ICE T

That, of course, is a major theme of New Jack City-and, as Ice-T notes, the cop he played in the picture "had a lot of the same ideals I have. He possibly , could have been a drug dealer, if something didn't turn him the other way." Performing in the film, which has already grossed over $40 million and produced a hot soundtrack album, was initially intimidating for Ice-T, as unlikely as that sounds. "It was scary," he says. "I didn't know how the actors were gonna react, and in music I'm in my own domain. But when I got there, the first thing I found out was that they were, like, in awe of me-they wanted, like, autographs and stuff." That Ice-T isn't playing a rapper on- screen is purposeful-"It might give you an hour and a half to not like me"- and the decision seems smart to many in the industry. One admirer is John Sykes, a former CAA agent and now president of Chrysalis Records, who calls Ice-T's choice "very wise. The movie industry has historically asked musicians to play themselves, because they feel it's a built-in audience for the film, and that's the kiss of death for a musician. He's achieved the best of both worlds." In his next outing, producer Joel Silver's action film Ricochet, set for release early next year, Ice-T plays a drug dealer. After Ricochet will come other projects, Ice-T says, "but the agents told me don't talk or nothing. 'Cause when you talk, it's hard to get your money." He sits back and ponders. "All I ever wanted to do was be a rapper," he says. "Now I'd like to be an actor-meaning when the casting guys would name off black actors or whatever, I'd accept just being a black actor: 'Well, we could use (Robert) Townsend; maybe we could get T.' Just be in there. I don't have to be the best, just be a name." A vehicle pulls up in the driveway. Ice-T looks over his shoulder toward the kitchen and yells. "Dar-LENE!!" No answer. "Dar-LENE!!" Darlene is Ice-T's strikingly beautiful common-law wife of seven years, who (dramatizing the deadly glamour of crime) was featured on the cover of Power wearing one-eighth of an ounce of bathing suit and holding a gun that could easily blow your head off. Finally, she comes out. "They're here," he says. She walks outside and fetches the new arrivals. "They're friends from D.C.," Ice-T explains. Darlene, as it happens, is pleasant, cheerful, all business, and by no means a bimbo. Still, in my house, if I yelled my wife's name that loud, she'd come over and hit me with a stick. That's part of Ice-T's charm: He can get away with it. You can hear it on his new album, where he explains that, yeah, though he does use the word "bitch" a lot, he isn't being sexist, despite what ! you might think. "So ladies, we just ain't talkin' 'bout you," the lyric goes, " 'Cause some of your niggas is bitches too." I ask him about it, and he smiles. "I get a lot of static for it, so I decided I'd tell some of the guys they act like bitches too. A bitch is just somebody who has to have their way all the time and is just a pain in the ass. You know? It has nothing to do with being a female." So goes a conversation with Ice-T. He talks, you listen, you can't help agreeing with him-and later you sometimes scratch your head and wonder what you agreed with. Ice-T's world is a place where the same man who penned "Girls L.G.B.N.A.F."-a three-minute ditty urging female listeners "Let's Get Butt Naked and F---"-can turn around and convincingly argue that both men and women are bitches. The man's major gift may be language, but his charm and sheer cheekiness come a close second. He proudly-okay, brazenly -paints a self- portrait on O.G. Original Gangster, and it goes like this: "I'm a steak and lobster eatin'/Billionaire meetin'/ Cash money makin', movin', shakin'/ Corporate jet glidin'/ Limousine ridin'/Writin' hits, filthy rich/Straight up nigga!" Ice-T asks if I'd like to watch a new video before I leave. He calls out again to Darlene, in another room with the houseguests, and she brings them in. He walks over to a cabinet, pulls out a remote control, presses buttons, and a screen and projector descend from the ceiling. We all sit and, as we watch him rap on-screen, wearing his undershirt, he self-deprecatingly chuckles at how large his belly looks. There's laughter in the house, and Ice- T, sitting there with his friends, seems no tough character at all. "The real tough guys in Hollywood are the ones that are smiling all the time," he'd said earlier, "playing golf and laughing. And then"-he'd clapped his hands loudly-"they give it to you!" That may be, but Ice-T seems tough enough for Hollywood.