ICE-T says JAY-Z talked to him at the Grammys over their presumed beef.
Ice-T recently celebrated hip-hop’s 50th anniversary at this year’s Grammy Awards, where he performed with several other rap icons. Now in a new interview, the Law & Order star reveals that at the event, he was approached by JAY-Z, who questioned him about their rumoured beef over the “99 Problems” song.
The hit track which appeared on JAY-Z’s 2004 Black Album, featured the iconic hook “I got 99 problems, but a bi**h ain’t one,” which was actually taken from Ice-T’s 1993 song of the same name, but he never received acknowledgement for it.
“I’m at the Grammys and JAY-Z comes to me. He says, ‘Ice, you know I love you, right?’” Ice-T said during his interview on Big Boy’s Neighborhood. “I say, ‘Yeah!’ He says, ‘Well, it’s on the internet that you mad.’ I said, ‘I’m not mad! They’re bringing up all kinds of interviews about it and they asked me the story, and I told them the true story.’”
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He continued, “He goes, ‘Yeah man, but it’s no hard feelings.’ And he started talking about how me and him — ’cause I met JAY-Z way back in the day. Big Daddy Kane brought JAY-Z to my house back in the day when he was starting out. I used to take Jay around, roll my car, him and Dame Dash, so we’re friends.”
“But I said, ‘Yo, well, you know, when you did ’99 Problems,’ at the end of the record you could’ve said, ‘Ice!’ You could’ve given me a little dap or something!’ I said, ‘But I’m not mad at it. What had happened was people wanted to know the story.’”
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The interview that Hov was referencing happened in 2014 with Radio.com, and recently surfaced online. “Why has JAY-Z never said, ‘This is Ice-T’s song’? Show me some love,” Ice said in the interview. “That’s just another way of handling the situation. I handle the situation differently. If I use your music, I want to let people know.”
In regards to “99 Problems,” Ice-T shared the backstory of the song, recounting how Brother Marquis of 2 Live Crew, who was featured on his 1993 track, came up with the iconic phrase. Ice-T also mentioned that more than a decade later, Chris Rock suggested that JAY-Z remake the song. “I’m in my house with Brother Marquis, I’m at my studio,” he began. “We were talking about ‘Whoomp! (There It Is).’ Now, ‘Whoomp! (There It Is)’ comes from Magic City. The Tag Team were the DJs at Magic City, and when the girls would bend over, they’d say, ‘Whoomp, there it is!’”
