Editors’ Note: Black history is American history. Reel 360 News’ Reel Black List is a commitment to recognizing the impact of Black voices across music, film, television, media, and culture every single day of the year. In a moment when DEI initiatives have been challenged and hard-won progress feels increasingly fragile, it’s more important than ever to amplify the voices of Black artists, leaders, and innovators who have shaped the industry and continue to move it forward. Today, we spotlight Ice-T, a pioneering artist, actor, and entrepreneur whose influence spans decades and disciplines.
Ice-T is one of the rare cultural figures whose career has shaped multiple eras of American entertainment. Emerging from the early days of hip hop, he helped define the sound and substance of what would become known as gangster rap, using stark realism and unfiltered storytelling to document life in Los Angeles long before the genre entered the mainstream.
Across decades, his music has sparked controversy, conversation, and cultural shifts, while cementing his place as a pioneering voice who never softened his perspective to gain approval.
At the same time, Ice-T has built an equally enduring legacy on screen, becoming a television institution as Detective Fin Tutuola on Law & Order: SVU, one of the longest-running characters in TV history. Now more than five decades into his career, he continues to evolve, balancing music, acting, entrepreneurship, and family life with the same candor that defined his earliest work.
Whether reflecting on art, politics, fatherhood, or longevity, the Grammy-winning musician and actor remains unapologetically himself, observant, self-aware, and deeply engaged with the world around him.
Ice-T, sits down with Allison Kugel for an in-depth discussion reflecting on five decades in entertainment, his controversial lyrics, his thoughts on (the other) ICE, his love of the late Jimi Hendrix, and how he has evolved, both as a husband and father.
Here we go!
How did O.G. Original Gangster help give birth to ‘Gangster Rap’?
I didn’t think I was going to be big, because there was no one big yet. Now, a kid can say, ‘I wanna be a rapper, because they can look at Drake and go, ‘Look at that.’ But who was I to look at? Grandmaster Flash and Furious Five were still struggling. Hip hop wasn’t big enough. We’re talking about 1982. Original Gangster was way later. That was three albums in.
‘O.G.’ is a term used by the L.A. gangs for the first generation of a particular set. But also in L.A., the term just means ‘The Original.’ I brought it to the forefront when the press decided to name what we did ‘Gangster Rap,’ and they named it Gangster Rap because of Ice Cube.
They didn’t have a name for [the genre] when we first started. They were calling it ‘Reality Rap,’ but I was like, ‘Well, this is not everybody’s reality. This is just some particular kids’ reality.’ So, Ice Cube did Straight Outta Compton and he said ‘Straight Outta Compton; crazy mothercker named Ice Cube; from the gang called nggas with attitude.’
And the press said, ‘Oh, he referred to his rap group as a gang. They’re gangster rappers.’ That’s where the media gave us that name, and I said, ‘Okay, if this is gangster rap, I’m the Original Gangster. I tagged myself on the tag they gave us, so I was, like, claiming my terrain.
How did ‘O.G.’ make its way into Pop Culture?
I shoulda trademarked it. But Rakim says, ‘I’ll take a phrase that’s rarely heard, flip it; now it’s a daily word.’ A lot of terms come from Hip Hop, but yeah, I put ‘O.G.’ into the game.
But you ended up parting ways with Warner Bros. Music after Cop Killer?
I had done five or six albums with Warner Bros. Everything was cool until we did Cop Killer. Sh*t hit the fan, Charlton Heston went after Warner Bros. I got caught in the crossfire. Warner Bros. was concerned with the next album I was putting out, which was called Home Invasion, which was saying that Hip Hop was invading white families; we’ve invaded white kids’ minds with Black rage.
They were nervous about putting the record out. I just went to Warner and said, ‘Look, you’re all taking a lot of heat from me. I’m the one that’s causing this problem. You guys loved the Cop Killer album. You didn’t block it, but now it’s hot. Let me go.’ I asked to go, and they gave me a release, and I did my next record at Priority.”
I don’t dislike cops. I dislike racism, and I dislike bullies. If you wear a badge or not, it doesn’t matter. When I was a criminal, I didn’t hate the cops. Any good criminal, the cop is the opponent. He’s not the enemy, he’s the opponent. If I’m a drug dealer, we need the cops because the cops create the margin. If the cocaine becomes legal, there’s no money for us. We need it to be illegal. Me, myself, I’m not a cop killer, and I’m not a cop. I’m acting in both of them. I didn’t kill no cops, and I’m not a policeman. I cannot arrest you.”
What are your thoughts on the other… ICE?
I’m on the right side of proper law enforcement, but what we’re seeing now in America with ICE, what is law enforcement? What is it, and who draws what line and where? They don’t need warrants. So if ICE decides they want to come in my house without a warrant, does the Second Amendment permit me to shoot them? If they’re out there behaving illegally, what makes them legal, cause they got a badge? Unfortunately, their name is ICE, so I’m taking the heat, regardless.
Cop Killer was a protest record about brutal cops. The fact that he became a hero to some shows how some people feel about the police.
I heard you didn’t watch Diddy’s docu-series on Netflix?
I’m not into gossip. That’s not my stuff. I purposely avoid all of it. I’m not a woman. Coco might have watched it, but I don’t do that. I don’t do gossip. I’m a man. I was not involved in that [stuff]. I wasn’t there, and I don’t care.”
What has kept you on Law & Order: SVU for… gulp… 27 Seasons?
Everyone is wonderful on the show. The environment is so cool. Mariska is so dope, and so nice and easy to work with. I couldn’t do it if it was a hostile work environment. But it’s like a team. Everyone’s like, ‘Ice is here, we’re getting ready to go and do it!’ I love that energy.
