Ice-T, 68, Declares There Is “No Expiration Date” On Hip-Hop

Ice-T, the OG, is officially returning to rap, but he’s making some changes to the current landscape.

After nearly two decades without releasing a full rap album, the West Coast pioneer has confirmed that he is preparing his first Hip-Hop project in close to 20 years. His last album was late 2006’s Gangsta Rap.

The upcoming album is tentatively Criminal Migraine, a name that reflects his own internal conflict.

“It’s mature Ice-T,” he told Chuck Jigsaw Creekmur in an upcoming full interview. “I just advanced my blueprint.”

Ice-T describes the phrase as the mental battle between who one is now and who one used to be. It represents the tension that arises when old instincts resurface in modern situations. There are a number of themes explored on the upcoming project like betrayal, growth, survival and even evolving manhood.

At times there are softer styled musings like a track examining what it means to be a man in today’s world. Ice-T will even include female listeners will find themselves included in the conversation.

The New Jersey-born, West Coast-reared MC is known for helping define early gangster rap in the late 1980s and early 1990. But Ice-T never disappeared from public life. Between fronting the metal band Body Count and starring for more than two decades on Law & Order: SVU, he remained visible.

Rap has been mostly quiet. He’s shown up on one-off songs and features, but no full albums. He said he’s going to do his best for the culture.

“I’m just going to put my best effort before you give you the best ice at this age that I could do. And I don’t think as an artist, it’s over until you lose passion,” he explained

Ice-Tsaid he is not chasing new audiences and he is not trying to convert television viewers into rap fans. The Law & Order audience, he says, is separate from his Hip-Hop base. He wants to satisfy the fans who have followed him since the days of Rhyme Pays, Power and O.G. Original Gangster. He wants them to hear growth without dilution.

“I just don’t want to put out nothing wack,” he said.

There is no official release date yet, though Ice-T has indicated the project is expected to arrive later this year after final mixing and sequencing are complete.

For an artist who helped lay the groundwork for West Coast rap storytelling, the return is not just about dropping songs. It is about demonstrating that Hip-Hop does not have an expiration date.

And at 68, Ice-T is determined to prove it.

Here is the lead single of Criminal Migraine, “It’s What You Say.”

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