When colleges invite speakers to address students, they usually request dignitaries, such as businessmen, individuals with doctorates and ex-politicians.
But these are simply two of many roles the godfather of gangsta rap has played. Currently, Ice-T, the rapper who gained notoriety by releasing the song "Cop Killer," stars as a police officer on the NBC television show "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit."
At the lecture, the rapper, dressed in an Ecko tee and blue denim pants, joked that the past is not far behind. Midway through the beginning of his speech, Ice-T said,
"Let me turn this pager off because the pimping is out of control," a comment met with applause from the college-aged crowd.
Ice-T's speech, or "conversation," as he called it, was a blend of social commentary and stand-up comedy. The rapper breezed through an informal lecture addressing his life, social issues and questions from the audience at the end.
His stop at Daemen was one in a long line of schools where he has lectured. Ice-T has built a career as a public speaker, talking from the Ivy League down to juvenile penitentiaries. Although not every school has been pleased with his appearance, Ice-T thanked the administration of Daemen for their support.
"I was met in a limo by your dean who immediately made a point to let me know he was not a square. He was embarrassed that he was in a trench coat; I thought it was the FBI that got me," he said.
The Early Life of a Pimp
Born as Tracy Marrow in 1959, Ice-T moved to Los Angeles, Calif., after the death of both his parents in Newark, N.J. It wasn't long before the aimless teenager fell into gang culture.
Clarifying his role in gang culture, Ice-T said,
"I was never a hardcore gang member . . . but I was a gang affiliate. I rolled with the set, I wore the colors, but I never went and put in work, which means murdering."
After impregnating his girlfriend, Ice-T joined the military for four years and served as an Airborne Ranger. But he made a quick exit after briefly serving as an RTO, which Ice-T explained was the radio guy.
"You hear the commanders calling in things like 'Send your platoon on that ridge line to draw fire.' Does anybody want to draw fire? That means go on that hill and see where they shoot at from. Ha-ha! I'm not drawing fire! . . . so I got my ass out of the military."
Although, as Ice-T said, he could "blow up s--- in the kitchen," he had no skills that could land him a job. So he quickly went back into crime.
Part of what made the rapper's lecture engaging was his blunt honesty. Ice-T showed no hesitation discussing his forays into bank robbing and pimping.
"Within the first day I was home from the military, within 48 hours, I had $400,000. We hit a spot in Palms Springs . . . I can speak on that today because nobody died, and there's a beautiful thing in America called the statute of limitations."
Regarding pimping as a cutthroat industry, Ice-T said,
"It's heavy psychological warfare. I don't advise anybody to try to do it, you got to be born (into) it. It's not easy. If you weren't 14 and the girls weren't braiding your hair, if you in this school and nobody's doing your homework, don't try to pimp."
Most critics and fans readily name Ice-T the founder of gangsta rap, but that didn't stop him from illuminating his influence in the world of hip-hop. Although some people believe N.W.A. were the originators, Ice-T held firm that the group's song "Boyz-N-The Hood" was modeled after his early hit, "6 'N The Morning."
Not that he is resentful.
"Ice Cube (one of the members of N.W.A.) was a friend of mine, his name was O'Shea Jackson, and he went to Arizona University," Ice-T said. "And he basically went up to me and said, 'Ice, I'm going to be Ice Cube.' It's cool, little n----, it's cool."
His big break arrived when Seymour Stein, a record company executive, signed him for his first album. Although Ice-T admits he was first put off by Stein's homosexual characteristics ("The first thing he said to me was 'I love your eyes'"), he recognized his musical genius. According to Ice-T, Stein told him:
" 'Just like I may not understand what you're rapping about, it doesn't mean that it is invalid, it means I don't know. Therefore, you sound like Bob Dylan to me.'"
One of the main issues Ice-T addressed was the way he's been accused throughout his career of glamorizing violence. For Ice-T, it's simply a matter of telling the truth.
"I've been shot twice. It's glamorous. I show you what it's really like. As far as advising someone to get into it, hell no! . . I got out by the skin of my teeth. But it's an exciting ride, and that's the truth. But sometimes it will get you killed."
Ice-T must have become acclimated to speaking in a higher learning environment because at the start of his lecture, he warned that his particular use of the English language might not fly in an institutional environment.
"They have this word called 'profanity.' That sounds educated. If you look up 'profane' in the dictionary, it will say something that is blasphemous. If you look up blasphemy, it will say something that is irreverent. But I challenge any of you religious scholars to tell me how the word s--- is going to send me to Hell."
Ice-T's definition of free speech is that "It's what you're allowed to say because anything you say can be held against you."
"My friend Eminem came out and said a lot of things about gay people. Gay people got mad. He's got to deal with that. I made a record called "Cop Killer." Cops got mad. I got to deal with that," said Ice-T. "You have free speech, but you have to be prepared for the ramifications. You can't come home and tell your girl, 'Yo baby, I've been f---ing your sister and everything.'"
This first amendment discussion led to the "Cop Killer" controversy 10 years ago. Although Ice-T meant the song as a statement against police brutality, the police and politicians interpreted lyrics like "Die, die, die, pig, die!" literally.
"(Federal officers) snatched my daughter out of school and asked, 'Is your father connected to any paramilitary organizations, does he own any weapons?' This is the real thing. I got ice cream trucks sitting in front of my house in the winter," said Ice-T.
The rapper promptly dismisses any critics arguing he should have stood his ground.
"Man, kiss my black ass. It'd be different if I had a political agenda and this was something I wanted to show you. . but it was no agenda. It was just a damn record. I didn't want to get shot for no record."
"The quickest way to figure out if you're a racist is you gotta take it to sex," Ice-T said. "Would you have a problem if your mother remarried to a black man, or if you're black, if your mother married a white man? You have to take it to the most touchy topic in the human senses, which is sex."
He went on to say:
"With rap music, there was a problem . . . that goes back to rock and roll. When rock and roll first started out, it was music made by black people. White girls screaming for black people; (so white people said) 'We got to shut it down . . . hurry up Elvis, get your a-- up in there.'"
The issue is personal to Ice-T because of various interracial relationships he has had in his past. His current fianc?(c) is Coco, a Caucasian blonde bombshell who elicited screams from the guys in the crowd after someone in the audience asked to see her.
"You should find somebody that treats you good and be with them," the rapper said. "I don't care if I be with this Martian with 10 legs. That's going to be my green bitch. And if you got a problem with that, kiss my ass."
