Warner Brothers. 0:04:32.600 --> 0:04:35.680 And what Warner Brothers did that was very cool. 0:04:37.320 --> 0:04:39.880 The Home Invasion album was about a half a million 0:04:39.920 --> 0:04:41.000 dollar album to make. 0:04:41.680 --> 0:04:43.800 They gave it to me. They never recouped it. 0:04:43.800 --> 0:04:47.000 They just said here, good luck Ice, because you got 0:04:47.040 --> 0:04:49.880 to remember, for so many years, like ten years, I 0:04:50.000 --> 0:04:52.240 was the number one rapper on that label. 0:04:52.320 --> 0:04:53.000 They loved me. 0:04:53.120 --> 0:04:55.360 They you know, I had done nothing but bring them 0:04:55.400 --> 0:05:00.839 golden platinum records, six consecutive golden platinum records, so they. 0:05:00.680 --> 0:05:02.159 Couldn't turn on me like that. 0:05:02.240 --> 0:05:09.520 But I got them in a sticky situation, and that's 0:05:09.560 --> 0:05:12.800 what happened. A lot of people didn't understand the source 0:05:12.880 --> 0:05:17.640 magazine went after me. He said, I folded. Chuck d 0:05:17.839 --> 0:05:19.640 said the best. He said, those that are don't in 0:05:19.680 --> 0:05:22.479 the wars shouldn't comment on the battles. You have no 0:05:22.560 --> 0:05:25.560 idea what was really going on behind the scene. 0:05:25.800 --> 0:05:32.400 But that was it. But Warner never really did Low. 0:05:32.720 --> 0:05:35.320 They didn't do Low. They was just a bad situation. 0:05:38.800 --> 0:05:43.000 History is proven, or history is reflected only the times 0:05:43.040 --> 0:05:47.599 that large corporations or any company turned their back on people. 0:05:47.760 --> 0:05:48.880 I mean, we do see. 0:05:50.400 --> 0:05:52.839 Nike will stand on the side of what they believe 0:05:53.000 --> 0:05:56.040 is right, even when somebody's kneeling. They'll stand on that side, 0:05:57.000 --> 0:05:58.880 and we can use them. But I don't think I've 0:05:58.880 --> 0:06:03.000 ever heard of a music label, especially a label that 0:06:03.160 --> 0:06:07.599 wasn't backed by like, let's say, a young person hip 0:06:07.839 --> 0:06:10.919 like you, right like you. I've heard of Jimmy I 0:06:10.960 --> 0:06:13.480 Bean backing you know, and and having somebody's back. I've 0:06:13.480 --> 0:06:14.840 heard of a couple of people, and I never heard 0:06:14.880 --> 0:06:19.120 of something like a Warner backing you and that that's 0:06:19.279 --> 0:06:20.320 that's that's really rare. 0:06:20.400 --> 0:06:23.279 So you know what it was name, I don't think 0:06:23.279 --> 0:06:25.000 they were backing me as much as they. 0:06:24.960 --> 0:06:28.760 Was back in the back in the principle overall, Yeah, 0:06:28.880 --> 0:06:30.040 once they censor you. 0:06:30.240 --> 0:06:30.680 Yeah. 0:06:30.720 --> 0:06:32.880 And if you notice at the end of it, there 0:06:33.000 --> 0:06:37.159 was no more Warner Music at some point. The last 0:06:37.160 --> 0:06:39.520 thing was when death Row was trying to get involved 0:06:39.520 --> 0:06:42.239 and Ted Turner came in and shut that whole ship down. 0:06:42.800 --> 0:06:48.000 But nah, they they pretty much all the edgy groups 0:06:48.080 --> 0:06:52.080 left Warner Brothers at that time. Uh, and they knew that. 0:06:52.160 --> 0:06:54.800 They explained that to me, they like, it's bigger than you. 0:06:55.160 --> 0:06:58.520 It's where you go after that, though, you know what, 0:06:58.839 --> 0:07:01.400 because I'm trying to find at that moment, that moment 0:07:01.440 --> 0:07:03.440 you're saying you were you were you were, you were 0:07:03.480 --> 0:07:07.039 doing well on there ten years in you would already well, 0:07:07.279 --> 0:07:09.400 we'll get to the origin of when you decided to 0:07:09.440 --> 0:07:12.560 put that gangster rap on an actual album and. 0:07:12.880 --> 0:07:13.440 Go out there. 