DECEMBER: ICE-T
Forget the Queen – the rap legend gives us his take on 2017 and what the future holds
“At the beginning of the year, I didn’t feel very optimistic. I didn’t trust or believe that our President was gonna do anything he said he was gonna do. He still hasn’t shown anybody his taxes, he hasn’t put one brick in the wall he claimed he was gonna build, so, I mean, he’s a fully fledged globallevel con artist. He can twist and turn conversations. He’s amazing, to say the least. He’s good at what he does, we’ll split that. That’s not being president. But he’s good at what he does.
“Body Count’s album Bloodlust was created during our Primary out here [in California], and you could pretty much see it was a shitshow. Also, we had all the police shootings. So there’s so many things that are happening at the time. That just turned out to be why my songwriting went in that direction. It would be nice if people could say, ‘Ah, he’s just bullshitting, it’s not that bad’, ha ha! But the world kind of like gave us a lot of shit to talk about.
“I think that album’s done its job. The people that wanted to hear it at least understand our band and our message and what we’re about. We’re about social issues as well as fun – just doing some rock shit to get your blood rushing. It’s not 100% political, like Prophets Of Rage. We’re about 50% political and then just bullshit that runs through my mind.
“This year, we were basically teetering on world war – dealing with the Korean situation and all these other issues worldwide. I don’t think we’ve ever been as close to a potential nuclear situation since I’ve been alive. It’s pretty scary. And I hate to say this, but I’ve grown numb to terrorism now. We just had another terror attack in New York, with somebody driving a truck over eight people, and every week there’s a gunman. But I’ve had high points in my own life – my daughter, Chanel, is my perpetual high point. No matter what the fuck goes wrong, watching her grow up and watching her smile, I always have something to reference as good. So she’s necessary.
“To change the world for the better in 2018, as far as the
United States goes, I think alternative ways of getting energy is important. Because at the end of the day, most of the wars we fight are for religion or money. But I think some type of renewable energy, clean energy, would be the best thing we could really aim the world at, looking to the future. Not maybe our immediate future, but for our kids. Because I do believe in global warming and I do believe we’re destroying the planet. I’m not one of those super-people about recycling – I’m probably one of the worst people – but at the end of the day, I know we can’t continue to damage the planet. It won’t last forever.”