Ice T is moving. He is always making moves, but right now he's in the process of changing residences. At his condominium penthouse in New Jersey, overlooking the Hudson River and the West Side of Manhattan, there are boxes stacked high in the corner of the dining room. On the upstairs balcony, a garment rack is overflowing with the clothes of Ice's wife, Nicole "Coco" Austin. The light through the floor-to-ceiling windows illuminates the purple carpet as Ice's bulldogs, King Maximus and Spartacus, race around with their chew toys, from the living room to the open kitchen, all stainless steel. It is an impressive space, but it is very much a home: lived-in, comfortable, warm, and welcoming.

You need someone in this business who just believes in you, that's not doing that SoundScan and all that other shit.

ICE T: Vince [Vincent Price, Body Count bassist] was connected to Juan [Juan of the Dead, Body Count rhythm guitarist] and Juan had connections to Sumerian Records. The head of the label, Ash Avildsen, is a Body Count fan. He had a little money to throw at the project and he didn't care about previous sales or anything. When you're lucky enough in this business to run into a real fan, they're like, "Let's just do this!" You need someone in this business who just believes in you, that's not doing that SoundScan and all that other shit. Not doing the numbers, but doing the — [Ice taps his fist into his left hand three times]

ESQ: How are they different from previous labels?

ICE T: My first record deal was with Seymour Stein [at Sire/Warner Bros.]. Once you're around record people like that, you really get a distaste for the numbers people. He signed Ramones, Talking Heads, Madonna, Ministry, us. So I was just kinda like, "Okay, well, let me meet Ash." And I really liked him. He's a young guy, he's got a hot label with all these great groups on it, like Asking Alexandria, and he said, "What do you need to make this record?" I said that I don't need any extra money. I got money. I just needed enough to make a good record, mix it, and give us decent promotion. I just need what it needs to put it out there. I don't need pocket money. So we did a cool little deal with him. He also said, "I'm not in a rush. Take your time." So all that lined up and last summer I went to Las Vegas — Coco was doing Peepshow [a burlesque production at Planet Hollywood] — so I rented a house and the band moved out there and we wrote this album. I don't know how to play instruments, but I can hum. We would sit in the room with an old-school cassette player and I would say, "Connect this to that! Connect that to that!" We wrote 15 songs in a two-month period. That process is crazy, but we did it. So I guess to answer your previous question: The band wanted to come back and I told the band we needed a certain situation and we got that situation. And we were able to make a good record.

Ice's living room. A poster of New Jack City hangs on the right. Above the television is a replica of a gun used from his work as the character Griffin, in the video game Gears of War 3.

ESQ: It's a fantastic record. It rocks from start to finish, and the single is already getting some attention.

ICE T: Yeah, "Talk Shit, Get Shot." That was another cool thing about Sumerian. When Ash picked that song to be the first single, I thought, "This motherfker gets it!" Body Count is grindhouse. Body Count is over-the-top, it's not to be taken absolutely seriously. It puts you in a world with enemies you could kill. The cop who's eating the doughnut gets it. You can reach through your phone and snatch the blogger, you know? It's that far above reality. It's meant to be funny in a dark way but you still get the point.

ESQ: It's funny but it has some gravity in the lyrics.

This content is imported from YouTube. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.

I'm very much against the anonymity of bloggers and social media.

ICE T: I'm very much against the anonymity of bloggers and social media. I just hate it and I think it's really cowardly. Instead of having a proper magazine with real writers, like Esquire, any Joe Blow can have a blog and just say the worst shit, like they're an authority. That's what's behind the song, and the video is an extension of that, like if you could just reach through the phone or show up at the hater's door... It's like when Perez Hilton got hit [eds note: Hilton was allegedly hit by Black Eyed Peas' tour manager] and everyone was shocked, but he was talkin' shit! Didn't your mother ever teach you? If you run your mouth you're gonna get smacked! Of course, Body Count takes it from "talk shit, get hit" to "talk shit, get shot."

ESQ: It also rocks.

ICE T: People connect to it. It's funny, though, when we did "Cop Killer," it was meant to be that crazy, above reality...

ESQ: It was pretty wild, especially at the time, coming out right before the L.A. riots.