0:07:13.480 --> 0:07:16.360 But where did you Where did you go right after that? 0:07:16.400 --> 0:07:18.640 What were your options that moment when you were like, 0:07:18.720 --> 0:07:21.520 let me go. Did you already think, I listen, I'm 0:07:21.520 --> 0:07:24.400 getting my guys in the sticky situation, I have other opportunity. 0:07:25.040 --> 0:07:27.440 Did you feel like were you, being, of course courted 0:07:27.520 --> 0:07:30.320 by other people or was it like I'm gonna go 0:07:30.360 --> 0:07:33.000 do the ship myself. Like, what was that moment in 0:07:33.040 --> 0:07:33.480 your life? 0:07:34.440 --> 0:07:37.480 It was it was nerve wrecking man, because you know 0:07:37.600 --> 0:07:39.040 we I was red hot. 0:07:39.400 --> 0:07:40.000 Yeah, you know. 0:07:40.320 --> 0:07:43.240 Uh. The cop Killer record, even though it was it 0:07:43.280 --> 0:07:46.480 was in trouble, it went, it sold a million records. 0:07:46.840 --> 0:07:49.240 Every record up to that point ic T was either 0:07:49.320 --> 0:07:53.600 gold or platinum. So I wasn't on a downstroke. But 0:07:53.680 --> 0:07:57.680 I was just like kind of like an out, like 0:07:57.760 --> 0:08:02.640 people were afraid to touch me, you know. And I 0:08:02.720 --> 0:08:09.600 basically went over to Priority Priority. Brian Turner over Priority 0:08:10.000 --> 0:08:13.400 was familiar with the funk because he had put out NWA, 0:08:14.600 --> 0:08:17.360 so he was not afraid of it. He was like, 0:08:18.480 --> 0:08:20.080 let's do it. We'll do the Home and I did 0:08:20.120 --> 0:08:25.040 two albums at Priority was this I can't even tell 0:08:25.040 --> 0:08:26.920 you the year. I know that cop Killer shit hit 0:08:26.920 --> 0:08:30.920 in ninety two, so it was probably ninety three ninety four, 0:08:32.080 --> 0:08:35.320 trying to drop another record. But Brian Turner put out 0:08:35.360 --> 0:08:40.080 the Home Invasion album, then he put out the Return 0:08:40.120 --> 0:08:43.240 of the Real album, and then later on he put 0:08:43.280 --> 0:08:45.440 out the Gangs Rap album. So I went over the 0:08:45.440 --> 0:08:50.760 Priority because they were like not as big a corporation 0:08:50.960 --> 0:08:52.040 and they didn't give a fuck. 0:08:52.360 --> 0:08:53.440 And then body. 0:08:53.080 --> 0:08:56.160 Count went over to Virgin, because Virgin is a British 0:08:56.200 --> 0:09:00.840 own company, and they didn't really give a fuck about 0:09:01.080 --> 0:09:02.280 American politics. 0:09:02.280 --> 0:09:04.240 They were just like fuck it. You know, that's that's 0:09:04.600 --> 0:09:07.400 Richard Branson in them. Yeah, he was already a rebel himself. 