Ice-T points out hip-hop's "goofiness" in the mid-2000s

The legendary rapper Ice-T has claimed that he felt a “paradigm shift” in the way hip-hop conducted itself sometime in the mid-2000s, which was the last time that he released an album. It was after 2006 that Ice-T began to focus on his metal band Body Count.

“Hip-hop changed. The music got goofy to me,” Ice-T told Variety. “The kids started looking weird. It all turned into something I wasn’t comfortable with. There was a point where I was selling tons of records, then it cooled off. I felt a certain way.” The old ways of hip-hip of the 1990s and shifted somewhat, and it appears that Ice-T felt the old guard could not keep up with the new ways.

He continued, “Then I realised Public Enemy, Rakim, Big Daddy Kane and Wu-Tang Clan weren’t selling records, either. There was a paradigm shift. These kids got softer, and soft is not something I’m able to give audiences. The first word in hip-hop is ‘hip’ so how something stays hip for over 10 years is difficult.” 

He then went on to explain that fans can still catch a feeling for the good old days of hip-hop in his retrospective live show. “Besides, I still do my ‘Ice-T: Art of Rap’ shows, which is my legacy hip-hop,” he added. “Think of it like seeing Frank Sinatra. You want to hear the classics.”

Ice-T also responded to the recent news that he would be awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. “I would have told you that was impossible,” he said. “When I started making records, I didn’t come into the music business thinking I would be a star. I was just seeing if I could get a fan base. I didn’t want to be the best rapper. I just wanted to be mentioned among the greats: LL Cool J, Run-DMC. Getting any ‘star’ was way out of reach.”