Controversial rapper Ice-T says he doesn't want to use the constitutional guarantee of freedom of speech to defend his song "Cop Killer."
"As soon as you stand on the First Amendment, they'll knock you down every time," he told an audience at Harvard Law School Tuesday night.The rapper dropped "Cop Killer" from his album after police around the country protested, saying the song encouraged attacks on law enforcement officers.
Ice-T said he was surprised by the uproar because "I thought everyone hated the police." However, he maintained the song doesn't have the power to make people act violently. "If I felt it (a song) would push someone over the edge, I wouldn't do it," he said.
Ice-T also told the Harvard crowd about his criminal life in a South Central Los Angeles street gang. "All I ever wanted to be was a pimp," he said. "Crime is intoxicating, more intoxicating than any drug."