ICE T: People liked that record, though. I wasn't singing "Child Killer" or "Baby Killer" and there's a reason people connected to that, because they've got a problem with the police. And this is like that, in that everyone has got a little problem with bloggers and shit-talkers.

ESQ: Some of us more than others.

ICE T: We've done it at a couple of shows and I introduce it by saying, "This next song is about one of the most principle rules of life: talk shit, get shot." The crowd says, "Yeah!" and we just rock out! It's very simple. [laughs]

ESQ: I'm very curious about the song "Pop Bubble," in which you express a scathing view of pop rap.

There are a couple of rappers getting paid, but most of it is a big illusion.

ICE T: "Pop bubble full of bullshit!" I didn't think I could do a true rock album with me being a rapper and not really referencing hip-hop and how I see it. At this moment I'm very disillusioned with where hip-hop has gone. Every motherfker, all they're talking about is money and they're lying. See, that's why I say, "America's losing their cribs/While you're talking about the shit you did or the shit you buy/Most of it lies/Yeah, I know and you know I know." Because the rappers are calling me up borrowing money from me — I know! I'm at the videos, it's fake money. There are a couple of them getting paid, but most of it is a big illusion. And I say, "Guys have gone from talking about 'Fight the Power' to what does Kim Kardashian have on today." What the fk?

ESQ: [laughs]

Really, the whole album is about the pussification of man.

ICE T: Really, the whole album is about the pussification of man. It's just like, you motherfkers aren't about nothing no more. You're talking about your cars and fashion and your bullshit, let's get back down to it because there is no movement, there are no leaders. No one is standing up. Have some fking nuts! That's what Manslaughter is about: manhood being removed. It's not anti-gay, or anti-woman, it's just anti-"pussy"...

ESQ: You mean there are more important things to worry about than Maybachs?

ICE T: Yes! [laughs] It's like: Yo, so what you're getting money? Your soul is still broke. I'm just very upset. It's also Ice T saying this to your face — hip-hop — so let's see what hip-hop has to say back to me. You know what I'm talking about. I mean, c'mon man, you got motherfkers going to France for a wedding at Versailles? Gimme a break! They wanna show extreme wealth and money, but at the end of the day, they're not really that rich in the scope of wealth. They're a fking joke to really rich people, running around, "I'm a rapper!" They're just showing off. My thing is like, "Okay. You're a broke kid from the projects, you got paid. That could be one record. You know?" With the Body Count record, save for maybe "99 Problems BC," I didn't talk about money, cars, jewelry, or anything that's going on in pop culture. It can be done.

ESQ: Do you think that hip-hop has lost its way from the days of Grandmaster Flash or Public Enemy?

It's kinda like hip-hop created the kids we used to hate, but now they're our kids.

ICE T: It's totally lost its way! It's done an evil circle. My kid is 23 years old. I picked him up from the hospital in a Rolls Royce. He got in the club at 15. He's never had to hustle. I spoiled him. What can he rap about? So it's kinda like hip-hop created the kids we used to hate, but now they're our kids. You see what I'm saying? So now, what do they sing about? Gucci this, Louis that... We were successful parents and we gave them a better life and now they're rapping from a spoiled perspective with no struggle involved. I tell the kids: Listen, we had to be gangster to get to our position. This soft persona you've got? They'll take everything I made and gave to you and take it right back, if you don't have some balls. So it's kinda like we created the monster.

ESQ: There's another song you have, "Get a Job"...

ICE T: Yeah! "Some people work 'til they break/while others just take/stop begging, get a job/get a gun, go out and rob/I'm up at 5 a.m. getting my work in/you sleep all day and wonder why you're broke/then you get on your phone and call your friends/sob story, sob story never ends/you claim you're fly but always need/you're always broke but got money for weed!"

ESQ: I guess that answers that.

ICE T: [laughs] Right? I mean, these records are self-explanatory.

ESQ: I feel like this has been a theme for you in recent years. I saw you in 2002 doing a song and you said something like, "You're driving a Mercedes but living at your mother's house."

