Ice-T reflects on past as pimp and gun control: ‘I want a gun’
theGRIO REPORT - During an interview with theGrio, rapper/actor Ice-T expresses no shame over his past days as a pimp, bank robber, and street hustler, and talks about....
Ice really does love Coco
Incidentally, Ice’s wife and model, Coco Austin, got her start at Playboy, and is currently starring in the Vegas striptease production PEEPSHOW.
The two brought their relationship into the spotlight with the reality series Ice Loves Coco. They have subsequently faced various criticisms that come with the job, including rumors their marriage is on the rocks and that Ice disapproves of Austin flaunting her body on the web.
Ice dispels the gossip, noting their relationship is “great,” that he can’t get mad at her for doing her job nor has he ever been upset with her risqué photographs.
The two won’t be returning to the show, however.
“We’ve got other projects, there might be a talk show,” the actor explains. “The problem with reality is, after you show people your life, your life starts to loop. You don’t really do much…If you keep those shows going, they kind of force you to do sh*t that you wouldn’t do. Like, ‘Let’s take Ice horseback riding.’ And it gets corny. We’re not the Kardashians. We’ve got other things going.”
Furthermore, now that Ice has made his famed run from gangsta rapper to actor to film producer, he finds Austin’s journey inspiring to watch from the sidelines.
As she closes out nearly a year on the stage, he says he’d be happy for her to rise above his wave.
“I don’t have any problem being the Celine Dion husband on the side of the stage with the ponytail in the back,” Ice jokes. “I’ve got my accolades, I’ve done my thing. I’ve achieved my victories. Because I’ve done it, I get a joy watching Coco do it. If two people take off at the same time, there could be resentment. Since I’m already Ice-T and you’re not going to be able to do sh*t about it, I want to see her win…It’s fun for me. I’m still in the game, I’m not at all insecure about it, and we’ve got one bank account.”
Why the ‘Original Gangster’ still wants his gun
The name Ice-T means different things to different people, but the rapper and actor hopes it will soon be associated primarily with film.
His venture into moviemaking began with 2012’s hip-hop documentary Something from Nothing: The Art of Rap, and this year, with Iceberg Slim and Assaulted: Civil Rights Under Fire, a documentary he’s narrating on the Second Amendment, he aims to prove his intentions as a “serious” filmmaker.
Considering his experience, Ice definitely has a story to tell.
He recalls surprising Austin with tales of his old ways, much in the fashion Slim gradually revealed himself to his own wife.
“Coco’s got her insight on me spread out over 13 years,” he points out. “She didn’t get it all in one day.”
On the subject of gun violence in America, which is at the center of ‘Assaulted,’ the former gangster admits he needs a weapon.
He argues that America’s founding fathers were “crazy,” and set a dark precedent that made guns a necessity from the onset.
“I’m not really into the Second Amendment,” Ice explains. “I’m not really truly into the Constitution if you really want to know. On the same piece of paper that says you have the right to bear arms, it also says you have the right to own black people…There were insane people signing that piece of paper so the whole damn thing should be void.”
Accordingly, while he can’t align with the Second Amendment, he supports what he feels is a fair solution to the status quo.
“If you’ve got a gun, I want a gun,” Ice believes. “Considering the fact this country is infested with them, I want one too. Whether it’s the right wing, the left wing, the crazy cult members, the criminals, the bad guys, the good guys, I don’t see why I shouldn’t have a pistol in my dresser just in case somebody comes kicking in my door. I’m not going to attack them with a butter knife.”
From Ice’s stance, there are written codes and there are human codes, and the two don’t always work in tandem.
Aaron Hernandez and the ‘pride’ complex
As the law guides a land governed by the disobedient, no walk of life seems immune to the consequences of insubordination, the case of Aaron Hernandez in point.
Ice calls it the result of pride.
“People are disrespectful and they say things,” he says. “The old Ice-T would just go get his pistol and handle it. But you have to get over it. You’re bigger than that. You have to let it ride. It’s hard. In society, we teach a double standard, which is don’t let anybody mess over you and take care of business, but then if you do it, you’re wrong…There are these rules of manhood, these rules of honor that [Hernandez] got caught up in that might relate to people in street games, to thugs, but doesn’t apply to the NFL…You just gotta be like run, and look at your swimming pool and throw tennis balls at your dog.”
That, in so many words, is the new Ice-T: transformed, living large, rolling with the camera lens.
Follow Courtney Garcia on Twitter at @courtgarcia
