Ice-T Gets Choked Up Discussing 2Pac On "Drink Champs"

Ice-T got emotional while discussing his relationship with 2Pac during his latest appearance on the Drink Champs podcast. The rapper was explaining that Death Row Records was “training him to be a killer" before his death. The conversation began with N.O.R.E. asking about the differences between 'Pac's early career as a backup dancer and MC for Digital Underground and the superstardom that followed.

“Absolutely,” Ice-T answered. “When I first met ‘Pac and Money-B and all them, it was Digital Underground, so you got Shock G who’s a hundred percent different. I didn’t even recognize ‘Pac as militant or nothing like that, just as a dancer, friend, cool.

Ice-T At The Grammys

Ice-T performs onstage at the 65th Annual GRAMMY Awards held at Crypto.com Arena on February 5, 2023 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Christopher Polk/Variety via Getty Images)

He continued: “And when he came out, I was like, ‘Yo, that’s the same dude!’ But I couldn’t disrespect him because his lyrics were deep, and I got to work on [Strictly 4 My N.*.*.*.A.Z…] — me, him and Cube on ‘Last Wordz.' So what people don’t understand is, I love ‘Pac. But he’s an artist to me, he was just another artist. People are like, ‘Pac is a God!’ But ‘Pac is an artist. We were friends.”

From there, he recalled a time Shock G came to his house to ask for help regarding 2Pac. “I had a story where Shock G came to my house,” he said. “I lived in the Hollywood Hills, Shock came to my door. I said, ‘Why the fuck you knocking on my door?’ He said, ‘I was up in the Hills, I asked does any Black people live up here.’ They said, ‘Ice lives right over there.’ So Shock knocked on my door. We sat down and he was like, ‘Ice, talk to ‘Pac, man. They feeding ‘Pac gunpowder. ‘Pac is not listening to me.'” It’s at this point in the interview that Ice-T begins to get choked up.

Ice-T Reflects On 2Pac Friendship

Ice-T eventually regained his composure and continued: “See the thing is, when you working with a rapper, you have to get a rapper in a state of mind. Death Row was training ‘Pac to be a killer, which you heard in the music. But I did a thing for Mike Tyson which is like, you train a man to be a pitbull then you get mad when he eats the furniture. You see what I mean? So that energy bled into the streets, to his demise.”

[Via]