0:09:07.400 --> 0:09:10.000 He was already down there in trouble for himself. Yeah, 0:09:10.200 --> 0:09:12.360 that's time, right right, Yeah. 0:09:12.480 --> 0:09:14.600 I mean, you know what, if you're moving records, it's 0:09:14.640 --> 0:09:16.960 not going to be a problem to find a home. 0:09:17.679 --> 0:09:18.560 I remember we went. 0:09:18.440 --> 0:09:21.719 Over to UH when we went to when I went 0:09:21.760 --> 0:09:25.800 to Virgin, I went over there with my ball. I 0:09:25.880 --> 0:09:28.120 let my balls hang like they were like. We were like, 0:09:28.160 --> 0:09:30.200 what do we want for the record? I said, I 0:09:30.240 --> 0:09:33.760 need a million up front. I need a million dollars 0:09:34.000 --> 0:09:36.480 up front. I said, don't offer me three hundred thousand. 0:09:36.559 --> 0:09:38.840 I got to watch the cost three hundred thousand. Let's 0:09:39.080 --> 0:09:41.479 let's talk some numbers. I said, give me the equivalent 0:09:41.520 --> 0:09:43.600 of the album going platinum up front. 0:09:43.800 --> 0:09:46.080 And if you don't think the record's going to go platinum, 0:09:46.120 --> 0:09:48.800 why are we here? Why are we here? 0:09:48.880 --> 0:09:50.839 I need to be someplace that knows you can move 0:09:50.840 --> 0:09:54.160 a million records, because I've done it before. And they 0:09:54.240 --> 0:09:58.160 leaned back in the chair and wrote to check, so, 0:09:59.400 --> 0:10:02.400 you know, and now that was my first really you know, me, 0:10:02.679 --> 0:10:05.400 me being able to negotiate because my one idea was 0:10:05.440 --> 0:10:08.439 always in a slow increment because I'd signed, you know, 0:10:08.720 --> 0:10:10.040 a long term contract. 0:10:10.080 --> 0:10:11.079 Now I'm a free agent. 0:10:11.840 --> 0:10:14.520 So and in them days, getting a million dollars for 0:10:14.600 --> 0:10:15.880 a record up front. 0:10:15.720 --> 0:10:19.840 Was big, right, big. Now these kids are getting twenty millions. 0:10:20.240 --> 0:10:21.360 But that was big. 0:10:22.679 --> 0:10:24.959 Let's let's let's let's wind it back, because I want 0:10:25.000 --> 0:10:28.640 to know when when you were frustrated and you know nothing, 0:10:28.640 --> 0:10:30.960 you know you you you know, we're boys. I know 0:10:31.040 --> 0:10:33.920 these served this country. I know that also you you 0:10:34.280 --> 0:10:36.480 you was a bad guy. You know, you were doing 0:10:36.520 --> 0:10:39.320 what you had to do when you decided at that 0:10:39.440 --> 0:10:43.640 moment to create your first single, your first song. Can 0:10:43.679 --> 0:10:45.600 I can I ask you what was going through your 0:10:45.640 --> 0:10:46.640 head around that time? 0:10:46.760 --> 0:10:49.840 What were the records that were motivating you at that time? 0:10:49.920 --> 0:10:51.480 Because you know me, when I was coming up, it 0:10:51.520 --> 0:10:54.400 was a it was a rising to the top by 0:10:54.480 --> 0:10:58.840 Kenny Burke, or it was public enemy, fear of you know, 0:10:58.960 --> 0:11:01.079 you know, fear of a black planet and stuff like that, 0:11:01.160 --> 0:11:04.520 and I, oh, no, rock him paid in full. I'm 0:11:04.559 --> 0:11:06.960 driving my car going, I'm gonna get paid in full, right, 0:11:07.040 --> 0:11:09.520 What were the songs of that time when you were 0:11:09.559 --> 0:11:12.559 first coming up and you were like this is this 0:11:12.640 --> 0:11:14.960 is in whatever you were doing, you was on the 0:11:14.960 --> 0:11:17.280 car to go go and do something that we don't 0:11:17.320 --> 0:11:19.760 agree upon now, or you was heading to the studio 0:11:19.960 --> 0:11:22.800 and you were just you were frustrated or excited. What 0:11:22.920 --> 0:11:25.920 was the songs that you remember at that time at 0:11:25.920 --> 0:11:27.520 that moment for the most part. 0:11:27.840 --> 0:11:29.840 Well, I first started hearing rap when I was in 0:11:29.880 --> 0:11:32.920 the Army, and you know, I went out of high school. 