Wow, rapper/actor/reality TV star Ice-T went in on Rick Ross in a recent interview with VH1. At a screening for VH1’s documentary Planet Rock: The Story of Hip Hop and the Crack Generation. “Don’t start that article with none of that Ice-T disses Rick Ross bullsh*t,” Ice-T says right after dissing Rick Ross. Ice–T who was friends with the original Freeway Rick Ross has this to say about rapper/producer Rick Ross:

“That’s fake,” Ice-T blurts out. “Rick Ross stole a n****’s name. I call him ‘Identity Crisis.’ He thinks he’s [Freeway] Rick Ross, he thinks he’s Larry Hoover, he thinks he’s Big Meech, he thinks he’s MC Hammer, he thinks he’s Tupac. Like, who the f*ck are you really, dude?”

Ice continues, “When we rapped about dope— me, Snoop and everybody—it was like we doin’ it because we GOT to. Now these n***** is actin’ like it’s somethin’ that’s FUN. It’s so easy to fantasize about it. To actively do it? That’s a whole ‘nother f*ckin’ thing.

To Ice-T, the issue with rap music these days has to do with accountability. “You can tell kids these days any motherf*****’ thing and they’ll believe it,” he laments. “There’s not a code of accountability in hip hop. When I came out, if you said it, you HAD to be about it. N***** would check you really quickly.”

At this point, I press Ice on whether he thinks there’s a famous rapper out there right now who has enough visibility and credibility who can serve as a rap ombudsman, if you will. According to Ice-T, that’s not really the issue, though. It’s more that rap, as a musical artform, has changed.

“Rap is pop right now,” he explains. “Q-Tip said, ‘Rap is not pop. If you call it that, then stop.’ Rap was a counterculture that went against pop. But when you have Rihanna singin’ on your records and you’re doin’ records with Katy Perry, that’s no longer rap. It’s pop music, pop using rap delivery. When you hear Lil Wayne sayin’ ‘I got a chopper in the car,’ you go, ‘Yeah, right you do.‘”

Hmmm, could this be setting the stage a battle between ol school rappers and new age hip pop performers?

What do you think?

Spotted @VH1