ICE T: Oh yeah, that's an old rhyme! I said, uh... See, now this is what rappers can do, we can bring rhymes from way back. I have to start at the beginning because each line connects to the next. [Ice href='https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F2QG6e_Ghm0&feature=kp' target='_blank">"Check Your Game" "... Probably because my aim is over n***as heads/East Coast, West Coast, I play the whole map and bounce/you got a Benz but live in your mom\'s house."

ESQ: That was awesome.

[pullquote' align='L']The beauty of hip-hop is that if it's used correctly you can change the world. And we did: We put a black president in the White House.[/pullquote]

ICE T: Yeah, that's it! You know, rap is like a chain where each word pulls out the next word. But to get back to your question: The flossin' and the fakin' has always not been real cool with street cats. We used to say, "If it's real, it's gonna show." You ain't got to talk too much about it. All that "I'm rich and I'm this and that" kinda gets played out and I think hip-hop is suffering from it. The beauty of hip-hop is that if it's used correctly you can change the world. And we did: We put a black president in the White House.

ESQ: How do you mean?

ICE T: It changed the way that white kids and black kids addressed each other and thought about each other. White kids quickly learned that we're not mad at you, we're mad at things. But guess what? We're probably both mad at the same thing! And that's when the world shifted. The United States only has 13 percent black people in it, that's it. There's no way Obama would have gotten the presidency without a huge white support. So racism actually has turned itself in a good direction. So hip-hop can continue to move forward or it can stagnate in a pop pool of just "Me, me, me, me, me."

ESQ: What about the song "Enter the Dark Side"?

ICE T: That's one of my favorites. It's about rich people thinking they're above everybody. The ghetto's not black, the ghetto is poor. Survival makes you bloodthirsty, you know? It's just a way of saying don't look down on people. I think that we're going to play that on television.

ESQ: Okay, so we have to talk about "99 Problems." I feel like a schmuck because I didn't know that was an Ice T song, and I never heard Jay Z say anything about it. It was on your album Home Invasion back in 1993.

They're going to say, 'Oh, Ice T's doing Jay Z's record.' And then somebody is going to smack 'em and say, 'No, Jay Z did Ice's record.'

ICE T: That's why I put it on the record. I wanted to catch people out there. I want to hit 'em with the a capella, and when they hear it they're going to say, "Oh, Ice T's doing Jay Z's record." And then somebody is going to smack 'em and say, "No, Jay Z did Ice's record. Ice did that 11 years before Jay Z." I wanted it to start a capella because I wanted it to sound like an ad-lib or an insert. That's why I start, "Yo, check this out."

ESQ: And then the song goes into the rock version, a la the Rick Rubin-produced single that Jay Z did.

ICE T: Right. I wanted to catch people out there and educate them.

ESQ: Four years ago, Jay Z and Eminem played Yankees Stadium and I covered it. Jay headlined and had all these special guests: Kanye West, Chris Martin from Coldplay, and of course, Beyonce. Now, "99 Problems" was easily one of his biggest songs. Why no Ice T?

ICE T: Well, this is how the game is played. He could have done it.

ESQ: He had the guy from Coldplay there. Coldplay. It irritates me to find out after the fact that "99 Problems" is a rewrite of your song and you weren't there.

ICE T: I've known Jay Z for a long time. I met Jay Z through Big Daddy Kane and he came to my house when he was just a kid. The way "99 Problems" got done was through Chris Rock. Chris has been one of my best friends since New Jack City and he talked to Rick Rubin, who's a fan of mine and actually produced the track I did with Slayer. He said, "Jay should make this record." And they let him hear it and he flipped it, and he not only used "I got 99 problems and a bitch ain't one," he took my "hit me," too! [laughs] The original record was made by Brother Marquis and me. We were sitting in the house and he was talking about "Whoomp! (There It Is)" He said, "You know, every time we're at Magic City, the girls bend over and the DJ goes, 'Whoomp, there it is!'" He goes on, "I'm sittin' there all this time and that was the phrase that pays!" and he kept bitchin' about it. Then out of nowhere he goes, "Man, I got 99 problems but a bitch ain't one!" And I'm like, "What did you say?" And he just said it and I said, "Man, that's a song!" So later I made the song and I called him in and he did a verse on it. So in reality, the phrase comes from Brother Marquis. So, on the Body Count album, I kept the verses and I just knocked it out. The only reason I didn't ask Marquis to be on this one was that if I'm performing it live, he probably won't be there.