0:11:32.960 --> 0:11:35.440 I went in the Army and there were New York 0:11:35.520 --> 0:11:39.480 kids there from and they had the tapes you know before. 0:11:39.679 --> 0:11:41.920 So I was hearing Flash and I was hearing Trench 0:11:42.040 --> 0:11:45.840 with three and all that on cassette tapes. And when 0:11:45.960 --> 0:11:49.320 Sugar Hill Gang came out, I was like, I could 0:11:49.360 --> 0:11:51.920 do that, you know, I could do that because I'd 0:11:51.920 --> 0:11:54.720 been saying raps for the gang bangers in the streets. 0:11:54.880 --> 0:11:57.120 I knew how to rhyme, so to speak. 0:11:57.800 --> 0:12:00.360 And when I came back from the Army, my tension 0:12:00.440 --> 0:12:03.480 was to be a DJ like Uncle Jam's Army and. 0:12:05.559 --> 0:12:08.199 You know, do that. But I got more attention rapping. 0:12:08.280 --> 0:12:08.800 But it was like. 0:12:08.840 --> 0:12:14.600 Curtis, Blow, Furious Five, the groups that were out there, 0:12:14.600 --> 0:12:17.720 and then the first real superstar rap groups like Run 0:12:17.800 --> 0:12:22.000 DMC and people like that that came out. Ll of 0:12:22.080 --> 0:12:25.200 course he came out before me, and those were like 0:12:25.240 --> 0:12:28.520 the targets, you know, and like everybody talking about the 0:12:28.800 --> 0:12:30.640 LL beef with Ice, well that was because he was 0:12:30.720 --> 0:12:33.720 the best, and he was a solo artist, and I 0:12:33.800 --> 0:12:35.880 was a solo artist. So you have to go after 0:12:35.960 --> 0:12:38.520 the man. You have to go after him, you know. 0:12:39.080 --> 0:12:40.880 The only way to be the man is to challenge 0:12:40.920 --> 0:12:41.560 the man, you know. 0:12:41.760 --> 0:12:43.960 So I was. 0:12:44.000 --> 0:12:47.520 Rapping like that, like a battle rapper like that kind 0:12:47.520 --> 0:12:49.880 of rap was my first style. 0:12:50.040 --> 0:12:51.720 But you took it to another level though, you know, 0:12:51.760 --> 0:12:54.600 because I grew up, thank God, with them, and I remember, 0:12:54.840 --> 0:12:57.560 and I remember clearly, I will you know, I was 0:12:57.559 --> 0:12:59.679 a roadie on on the tours, and I was on 0:12:59.720 --> 0:13:03.600 that or pushing around speakers and trying to hang out 0:13:03.600 --> 0:13:05.439 with people, and I was on that tour with LL 0:13:05.880 --> 0:13:08.720 and and Fat Boys and Rock Kim and all that, 0:13:08.920 --> 0:13:10.400 and I'd be very honest. 0:13:11.240 --> 0:13:12.240 At that time, some. 0:13:12.160 --> 0:13:14.559 Of the rappers were a little disrespectful when they got 0:13:14.559 --> 0:13:16.440 out of New York because New York they thought that 0:13:16.559 --> 0:13:17.760 it was only New York. 0:13:17.920 --> 0:13:20.480 The world was New York. So they would see people that. 0:13:20.600 --> 0:13:25.040 Look a little different with Jerry curls and and other stuff, 0:13:25.040 --> 0:13:28.640 and they'll be disrespectful, like yo, Jerry curl, put your 0:13:28.640 --> 0:13:31.600 hands in the air. And then I remember we got 0:13:31.600 --> 0:13:35.120 to Detroit and there was a whole bunch of Jerry 0:13:35.160 --> 0:13:37.839 Curle doers from LA and they would call n w 0:13:38.160 --> 0:13:40.440 A and we ain't know much about them, but these 0:13:40.440 --> 0:13:43.200 guys that the police were throwing boss of them. 0:13:43.200 --> 0:13:44.840 They were throwing boss the police. 