The Ice Opinion: Who Gives a Fuck? [Hardcover]

Ice-T (Author), Heidi Siegmund (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1, 1994

Hoping to inspire conversation and provocative opinions, the controversial rap artist provides his views on the ghetto, riots, success, free speech, education, art, and other important facets of life. 150,000 first printing.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This volume by the rap performer who is notorious for his song "Cop Killer," which many allege advocates the murder of police officers, presents a compendium of Ice T's opinions on all manner of subjects, including education, sex, religion and drugs. Ice T on corruption: "more crime prevention has to occur within the ranks of the crime-prevention organizations than among the people on the street." On Bryant Gumbel: he is "the epitome of a black-skinned white person." Ice T also includes samples of his lyrics, which are printed across the bottom of the first 159 pages, an inventive innovation. As for the poetry, the diction is scatological, the rhymes simple and predictable, the message anti-establishment. The book, written with freelancer Siegmund, is an amalgam of the silly and the significant. Photos not seen by PW. 150,000 first printing, author tour.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

As a celebrity, a movie star, a rapper, and an entrepreneur, Ice-T has a built-in audience whose demand for his book would mandate buying a few copies regardless of its quality. However, this work is much more than puff-piece autobiography or self-exploitation like Madonna's Sex ; it is a thoughtful opinion piece by a man using his celebrity status to create awareness and air his grievances nonviolently. It certainly expresses views that are not mainstream in America, and Ice T might have broadened his audience (albeit at the cost of losing some authenticity and color) had he foregone his usual street language and used his talk-show manners instead. But anyone interested in L.A. gang culture, the urban poor, rap, or the economic realities of record-making and free speech will find useful information in this compelling group of essays. Highly recommended for wide purchase. Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 10/15/93.
- Anita L. Cole, Miami-Dade P.L. System, Fla.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 200 pages
• Publisher: St Martins Pr; 1 edition (February 1, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312104863
• ISBN-13: 978-0312104863
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #379,955 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #68 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > Arts & Literature > Composers & Musicians > Country & Folk

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Don't Hate, Haters! ..., December 29, 2007

By 

Steffan Piper (Palm Desert, CA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Ice Opinion: Who Gives a Fuck? (Hardcover)

I read this book after reading Iceberg Slim's last novel Doom Fox and found that Ice had written an incredible and very telling introduction.

A friend of mine recently asked me `Hey, why you are reading that?' and with a tone that inferred that there was probably nothing to be gained or redeemable from the book. I was a little shocked, but I guess that's probably how some people, not in the know, would approach a book like this ... with really low expectations. I guess that aint too bad if all you expect out of Ice T anymore is Law & Order re-runs on cable. But speaking for myself, I came with an open mind and I wasn't let down at all ... and I happen to like his character on Law & Order enough not to be "hater". I also appreciate his personal story enough to be so far away from him in some realities but only inches away in others. His story speaks to my own and as a white Gen-X'er, the book clearly resonates.

Ice wraps a lot of what he's saying in the experience of the Los Angeles Riots that occurred in 1992, his time on the streets and his strange but fortunate journey to being famous. But reading his words 13 years later, everything that plagued the city and was a major problem back then, is still up in the forefront of 'seemingly unsolvable problems' and on the front page. But time has actually expanded his message as it applies not just for Black culture, as he pointed out then, but for most cultures, as it is now.

Los Angeles comes off as the beautiful place that it is, for some, but as a jail cell for others, even while they all `equally' enjoy their so-called freedoms. Ice paints the picture of the inner city that you may have thought has vanished but is still as dark, depressed and full of struggle as it was back in the 70's. Ice T (born Tracy Marrow) started off in the military but moved on to a career in burglary and other nefarious activities that he very candidly re-tells and does so without glorifying crime or the machismo behind his decisions. If there's something he understands in all of this, it's his own ego. Another thing he understands, mostly from necessity, is the intent of others and what it means to be 'step to.'

Ice tells it like it is and this is a difficult to find book now as some of the other reviewers have pointed out. It's a worthy read and a skillfully told testament about a young man's journey through a world full of prison, police and temptation. He came out pretty clean on the other side some decades later, but statistically hundreds to thousands, didn't -- and that's some of the real power behind this telling.

On a final note, I once bumped into Ice T one late night at a Rite-Aid on Sunset Blvd & Fairfax with his girl back in the fall of 1998. He was in front of me in line and was getting a few things and believe it or not -- an ice cream cone. I said hey, and he said "what's up, man?" For me, it was a priceless memory and I'm thankful for it. It's the little things in this life that have meaning.


...

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good book, but not for everybody., October 7, 2010

By 

Tenntonnhammer - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Ice Opinion: Who Gives a Fuck? (Hardcover)

I have wanted this book for a long time and finally bought it. I like these kind of books that are from the person's own point of view. Ice T has made his fame and fortune by not compromising what he wants and taking a risk to get where he wants to be. There's a lot of colorful language and so this book isn't for just anybody, so if you like a realist point of view from someone who isn't using a writer but their own words.

5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Like a sequins hammer ..., May 19, 2006

By 

Navy Bean "Navy Bean" (Amsterdam/Dayton, OH) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Ice Opinion: Who Gives a Fuck? (Hardcover)

T is fabulous! I had no idea the breadth of his vision. He reminds me of a modern-day Clay Aiken.

Never one to pull punches, T will pull on your funny bone until it hurts. T's insights on gardening, wine-tasting and antiquing are refreshing and suprising with someone of T's on-screen persona. But that's just it -- in this deliciously dire read, he's telling the world, "Look, I am human and vulnerable. I hurt too. I feel lonely when it rains. I prefer kittens to pit bulls. And darnit! despite prevailing public opinion, I thought "Cheers" actually got better after Shelley Long left."

Bravo T! Thanks for showing us that all former rapping and break dancing gang members are not predisposed to lives of anger and misogyny, but beauty, diet lemon-lime slice and hummingbirds.