"You've got to think about music like this. As a rapper you've got to hit people from every channel. I mean, it's like Luther Vandross sings, `Baby I love you, baby I need you, baby I love you forever.' It's coming from every point, so think about not just your own emotions but everybody's else. That's how you make a record.
"We used to be brutal, say some terrible things, we used to say the most wrong possible thing. It's like an art, it's like what Eminem does the best. He says some of the most wrong things, and gets away with it."
Ice-T was asked if rappers went too far sometimes.
"I did an album called Freedom of Speech. You have the right to say what you want but you have to be prepared for the ramifications of it. If you say something anti-gay then you can expect gay people to get mad, and if you say something against the police you can expect them to attack. So you can't just say you have freedom of speech and no one can move against you. The only taboo is anything with children, or something seriously ill. Children don't have the ability to make their own decisions so to take advantage of the situation is wrong."
Ice-T was asked if it was true he used to write tags that said, "Crips don't die they multiply," and he later used this in his music.
"If you read my book I say I was affiliated to the Crips. My daughters' mom's home was involved with them, my people and friends were Crips. But I was also friends with the Bloods, so I had like diplomatic immunity. I didn't talk about it a lot, because there was a time when I didn't want to promote. It's kind of like a paradox. You wanna talk about crime without making it sound cool. Like people wanna know, what's it like to rob a bank. People ask about it and wanna hear about it, but it ain't no good.
"LA is just trying to get itself together. The US is a mess. When the gangs stop in one place they start in another. Young kids just wanna make a name for themselves. If they ain't got a cool car an' shit then there's gonna be trouble. It's the same all round the world. Young men trying to make their bones and then they get a bit older and get a wife and kid and they kinda reevaluate and take another swing at it. But you ain't gonna find anywhere an 18-year-old kid who's got sense. Something's got to happen to you before you understand life."
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