0:13:44.880 --> 0:13:48.160 They had they had, they had machine guns, they had 0:13:48.440 --> 0:13:51.120 ouzzies with them and all kinds of stuff. And I 0:13:51.280 --> 0:13:55.960 was like, yeah, those Jerry Curle people with the mechanic 0:13:56.080 --> 0:14:00.679 suits on, I'm afraid of them. 0:14:00.800 --> 0:14:01.559 You know, because the. 0:14:01.600 --> 0:14:03.840 Rappers in New York, I mean, you know, they were 0:14:03.840 --> 0:14:05.880 talking a little bit of stuff like yo, you know, 0:14:05.960 --> 0:14:11.040 like it wasn't violence, it wasn't fight back. It was 0:14:11.120 --> 0:14:13.160 kind of like a public enemy said fight back. But 0:14:13.240 --> 0:14:15.760 it was kind of like the very much of Black Panthers. 0:14:15.800 --> 0:14:18.200 You know, it was like we are you know, we 0:14:18.280 --> 0:14:21.800 are going to uh, we're gonna police our own community. 0:14:21.840 --> 0:14:24.640 But your rap was, you know, we're gonna we're gonna 0:14:24.640 --> 0:14:27.640 police the police the way they're policing us. 0:14:28.040 --> 0:14:30.560 And what gave you that drive. 0:14:30.400 --> 0:14:32.120 To be able to be that vocal Because out of 0:14:32.120 --> 0:14:34.360 all the rappers you were talking about, maybe the earlier days, 0:14:34.440 --> 0:14:37.440 sugar Hill Gang was very pop. Maybe the message was 0:14:37.480 --> 0:14:40.400 the one that was frustrating, where he was talking about 0:14:40.440 --> 0:14:42.840 people pissling on the rail stations, just don't care. You 0:14:42.880 --> 0:14:46.040 know what gave you that that anger or that that 0:14:46.160 --> 0:14:48.360 ability to say, I'm gonna I'm gonna vocalize the streets 0:14:48.360 --> 0:14:49.880 and in a way that very few people have and 0:14:49.920 --> 0:14:52.040 I don't care it. 0:14:52.040 --> 0:14:54.520 Really, it really comes from not coming from a hip 0:14:54.520 --> 0:14:57.920 hop background, Like you know, like growing up in La 0:14:58.000 --> 0:15:02.160 it's a gang culture, so you understand gangs and you 0:15:02.240 --> 0:15:06.200 understand low riding, and you understand how we had what 0:15:06.280 --> 0:15:07.320 the Cali look was. 0:15:07.400 --> 0:15:07.880 You did. 0:15:08.360 --> 0:15:10.640 So when I first started to rap, of course, I 0:15:10.720 --> 0:15:12.800 was trying to rap like New York rappers. 0:15:13.440 --> 0:15:17.400 But then I heard Schooley d out of Out of Philly. 0:15:18.320 --> 0:15:21.840 He did a song called PSK where he sung about 0:15:21.840 --> 0:15:25.560 the park Side Killers, and I'm like, he's rapping about 0:15:25.560 --> 0:15:32.160 a gang, and I was like, that's okay, And at 0:15:32.160 --> 0:15:35.320 that point, that's when I turned That was the pivotal 0:15:35.360 --> 0:15:37.800 moment in my career where I'm like, oh, they like 0:15:38.000 --> 0:15:42.520 that shit, right. And so six in the morning, what 0:15:42.600 --> 0:15:46.040 they call the first gangster rap record really is not 0:15:46.280 --> 0:15:48.480 the first gangster rap record is PSK. 0:15:49.720 --> 0:15:51.600 And then six in the Morning. 