Rapper Ice-T dished on how he and the “Mama Said Knock You Out” rapper LL Cool J were able to hash out their differences and perform alongside each other during the 65th Annual Grammy Awards.
The “Law and Order: SVU” actor spoke with AllHipHop in an interview about his participation in the 12-minute musical tribute for hip-hop reaching 50 years in the industry.
“It was a great feeling,” Ice-T confessed.
When asked about his rap beef with LL, who introduced and participated in the celebration, Ice-T stated that it was only seen as a huge debacle due to their own respective fanbases.
“Those things can always escalate because you have fans,” he told AllHipHop, “and if they catch me out there, they’re gonna talk to me about LL. That can always escalate easily.”
The 64-year-old also shared that the Grammy Awards was not the first time he and LL had been in the same vicinity since quashing their beef.
“LL and I have been together on different occasions,” Ice-T revealed. Both rap pioneers were on the “Rock The Bells” interview together back in 2022.
The feud between Ice-T and LL began in the late ’80s just as the “Last Holiday” actor was rising to fame. The 55-year-old deemed himself “the baddest rapper in the history of rap itself,” a statement Ice-T disputed.
“That was the gist of it, absolutely,” he said.
Though the two men reportedly ended their drama years ago, there was no physical proof to show fans that their beef was no longer active.
“As far as an actual physical picture of us? I think there’s probably one other one out there. And I think the other one was before we actually sat down and talked like grown men about it,” Ice-T stated.
While the “Colors” artist enjoyed performing with LL and his peers, he expressed that he was nervous about the entire Grammys performance itself.
“I had a lot of anxiety going into it because it was such a big production,” he explained regarding his hesitancy about not embarrassing himself
“If you missed your cue, you were going to be off-beat because they weren’t going to stop that show, and you didn’t want to embarrass yourself on live TV,” said the former reality star. “But everybody was really in the zone leading up to it. You can see that.”
He added, “I think everybody was on point. I had a good set, the people reacted well and I had a good time. It was just fun. The sad thing was I said it was the best time to see all these people and it wasn’t a funeral.”
On Feb. 5 the rapping colleagues were finally able to snap a photo together and prove to fans that all was good between them. Ice-T shared their photo online that showed them sitting down as they raised up a number one.
“Here’s a Pic Hip Hop heads probably thought they’d NEVER see… Ice and @llcoolj CHillin at the 2023 Grammy rehearsals. Tonight is gonna be Legendary,” Ice-T wrote.
“This is so cool man, amazing moment you too,” one fan wrote.
“Only the ones who witnessed understand how amazing this is,” another penned.
The Grammys hip-hop special was put together by American musician Questlove and featured appearances from other artists such as Queen Latifah, Missy Elliott, Method Man, and 22 more stars who’ve shaped the sound of hip-hop.
