Ice-T Has The 'Luck Of The Draw'

08/09/1999 7:00 PM, Yahoo! Music
Craig Rosen

(8/9/99, 4 p.m. PDT) - Portraying the role of a street hustler on film doesn't bother Ice-T, as is evident by his past roles in New Jack City, Ricochet, and Trespass. The veteran gangster rapper takes yet another such role in Luck Of The Draw, an upcoming movie co-starring Dennis Hopper. Meanwhile, the Iceman will make an appearance on the small screen on FX's The X Show tonight at 11 p.m. (PDT and EDT).

In the forthcoming film, Ice plays a character named McNealy who teams with Hopper's character in a scam to produce counterfeit money. Critics have condemned Ice for continuing to take so-called negative roles, but Ice isn't complaining.

The key to landing movie roles is creating a character, says Ice. "People will come back and tell you, 'Oh, you're being typecasted' and this and that," Ice told LAUNCH on the Palos Verdes, Calif. set of the movie, "but you worry about that after 100 movies. You don't worry about that when you're just coming through the gate."

Ice says his reputation as a "heavy" has awarded him a half a dozen film roles this year alone. He doesn't see himself as the next Will Smith, but he would love to play a villain in a major feature film, such as Independence Day or Wild Wild West.

"The only way I see myself in a role or film of that size is if say [Sylvester] Stallone or somebody needs an enemy, the same way Wesley [Snipes] got put on in Demolition Man...I think you could see me going up against [Arnold] Schwarzenegger."

Ice T's seventh album, 7th Deadly Sin, is scheduled to be released on Sept. 14 on Atomic Pop--and select e-commerce sites--as a digital download and CD. It will hit traditional retail on Oct. 12.

To read an Ice-T Q&A, click here.

-- Billy Johnson Jr., Los Angeles

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