0:15:51.640 --> 0:15:55.360 I even snatched Schooli's Cadence when he said PSK, we 0:15:55.520 --> 0:15:58.680 making that green. People always say, what the hell does 0:15:58.680 --> 0:16:01.080 that mean? I said, six in the police at my 0:16:01.200 --> 0:16:06.640 door fresh year. I'ven jack the Cadence, But I took 0:16:06.720 --> 0:16:09.760 you on a ride through La you know, hitting crensyaw 0:16:09.840 --> 0:16:13.040 first time anybody ever heard the street crenchyaw, rolling a 0:16:13.080 --> 0:16:16.680 blazer with a Louis Vauton interior and getting jacked by 0:16:16.720 --> 0:16:20.520 the police and going to jail and coming out and 0:16:20.920 --> 0:16:24.880 that record hit Dame, that shit hit and I was like, yo, 0:16:25.080 --> 0:16:28.160 and it hitting the Bay first. It hitting the Bay 0:16:28.680 --> 0:16:31.880 because I got a call to do a show at 0:16:31.880 --> 0:16:37.120 the Fillmore West, a very famous venue, and I said, Okay, 0:16:37.200 --> 0:16:39.120 I'll do it. They called me back three days later 0:16:39.160 --> 0:16:40.400 said we want you to do a show at the 0:16:40.400 --> 0:16:43.680 Fillmore West. I'm like, I booked that. They go, No, 0:16:43.840 --> 0:16:50.080 that sold out. I'm like word And once I you know, 0:16:50.160 --> 0:16:53.520 sometimes you got to find your identity. Another thing that 0:16:53.560 --> 0:16:57.680 helped me find my identity was Russell Simmons. 0:16:58.120 --> 0:16:59.560 I was trying to be New York. 0:16:59.640 --> 0:17:02.240 I'm trying the dress, I got the spikes on early 0:17:02.360 --> 0:17:05.320 like Mellie and I'm trying to rappers had to look. 0:17:06.400 --> 0:17:10.440 And I was at a show with Russell in La 0:17:10.600 --> 0:17:12.639 and they just called me on the stage. And that 0:17:12.720 --> 0:17:14.920 day I had on my street clothes, I had on Fela, 0:17:15.240 --> 0:17:19.240 I had k Swiss on, you know, my perm and 0:17:19.400 --> 0:17:22.879 I went upstage wrapped and when I came up to stage, 0:17:22.920 --> 0:17:27.240 Russell's like, that's your look, trying to look like New York. 0:17:27.320 --> 0:17:29.920 You gotta look like La nigga. You were an La nigga. 0:17:29.960 --> 0:17:35.040 You gotta rep the coast. And then I started to 0:17:35.080 --> 0:17:39.720 evolve into just being a LA player. And early my 0:17:39.800 --> 0:17:43.320 first two albums I didn't even rep gangster. It was 0:17:43.400 --> 0:17:47.280 more like the player, the hustler. But when Nwa came 0:17:47.320 --> 0:17:51.040 out and ice Cube said straight out of Cumpton, crazy 0:17:51.080 --> 0:17:55.520 motherfucker named ice Cube from the gang called niggas with attitudes, 0:17:55.840 --> 0:18:00.520 the press called it gangster. Yeah, So I said, well, 0:18:00.560 --> 0:18:04.040 if it's gangster rap, I got two albums out already 0:18:04.160 --> 0:18:06.879 then I'm the original gangst So that's where the og 0:18:07.080 --> 0:18:10.440 shit came from me reclaiming like, okay, this is what 0:18:10.480 --> 0:18:15.119 we're doing. Then yeah, let's make it clear. And you 0:18:15.160 --> 0:18:20.480 know it's it's just really reflecting what you see versus 0:18:20.680 --> 0:18:22.879 rocking the party. Like you know, when I tried to 0:18:22.920 --> 0:18:24.879 write the party, it didn't work. You know, when I 0:18:24.920 --> 0:18:28.760 started talking about the street shit, I reached a large 0:18:28.920 --> 0:18:35.359 audience and it was really my perspective at the moment. 