Ice-T had no idea that he would become a star.
During an appearance on Allison Interviews podcast, Ice-T spoke to Allison Kugel about how his success was a surprise.
“I didn’t think I was going to be big, because there was no one big yet,” Ice-T said. “Now, a kid can say, ‘I wanna be a rapper,’ because they can look at Drake and go, ‘Look at that.’ But who was I to look at? Grandmaster Flash and Furious Five were still struggling. Hip hop wasn’t big enough. We’re talking about 1982. Original Gangster was way later. That was three albums in.”
ICE-T EXPLAINS THE ORIGIN OF THE TERM ‘O.G.’
35 years ago, Ice-T dropped his classic album Original Gangster. He explained how the term “O.G.” became popular outside of Los Angeles.
“O.G.” is a term used by the L.A. gangs for the first generation of a particular set. But also in L.A., the term just means ‘The Original.’ I brought it to the forefront when the press decided to name what we did ‘Gangster Rap,” Ice-T said. “And they named it Gangster Rap because of Ice Cube.”
“They didn’t have a name for [the genre] when we first started. And they were calling it ‘Reality Rap.’ But I was like, ‘Well, this is not everybody’s reality. This is just some particular kids’ reality.’ So, Ice Cube did Straight Outta Compton, and he said ‘Straight Outta Compton; crazy motherf–ker named Ice Cube; from the gang called N—-s With Attitude.’ And the press said, ‘Oh, he referred to his rap group as a gang,” he continued. “They’re gangster rappers.’ “
“That’s where the media gave us that name, and I said, ‘Okay, if this is gangster rap, I’m the Original Gangster.’ I tagged myself on the tag they gave us, so I was, like, claiming my terrain,” he added.
Ice-T also admitted that he should have trademarked “O.G.”
“I shoulda trademarked it. But Rakim says, ‘I’ll take a phrase that’s rarely heard, flip it; now it’s a daily word,’ ” he laughed, “A lot of terms come from Hip Hop, but yeah, I put ‘O.G.’ into the game.”