ESQ: So do you get royalties from the Jay Z thing?

ICE T: It went to Warner/Chappell because they handle the publishing for that song. It wasn't a ripoff. Yeah, the chorus is the same, but why hasn't Jay Z ever said my name...

ESQ: Or had you come out to any of his shows?

ICE T: But Treach [Naughty by Nature] heard it and said, "Oh, it's a jackback! Jack your shit back!" [laughs] It's a mindfk. It's meant to fk with people a little bit and create conversation.

If you're buying an Ice T album, you're fking buying an Ice T album.

ICE T: Jamey used to host Headbangers Ball and he is a real Body Count fan. I don't really collaborate with people who aren't friends or fans. I'm not concerned with "Who's got the hot record? Let's get him!" That's corny to me. I guess that's where my ego kicks in. If you're buying an Ice T album, you're fking buying an Ice T album. I'm not going to get Kendrick Lamar on my record then act like that's my fkin' sale, but if me and Kendrick are friends, then let's get down and let's rock!

ESQ: That's refreshing. The guest-star thing is a little overdone right now.

ICE T: I think after you do an album, the album should be done and then people come in and do remixes. Right now, all my rap people want to be on the remixes. I got people calling me about the single, so we might have to do a hip-hop remix of "Talk Shit, Get Shot." Everybody wants some of that!

ESQ: Speaking about special guests, going back a long time ago, you discovered Everlast.

ICE T: Whitey Ford! I met the kid and he could rap. When I first met him he kinda sounded like Rakim. So I said, "Use your real voice." Always a talented and skilled rapper, but he did his first album and kinda got caught up in the Warner Brothers thing. Then he broke off and did House of Pain, but me and Ever were on shaky ground for a little while, because when his first record came out and didn't do well, he kinda said I had something to do with it. I didn't have anything to do with it. I didn't write the rhymes or put the music together. I didn't do anything but get him a record deal. Then later on, he said, "You know, Ice, you told me a long time ago that when things go wrong, the last person you blame is yourself, and I was guilty of that." Since House of Pain became successful and he's doing his Whitey Ford thing, we're cool now, because we're mature.

ESQ: You have an eye for talent, though.

ICE T: Well, there's a lot of people, from WC, who's out with Ice Cube, to Muggs who became part of Cypress Hill, but talent is pretty obvious. It's just so many people are going get in between you before you hit a talented person. All these people who think they're fking talented and they're very mediocre. Talented people have a fountain of creation, and I'm very much into originality.

ESQ: Well, that's evident on the new record.

ICE T: Thank you. I don't want it to sound like anybody else. Is it metal, is it punk, is it rock, what is it? It's Body Count. I read an early review of the single and the guy who wrote it said, "I kept waiting for Fred Durst to come in." Like, he thought Body Count was influenced by Fred Durst.

ESQ: Wow.

ICE T: And I thought, "Does this guy know we were out two years before Fred Durst?" I also say, "Forgive them, they know not what they do." Because, maybe in his realm, he didn't know that, like some kids who think Eminem was the first white rapper. I don't hate Fred, by the way, but I don't sound like Fred either. [laughs]

We made our mark in music and it's time to come back and do it one more time.

ICE T: Music has climates. Body Count came out in the climate of Public Enemy and Rage Against the Machine. We're dropping right now on a totally different climate for what we do. Will the kids receive it? Are they sick of the pop shit right now? Will the next generation say, "Where the fk have y'all been?" Will we inspire a new Korn or a new Rage? We've been gone and nobody took our place. We made our mark in music and it's time to come back and do it one more time. We'll see.

ESQ: Our time is almost up. Is there anything you'd like to add?

ICE T: [thinks for a moment] I just want to thank the people who have been around with me for all these years, it's been 25 years at least. And I know to be an Ice T fan, you've had to fight at some point, maybe somebody said something and you held your ground. Hopefully this year, we'll be able to give you some vindication and give you something to brag about again. I'll be able to hit 'em in the face one more time so they can go, "What did I tell you, motherfker?" [laughs]

This content is created and maintained by a third party, and imported onto this page to help users provide their email addresses. You may be able to find more information about this and similar content at piano.io