0:18:35.480 --> 0:18:38.920 So earlier Ice Team music is a lot more negative 0:18:39.040 --> 0:18:42.000 as before I started to evolve as as a man, 0:18:42.080 --> 0:18:45.560 I was kind of like right off the block. Just 0:18:45.640 --> 0:18:48.320 imagine if you took a kid right out of any Borough, 0:18:48.440 --> 0:18:52.720 Queens or whatever in the projects. He's hustling, and if 0:18:52.760 --> 0:18:55.840 you put him in a studio and whatever he said 0:18:55.960 --> 0:19:00.760 happened to Ron. That's real raw gangster rap. You see 0:19:00.760 --> 0:19:03.280 what I'm saying. It's just magically at Ron and he 0:19:03.400 --> 0:19:05.800 told his story. That's what we were doing right out 0:19:05.840 --> 0:19:06.160 the gate. 0:19:07.200 --> 0:19:09.560 Let me go to that gangs of mentality though, because 0:19:10.119 --> 0:19:13.400 you know, we can't help what we came from, and 0:19:14.040 --> 0:19:16.520 that gang's mentality it seemed to have served you in 0:19:16.600 --> 0:19:18.800 various different ways that you used it in the form, 0:19:18.840 --> 0:19:20.919 and I always said, everybody, there's only two people to 0:19:20.960 --> 0:19:24.520 get the ultimate pass snoop and iced tea. You can 0:19:24.520 --> 0:19:27.400 get a a star on the Walker Hall of Fame 0:19:27.440 --> 0:19:29.919 and curse everybody out at the same time, you know, 0:19:30.160 --> 0:19:32.520 by getting and giving love to obviously the people in 0:19:32.520 --> 0:19:35.520 the audience. But if you reflect on it, there's a 0:19:35.520 --> 0:19:37.240 certain way you can think about gangs and stuff. You 0:19:37.280 --> 0:19:39.320 can think about it that don't ever cross the line. 0:19:39.359 --> 0:19:42.240 Don't disrespect me because this is all I have is 0:19:42.280 --> 0:19:45.000 a reputation, and I'm gonna have to defend that reputation 0:19:45.040 --> 0:19:47.320 because if I allow you to do that, well, then 0:19:47.320 --> 0:19:50.919 everybody's gonna do it. Oh, it's a mentality of Listen, 0:19:51.359 --> 0:19:53.600 I know you got dirty with me. Wanna I know 0:19:53.680 --> 0:19:57.880 you've got a bigger priority, and you know I don't 0:19:57.920 --> 0:20:00.399 think that. I don't think I want to take you 0:20:00.440 --> 0:20:02.200 down that path kind of like you know you walking 0:20:02.200 --> 0:20:03.800 down the block. Listen, a little homie, I did this 0:20:03.840 --> 0:20:06.040 dirt by myself. Don't worry about it. I know you cool, 0:20:06.080 --> 0:20:09.080 you ready, but I ain't gonna do that to you 0:20:09.320 --> 0:20:11.520 or when you and I, you know, we're kind of 0:20:11.600 --> 0:20:13.280 hanging out and chilling on our own. 0:20:13.080 --> 0:20:13.919 And you're like, listen. 0:20:14.760 --> 0:20:16.639 I always talk to Dick Wolf and I be like, listen, man, 0:20:16.720 --> 0:20:18.200 just tell me what it is, and I'm good. 0:20:18.240 --> 0:20:18.800 You know what I mean. 0:20:18.840 --> 0:20:21.760 We I've had a good fortune of going for me 0:20:21.840 --> 0:20:24.119 to cop killer, the longest run a cop on television, 0:20:24.240 --> 0:20:27.560 and the TV and everything is changing. I got you, 0:20:27.560 --> 0:20:31.120 you got me, I got you. Don't stress it that 0:20:31.200 --> 0:20:34.120 you have a form of dedication from a gangster way, 0:20:34.240 --> 0:20:36.800 but also you brought the form of But I'm not 0:20:36.880 --> 0:20:38.439 going to bring you down that path. I mean you 0:20:38.560 --> 0:20:40.200 just let me know what it is and we good 0:20:40.200 --> 0:20:41.560 when we walk in you know what I mean. 0:20:41.640 --> 0:20:46.119