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September 27, 2002
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Media Contact: |
Mike Andrei
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Event Information: |
Daemen Conference Office
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Rapper, Actor, Social Commentator Ice-T Scheduled to Speak at Daemen College, Wick Center, November 4
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Ice-T rapper, actor, and social commentator will speak 7:30
p.m., Monday, November 4, in Wick Center on the Daemen campus. His presentation
will be free and open to the public. Ice-T is currently in his second season
with the cast of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. His talk, The Future
No Fear is expected to focus on a range of current societal issues, including
racism and censorship vs. free expression. He will also touch on his personal
journey from the street to stage and screen.
Ice T has been the keynote speaker at a number of Internet conventions, including the 1999 College Music Journal Conference in New York City; the 2000 Music & Internet Expo; the 2000 Rotterdam Film Festival; and Canadian Music Week 2000. Ice-T was born in New Jersey, an only child whose parents died when he was very young. He became involved with gangs in Los Angeles before spending four years in the Army. His first break came when producers of the film Breakin asked him to rap in the movie. He went on to write and popularize hit rap songs such as New Jack Hustler, and Six in the Mornin. Ice-T subsequently formed Rhyme Syndicate Records in 1989, and released a string of groundbreaking West Coast rap records. He formed the thrash metal band Body Count, with Ernie C., a close high school friend and guitarist. The band became the most critically acclaimed act on the highly successful 1991 Lollapalooza tour, and continued to tour worldwide, earning a Grammy award, and Ice-T the Best Male Rapper award, as voted by the readers of Rolling Stone in 1992. An accomplished movie actor, Ice-T has starred opposite Wesley Snipes in New Jack City; Denzel Washington in Ricochet; and Keanu Reeves in the sci-fi action thriller Johnny Mnemonic. Ice-T also appeared in Tank Girl, and was featured in cult director Walter Hill's Trespass. He has numerous independent and documentary film roles to his credit as well. Ice-T is a world-wide celebrity, particularly in the U.K., where he has had a multi-season series on channel 4, as the presenter of Ice-T's Baadasss TV, his personal guide to Blaxploitation movies and to black culture in general. In addition, Ice-T has published The Ice Opinion, a book which has been translated into Japanese, German, French, and Italian. He has also written introductions to the works of Iceberg Slim, from whom Ice-T took his name. |