Ice T Wasn't Paid Much To Do 'New Jack City'

These days, Ice T is known more for being an actor and a TV personality than for being rapper.

And why not? It's been ten years since the 58-year old dropped an album, and he's been playing NYPD Detective Odafin Tutuola on the NBC police drama Law & Order: Special Victims Unit since 2000.

Law & Order isn't the first time the guy who who courted controversy with the track 'Cop Killer' has played an agent of the law.

Ice's big acting break came in 1991 when Mario Van Peebles cast him as Detective Sonny Appleton in New Jack City. In an interview with OK Player, Ice says the experience taught have a valuable lesson in negotiating.

“I got paid scale, so for New Jack City I made about $25,000 for the whole movie. The movie made like $67 million, but by now, it’s probably closer to $80 million bucks. That was my first lesson in Hollywood. How could I negotiate? I was never in a film.”

“I was doing my Ice T thing, talking shit in the bathroom,” Ice explains. “I said something like, ‘If you could take a microscope and find one molecule in my body that gave a fuck, then they’d have a chance.’ Someone said, ‘Whoever said that needs to be in my movie,’ and Mario stepped out of the stall and here’s Ice T talking shit to people.”