I also know there’s not many better jobs than acting. It’s grown up make believe. How could you find a better job? I’m still able to do music. I tour with Body Count (his heavy metal band) on every vacation. All my artistic itches are being scratched. And it doesn’t hurt to have a solid job.”
Fin Tutuola is now the longest-running male TV character in history. Congrats!
Somebody said Homer Simpson, and I’m like, ‘He ain’t real. Homer doesn’t have to get up in the morning and do a call time (laughs). After Season 21, we beat Gun Smoke; that was James Arness. Mariska has me by a few episodes, because I came on in the beginning of the second season, so she has twenty episodes on me. But in order to get that, you have to be on the longest-running show.
It’s a Catch-22. When I went on that show, I went on to only do four episodes, and now it’s twenty-seven years later. In this business, the only way you know if you’re good is if you get called back. I’ve been getting called back, so I must be doing the job. And when this thing is over, which all good things will come to an end, there’s still a lot of acting left for me.
I see Liam Neeson out here doing action movies. I see Denzel, and he’s seventy. Like I always say, I’m Black. I don’t jump off a boat while it’s floating (laughs). This boat is still floating, so why would you jump off (laughs)? I’d like to take it for the full ride.”
You seem really present with your daughter, Chanel.
My first daughter, I was still in the streets. So it was more presents over presence. She had all the new sneakers and cool stuff that I could give her, but I wasn’t there. I was in the streets hustling. I didn’t really reconnect with my daughter until she was 16, when she came to live with me.
Little Ice, he was born right when I was becoming Ice-T, like right when this star sh*t was starting to happen. I, once again, was not home. I was on the road. I was doing what it takes, you know. You’re trying to become whoever the f*ck you’re supposed to be.
The grind that it takes to hit a certain cruising altitude where now you’re known and you got options and people offering you things, it’s difficult to do in a relationship, or with kids. By the time I had Chanel, I was at that altitude. Coco and I had been married for fifteen years at that point.
At thirty, she didn’t want to have kids. At thirty-five, she got the bug. She said, ‘I want to have a baby.’ We decided to have Chanel. I was with Coco every day of the pregnancy, I took her to the hospital, I saw Chanel being born, and Chanel still sleeps in the bed with us. I’m extremely present. I’m taking Chanel to school and to kung fu. I’m here and present for this child, totally, and it’s the most wonderful thing in the world.”
How has your marriage to Coco evolved over 25 years?
When you’re twenty-five years into marriage you go through hard times; you go through all kinds of different things, but you love the person more every day because when you’re married, you’re married to somebody who can deal with your flaws. The first thing you have to realize is you’re not perfect, and the person who can accept your imperfections is usually the person you connect to.
The problem why people can’t connect is because they don’t believe they have anything wrong with them, and that it’s everyone else. Coco puts up with me. She puts up with my hours and my behavior. And I love her. I love her idiosyncrasies.
Coco is an extrovert. She’s just out there; she’s fun. I needed that. I need someone exciting. I’m very low key. So we work off each other, but I think when you first get together, you’re excited, but you don’t know why. You’re just basing it on lust and the excitement of a new person. I think when you’ve been with somebody a long time, you know why now. Maybe you made a mistake, and she stayed down with you or vice versa, and that locks you in.
When I got with Coco, I’m twenty years older than Coco, and when I got with her, I was like, ‘This is for the rest of the way out,’ in my mind. When you’re in a relationship, you only know what you think. You don’t know what the other person is thinking, so you hope they feel the same way.”
Did you ever offer her career advice?
I think she was the first influencer. I told her, ‘I can’t be your manager; I can’t be your agent. I can be your consultant if you want to ask me a question, but you need your own accolades. You need to win on your own.
That’s gonna build character; your wins and your victories. I got a lot of accolades. Get your [own] accolades. But, if you come to a point where you want to ask my opinion, do it. You see people sitting around waiting hours to talk to me, to ask for my opinion. Why wouldn’t you take advantage of it?’”
What historical moment do you wish you had witnessed?
Oh, Jimi Hendrix at Woodstock. I am a big Jimi Hendrix fan. That’s what got me into [rock] music. My cousin thought he was Jimi Hendrix and would walk around playing the air guitar. And to never have been able to see Jimi Hendrix live… I would have loved to see him. I’ve studied and watched his interviews, and I just think he’s the coolest mother*cker.”
Tell us about the O.G. Network you co-founded with Courtney “Big Court” Richardson II
Court is a brotha that I became aware of because he was, like, Master P’s right-hand man. He had a podcast called Holding Court, and I noticed he had an Ice-T poster in the background. When I met him, he told me, ‘Ice, I’ve studied you. Every record you’ve put out, I know what you’re talking about. I did his podcast a couple of times, and we became friends. He called me and said, ‘Ice, I’ve got an idea, I want to start a network.
Once I understood it, I said the only way I want to get involved is if we can’t be taken down. You could have a YouTube channel with 500,000 subscribers, wake up tomorrow, and you’re red-flagged. I knew we had to have control over it, and we needed to build it all the way up to where it’s our network. So that’s what we did. It’s called The O.G. Network. You can get to it at theognetwork.net. We filled it full of O.G. stuff, classic stuff. We’ve got Blaxploitation movies, we’ve got Ice-T movies on there, Master P movies on there, karate movies. The end result is, really, we’re mimicking Tubi.”
To watch the full interview, click below:
For more Reel Black List honorees, click here.
Allison Kugel is a veteran entertainment journalist and host of the Allison Interviews Podcast. Watch and embed the entire interview video with Ice-T @YouTube. Listen to the audio podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify. Follow Allison Kugel on Instagram @theallisonkugel and AllisonInterviews.com.
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