This is an archival story that predates current editorial management.
This archival content was written, edited, and published prior to LAist's acquisition by its current owner, Southern California Public Radio ("SCPR"). Content, such as language choice and subject matter, in archival articles therefore may not align with SCPR's current editorial standards. To learn more about those standards and why we make this distinction, please click here.
Anyone who’s watched their share of MTV Cribs can tell you that the series hit its apex in its second season, when rapper Redman showed off his Staten Island duplex. It was striking because it was far removed from the excess flaunted by the likes of Jermaine Dupri—the doorbell to the home didn’t even work. It was such an outlier that some viewers have long maintained that Redman was just pulling a fast one on us (it turns out it was all real).
Redman’s turn on that episode would overshadow the appearances by two other acts: Ice-T and Incubus. Ice-T’s abode, set in Hollywood Hills West, was a pretty stark contrast to Redman’s broken doorbell. It had three stories and a pool, and it afforded panoramic views of the L.A. area. “Beware those who cross this portal; you’ll never be the same. This is the Ice-T inner sanctum,” the rapper warned before he ushered us in.
Ice-T would put that home up on the market at some point, and now it’s up for sale again at a price tag of $8,999,999. As noted on the home’s listing, the contemporary space comes with four bedrooms and five baths. Situated “on a canyon high above the heart of the Strip, this dramatic fortress delivers mind-blowing city and ocean views from every room.” A bit hyperbolic, perhaps?
Here’s Ice-T’s appearance on that 2001 episode of MTV Cribs, in case you want a guided tour of his former palace (obviously, the details of the home may have changed in the past 16 years):
Ice-T by kNASoldjah
We’d like to take some time to note that Ice-T’s segment holds its own. It delivers on its promise of luxury, and is spliced with the rapper’s sense of humor. In one of MTV Crib’s most hilarious (if scripted) asides, we walk into Ice-T’s bedroom and find that he’s got a camcorder propped up to, presumably, tape his extracurricular activities. He scrambles to tear down the setup: “Uh, oh! Sorry.”
As for the home’s features, the crown jewel was the pool, which came with a roof that retracts at the push of a button. “I’m gonna say that is player,” Ice-T says as he shows off the roof. And what about the rapper’s collection of toys? “I’m really into figurines of, like, horror people,” the rapper informs us, pointing at a figure of Chucky and proclaimaing that, “Chucky gets busy in his own way, you know what I’m sayin’?”
Jokes aside, there came a moment of real self-reflection when Ice-T stood on a balcony and peered out at the city before him. “I was living in South Central Los Angeles, looking up at these hills, saying ‘I wonder what those people live like,” said the rapper, adding that he regarded his home as a “great accomplishment for myself.” He then shouted “Kiss my ass!” to the L.A. area. “A lot of people do not want me in these hills,” he concluded.
