Ice Rap Quotes & Sayings

If you really think back to the culture or just black America before rap music took off, New York could have been Paris. — Ice Cube

Everyone who raps isn't hip-hop. To be hip-hop, you've got to know the culture. You got to know the history. — Ice-T

If you believe that I'm a cop killer, you believe David Bowie is an astronaut. — Ice-T

I don't have to put out another rap record. I can do it at my casual pace. — Ice-T

A lot of the younger kids now can rap, but they're scared of the crowd. Mastery of that stage is an MC. I don't know if you've seen any great MCs on stage but when you do it's like wow, this is more than the words to rhymes. — Ice-T

We have groups that do that, but I can't rap with the mentality of an 18 year old when I'm in my 30's. — Ice-T

Not everyone agrees on music. Some people like rap, some like country - it's all an opinion. F the critics. — Vanilla Ice

Rap music came along and saved my life. I started to tell the stories of the streets and that was my way out. — Ice-T

Rap is always evolving. It's easy for the old school to hate the new school, but it's a music that got a little stifled I think, by the Internet a little bit. — Ice Cube

What's bad for the culture is wack rappers that get held in high regard like they're some great thing because it's the flavor of the month, but everybody knows they can't rap. I don't think it's hard, even for somebody who's not hip-hop, to know that that's not good. When you put them up against somebody that can really rhyme, you go, "Okay, I get it. This is what it should sound like." — Ice-T

I hate to get on the racial thing because that's something I've always been totally against. But the problem with the media is that they think that the word rock means white and the word rap means black. — Ice-T

They thought we were just basically keeping ourselves underground on purpose. And it was just strange for people to approach music that way. And for rap, trying to get recognition, and be seen as a regular form of music like anything else. I mean, the Soul, R&B, Rock 'N Roll, they would dis the hell out of rap when it first came out. — Ice Cube

The trick with hip-hop-hip-hop is a sport. The only music that's really, really close to a sport. It starts off, "My DJ's better than yours. I can out-rap you, I can out-dance you, my graffiti piece is better than you." It's very competitive. — Ice-T

An MC is somebody who can control the crowd. An MC is a master of ceremonies so not only can you say your rap, you can rock the party. — Ice-T

Rapping is talking and communicating, and that's always good. — Ice Cube

As long as I'm around the cats in the hip hop scene, they'll throw me a track and I'll write a rap over it. — Ice-T

Usually people who attack the rap are people who aren't even fans. — Ice Cube

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

I think rap music is the sole reason for a lot of black acceptance in pop culture; because the music is very popular, it gets our image out in other ways than in movies. — Ice Cube

I think all music - not just rap - has fallen into this very diluted, delusional state, where everyone's singing about money and having cars, and having all this fun; when really, people are losing their homes. — Ice-T

I have a very broad demographic, from the 8-year-old who knows every word to 'Ice Ice Baby' and the college kid who grew up on 'Ninja Rap' to the soccer mom and grandparent. — Vanilla Ice

Rap game Julio Franco, Chuck Norris, Texas Ranger/ Ice on my fingers look like I slap-boxed a penguin. — Riff Raff

I think my fans respect me for bein' as truthful and honest as you can be and still be Rap music and not be opinion music. It's still Rap, its still style, flavor, flair, and people just kind of like how I present myself and the things that I do. — Ice Cube

"Ice" came in when my friends would say "cold as ice" - if you could rap and battle people you'd say "Dude, that was ice cold." It had nothing to do with jewelry. Back then, it was like "Your cold, dawg." "Vanilla Ice - that's cold." — Vanilla Ice

The hip-hop that I really connected with was Public Enemy, KRS-One, Ice Cube, and N.W.A. That late '80s and early '90s era. The beginning of gangster rap and the beginning of politically conscious rap. I had a very immature, adolescent feeling of, "Wow, I can really connect with these people through the stories they're telling in this music." — Jess Row

You have to come in on a professional level to make it, otherwise you just can't get into rap. — Ice-T

Whatever happened in the neighborhood. That's what I was rapping about. And that sparked people's interest. And that's what kind of put me on that path. — Ice Cube

Frankly, I don't feel the fire anymore from the youth. I miss my era when motherfuckers were fighting for shit, spitting fire in their lyrics. — Ice-T

The government hates rap. That's why they don't arrest anybody that kills rappers! Only the good ones are dead, man! Only the good ones: Biggie dead, Tupac dead, Vanilla Ice still alive! They don't fill out a police report. They don't even have a chalk line when it's a dead rapper, they just take a piss around the body. — Chris Rock

But with rap music - not just N.W.A. - but rap music in general, seeing these artists wearing these team logos all the time started bringing a synergy and energy about having to rep your city, your team, everywhere and all the time. — Ice Cube

It's just that when you heard hip-hop, no matter where you were, it was a culture that kind of made you want to try to be part of it. Whether you thought you were an artist, whether you thought you could be a DJ, whether you thought you could breakdance, or whether you thought you could rap. It was the kind of culture that had a lot of open doors. — Ice-T

A bird in the hand is worth more than a Bush. — Ice Cube

Rap is rock 'n' roll. Rock is when you push the buttons in the system; when you say, I'm not going along with what you're saying. That's rock, whether it's done with guitars, or it's done with just beats. — Ice-T

