In the wake of PnB Rock’s tragic death via shooting on Monday, legendary rapper Ice-T tweeted about how he’s unwilling to keep on explaining the dangers of Los Angeles and its gang culture, if only because people won’t listen to him. After allegedly being contacted by many people about his stance, the Law & Order: Special Victims Unit star offered additional details on his stance, related to jewelry and the danger it can bring to those wearing it.
In a tweet from early on Wednesday, Ice-T wrote, “People are still hitting me up about my comments about LA Gang culture.If you NOTICE, LA rappers don’t wear a lotta Jewelry… Me, Snoop, Cube, Dre, Game, Kendrick..The list goes on.. It’s not cause we’re broke. LA is just a Dangerous place,rapper or not. Why test the streets..”
Ice-T went on to defend his stance against a few people who offered opposition. One posted a picture of The Game wearing a large gold chain, to which Ice-T replied, “Thats on certain occasions when you’re ready for whatever… I have Big Jewelry too… But you don’t wake up EVERYDAY and put it on to go down the block.. As I said before… Challenge the hood, somebody’s gonna catch that Fade.”
Another mentioned the existence of Death Row Records chains, to which the rapper said, “Yep, And PAC’s death was connected to the snatching of one of those chains.. You can deny what I’m trying to tell you if you want. I’m done explaining.”
However, there are some exceptions to the rule. Ralfy the Plug, late rapper Drakeo the Ruler’s brother, was quick to contradict the OG. He quoted Ice-T’s jewelry explanation tweet with a photo of himself wearing multiple chains in front of a black backdrop and an accompanying caption saying, “My kneck be hurting on a daily.”
It wasn’t all negativity, though. One person shared a piece of artwork that he painted featuring Ice-T getting his hair done at a barbershop while sporting a large chain. The caption read, “We have a chain obsessed culture. Why I painted this. The irony was ICE doesn’t rock a piece worth a house in vulnerable places. Jewelry ain’t sh*t on a corpse. 3OG knowledge is a gift. You’d think they’d listen.”
Ice-T signaled his approval with multiple fire emojis. He later punctuated his stance with a tweet that read, “‘LA….. Home of the Bodybag…’ Somebody said that 30 yrs ago….,” a direct quote from his 1991 song “Home Of The Bodybag.
Check out Ice-T’s tweets about Los Angeles gang culture and jewelry above.