Ice-T says hip-hop got “goofy” in the mid-2000s
nme.comIce-T has said he observed a “paradigm shift” in the hip-hop scene during the mid-2000s, which was when he last released an album.The artist’s last solo hip-hop album ‘Gangsta Rap’ came out in 2006, with his focus then shifting to his heavy metal band Body Count.In a recent interview with Variety, Ice-T said that the changing nature of the hip-hop scene left him feeling “uncomfortable”, and as such he has no plans to make any more solo records at present.“Hip-hop changed.
The music got goofy to me. The kids started looking weird. It all turned into something I wasn’t comfortable with,” he explained. “There was a point where I was selling tons of records, then it cooled off.
I felt a certain way.“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. … Besides, I still do my ‘Ice-T: Art of Rap’ shows, which is my legacy hip-hop.
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