If Ice-T's real name was Dave, as opposed to what it really is - Tracy Marrow - chances are he wouldn't have become such a tough nut. As it was, he was forced to look after himself from day one, standing up to those who taunted him about his 'girly' name.
He's also the reason there's such a thing as the 'Parental Advisory' sticker on CDs. Turning his attentions to music after a stint in the army and a storied career on the streets as a pimp and hustler, Ice-T became something of a cult figure when the song Cop Killer hit the streets in 1992. Causing a global uproar, with politicians calling for the song to be banned globally, it eerily preceded the LA riots of the same year.
Funny then, that 13 years later, Ice-T has used his status to become, of all things, a cop - albeit one on TV, as the popular Detective 'Fin' Tutola on NBC's Law and Order.
'I haven't really changed,' he says over the phone from a hotel room in Taipei ahead of his Hong Kong performance on Saturday, when he's scheduled to appear alongside DJ Afrika Islam, son of pioneer Afrika Bambaataa.
'Nothing's really changed around me. A lot of people like me, which is good - as a real gangsta you don't want to be hated and feared. You want to be able to walk among the people. When I do my shows I come on stage now and I go, 'A lot of y'all know me as Detective Fin', and there's a big cheer. 'But I've got news for you. I'm Ice motherf***ing T.' And that's when they go nuts.'
Compared with that summer when Cop Killer caused genuine shockwaves, the world today is wise to the theatre of Gangsta Rap, while Ice-T - with his ex-stripper wife, Coco, and family - seems to have settled down. But if Gangsta rap is unable to shock, then what's it good for?
'You've got to remember that when we first came out, no one knew what the hell it was,' says the veteran rapper. 'We scared the s*** out of the world - like, 'Where're these black kids coming from? They're crazy! They're gonna kill us!' Now you've got 50 Cent doing it and everyone's saying, 'So what?' It's become saturated.'