I have to take what I say and make it heavy, so every single bar means something. And there's no riddles in my rhymes. Every single word means something. Ice T More Quotes by Ice T More Quotes From Ice T I'm at a point where I don't have to wait for the income from the record to survive, so I'm in a comfortable zone, but I'll make rap records as long as I feel I have something to rap about. Ice T rap hip-hop long I think that a rap aficionado, the hardcore rap fan, will always go away from pop, in the same way a hardcore jazz fan will never think Kenny G is really a jazz artist. You gotta kind of know there's always going to be that purist who's going to be like if it ain't beats and rhymes, if there ain't a DJ, then that ain't Hip Hop. Ice T rap artist thinking Anybody who has anybody in the armed forces, I don't care how well-trained they are, there's nothing safe about it. Ice T force care safe Before rap came along, I was, actually, actively in the streets; getting in trouble, doing the wrong thing. Ice T streets rap trouble I think the most successful are the most paranoid. The first thing people do when they buy a mansion is they build the biggest wall you could possibly build around it. What happens is, now you become a target. If I go into the hood, I'm at a disadvantage. They could carry guns. I can't. They can hit me in the face. I can't. Ice T face me you people Because I first made my name as a rapper claiming South Central L.A., people often assume I'm strictly a West Coast cat. But my family was actually from back East. I was born in Newark, New Jersey, and grew up in Summit, an upscale town in north Jersey. Ice T name new family people I make an effort to keep it as real as I possibly can. Ice T keep make effort real I'm in a very good place to make records. Needing to make money off music is very dangerous. Ice T place good music money Some music comes from a real place; some music comes from your imagination. It's difficult to find out what's real and what's not, especially with the gangster stuff. Ice T gangster place music imagination