The hilarious and embarrassing reason Ice-T never eats before performing live
Ice-T is an underappreciated star of West Coast who paved the way for stars such as Dr Dre, Snoop Dogg and many others. However, he hasn’t been active in hip-hop for a long time. For over a decade the Rhyme Pays creator has been a star in Hollywood, appearing in television shows and movies like Law & Order and Chicago P.D.
However, he still makes music and performs alongside his collective, Body Count. A heavy-metal band he formed in the 1990s alongside Ernie C. The group became the centre of attention in 1992 with their controversial song ‘Cop Killer’ and has a dedicated fan base.
Since its formation, the band has released eight studio albums, with their last project, Merciless, released last year. Furthermore, the group is still touring and appears on the festival circuit annually. They have hit the stage at Lollapalooza, Rock am Ring, Coachella and more.
That said, in 2016, Ice-T appeared on Late Night With Seth Meyers and told a hilarious story about a live performance he had that made him decide never to eat before he performed live. During the interview, he insisted that he will only hit the stage if he has an empty stomach and recalled a situation that prompted him to stop eating on the day of performance.
The ‘6 N The Mornin’ lyricist unveiled that the horrific experience he had was all because of an incident involving gumbo. While speaking to Seth Meyers, the 67-year-old revealed that on one occasion, he performed with “full-blown diarrhoea” and had to control his bowels in front of thousands of people.
According to the Home Invasion creator, before a Lollapalooza appearance, he ate some gumbo for lunch that his body reacted extremely badly to. Recalling the day, Ice-T told Meyers, “I don’t eat before shows. I had a bad incident one time – I was at Lollapalooza back in the day, and this lady served us gumbo during lunch, and I went on stage, in front of like 20,000 people, with full-blown diarrhoea.”
He vividly detailed the lead-up, explaining, “I was in a porta-potty sittin’ there sh*tting my brains out, and the intro music came on, so I pull up my [trousers] clench my ass, and I run through the mud, not to mention it was raining. I took the mic, and I ran onto the motherf*cking stage, and I did a full set with my ass-cheeks clenched. To make matters worse, I had on shorts.”
Explaining how the diarrhoea affected his performance, he added, “So imagine standing on stage, holding your butt cheeks, and you’re trying to tell people to go crazy like, ‘Oh yeah, alright!’ And when the show was over, one fart would have been a disaster. Never again, so I don’t eat right before a show ever!”
Speaking of live performance, he explained how he settled back into performing on stage after years of acting, adding, “I mean, you’ve just got to have your cardio up, and it’s just like Broadway – once you get past that first night on tour it just falls in place, you know. But the crowd, you get the energy, you just go out there and do what you do.”