That became the signature Ice-T style - rhymes that were "topical" and "vividly optical." To me it was street-level journalism, real-life observations told in poetry. That's the vision I tried to bring to all my recordings. — Ice-T

Full moons, skunk weed all up in the room;
You got the munchies, baby? Ice cold milk and Lorna Doones. — Ghostface Killah

A fast note about Ice-T's autobiography: There's a section where he tells a story about hanging out with Flavor Flav that involves going to Red Lobster in a Ferrari. I suspect the phrase "going to Red Lobster in a Ferrari" is the most accurate description of Flavor Flav anyone will ever come up with. — Shea Serrano

Rapping is a vocal delivery, so you can do it without being part of hip-hop and not knowing what hip-hop is about. — Ice-T

I'm to trying to say I'm something I'm not. Black people understand that. I'm just doing my raps, my way. Rap is black. I recognize that and respect that. I'm just a white guy trying to rap, and I got lucky. — Vanilla Ice

I think rap music is brought up, gangster rap in particular, as well as video games, every other thing they try to hang the ills of society on as a scapegoat. — Ice Cube

Rap is from the streets and I'm from the streets. That's why a lot of people accept me. — Vanilla Ice

You ask me, "Did I like Arsenio?"
About as much as the Bicentennial. — Ice Cube

When I got a chance to rap, I just busted my ass. When I got a chance to act, I busted my ass. Anytime I get a chance. I'm not wasting time. I won't do it if I'm not doing it 110 percent. You've got to work hard if you want to play hard. I like to play, but I know I gotta bust my ass. — Ice-T

I got Lamborghini dreams, eastside nightmares
Movin white ... my ice is cool as the night air — Roc Marciano

Before rap came along, I was, actually, actively in the streets; getting in trouble, doing the wrong thing. — Ice-T

I got ice in my veins
Blood in my eyes/Hate in my heart
Love in my mind — Lil' Wayne

Jay-Z is like a rap-savant, he doesn't have to write the rhymes down, he can create complex raps in his head. I mean he does memorize it, he just doesn't write it down on paper. He doesn't freestyle onto the track, it's all thought out. — Ice-T

You know it ain't no stoppin'
All the doggs I'm droppin'
It's Friday night, so everything is poppin. — Ice Cube

You the devil in drag.
You can burn your cross,
Well, I'll burn your flag ... — Ice Cube

I'm a menace to society,
But girls in biker shorts are so fly to me.
After the date, I'mma want to do the wild thing ...
You're talkin' lobster? I'm thinkin' Burger King. — Ice Cube

Run DMC brought us out of that underground-only feel. They brought rap above ground and made it respectable as an art form to mainstream music. — Ice Cube

Rap is just somebody getting something off his chest. That's all it is. — Ice Cube

I'm not trying to turn into Eddie Murphy, and just do kids movies the rest of my career. I'm going to still do a wide variety of movies, as well as do hardcore rap. — Ice Cube

When I first got into the rap game, I had an early dream of unifying rappers. — Ice-T

This guy! I plead the fifth. This guy is nuts."
- Eminem
"Dope questions, man. Very insightful, very thoughtful."
- Guru (Gang Starr)
"You like a Psychiatrist or some shit? This shit is just coming out but go ahead."
- Mary J. Blige
"Definitely a real interview! Digging deep up in there, man. Not afraid to ask questions!"
- K-Ci Hailey (Jodeci)
"The Wizard asked me for a copy of your magazine."
- Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo (Daft Punk)
"You didn't wear your glasses and you haven't carried your hearing aid. What else is wrong with you?"
- Bushwick Bill
"Peace and blessing, Brother Harris. Thank you for inspiring my words. Keep 'yo balance."
- Erykah Badu
"Can I see that pen?"
- Bobby Brown
"What else do you want to know? Talk to me."
- Aaliyah — Harris Rosen

I look at my career and I feel I have the potential to maybe mature into a Samuel Jackson-type older cat, and people will still respect me and say 'Yo, Ice-T was wild', into my old age. And why not? I don't necessarily think I'll be rapping in 10 years. — Ice-T

We used to have MTV and all these ways we can show our videos, and it was these rap shows, and it was everything. And then it became not cool to be conscious; it became cool to just hang out. Escapism rap became the norm. And, when I say "escapism rap", I mean getting high, get your cars, get your money, get your jewelry, go to the club, have your women, and it just became all about escaping your reality and not making your reality better on a real tip; not just on the have fun tip. — Ice Cube

I don't feel that rap has been respected as an art form. Because people have seen rappers rap off the top of their heads, they don't think it is difficult. — Ice-T

We come from the days when rap used to agitate the mainstream. Now it's more buddy-buddy. That doesn't sit well with me. So what we need is [a bit more] street politics, bringing up issues, agitating you a little bit. And nothing can agitate you more now than a terrorist threat. — Ice Cube

I want to be able to say that a rap career could be ten albums. — Ice-T

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

Alyosha-Bob and I have an interesting hobby that we indulge whenever possible. We think of ourselves as The Gentlemen Who Like To Rap. Our oeuvre stretches from the old school jams of Ice Cube, Ice-T, and Public Enemy to the sensuous contemporary rhythyms of ghetto tech, a hybrid of Miami bass, Chicago ghetto tracks, and Detroit electronica. The modern reader may be familiar with 'Ass-N-Titties' by DJ Assault, perhaps the seminal work of the genre — Gary Shteyngart