Ice shares his wisdom on this week's episode of Rap School after the jump.

On MC Lyte and female rappers:

Lyte was there when I was there. She's rugged and rough. If I was going to get a female MC to teach this class, I would have gotten her, I would have gotten Yo-Yo, or I would have gotten Queen Latifah.

By me being such a mannish rapper, there were only certain females that embraced my music. Lyte and me were always friends. We toured together. Queen Latifah, she has an ill flipside. People are like, Latifah, you're really proud, you're a woman's woman. But yet, Latifah also put out Naughty By Nature, who made "O.P.P." So it's kinda like she understands both sides of the game. But Lyte is a bad girl. If you saw her on Hip-Hop Honors, you saw that she's not a game. She can really rap. I think when these kids might have turned on Hip-Hop honors, they were probably like, "Oh my God. I didn't know who I was with."

On Mary's lack of confidence:

It really didn't frustrate me, because Mary had something to back it up. She really had a good story. From the jump, Mary really really really wanted to do this. I've taught other things, I was in the military and I taught other stuff. The first thing you want to do is to make sure all your students want to be in this class. Mary really wanted to learn, and she was sincerely a sweetheart. The stuff that would come out of Erin's mouth and come out of Sophia's mouth would never come out of Mary's mouth. She had a nice vibe, and you just wanted to be her friend.

Mary had good raps, but her performance was another matter. A lot of people can write, but they just can't get up in front of a crowd. Stage fright is a monster. Speaking in front of people is something that everybody thinks they can do, but once you get there, you just blank out. So I'm in six weeks trying to get these kids to go in front of a real audience. Are you kidding me? But I worked with that, and Mary's raps were really good. If she wasn't trying, I wouldn't have put the same effort behind her.

On selecting each kid's role in the group:

It basically was by default. There were people who could do stuff and people who couldn't do stuff. Behind the scenes, they had coaches for dancing, DJs came in. They had time to work on things. They were all taught. The problem is that when you're shooting a TV show, the teaching part is hard to show because it's boring. So, they were all schooled, but some people were just better. Erin, she was just too shy. If she could get onstage and there was a mic stand, she'd try to hide behind the mic stand. I knew that she wasn't going to be the DJ, so I was hoping she could get the dance steps. When you got Phil who can't really rap because of his stuttering, you're like, "Dear God, come on Phil. DJ." We kinda knew which areas people wanted to go in. But then at the last minute, Dodge messed up rapping. I had no place for him. He wasn't going to be a dancer. I had already given the hype-man role to Leir, so it was like, Dodge, you're about to blow this. He couldn't memorize anything. His brain does not do memory.

Comments

[hush]

I think ice t should not teach them kids how to be ghetto i understand they dont have no rhythm but its a lot of things they could learn and not dress so ghetto if thats what you call thug dressing then what is he calling rappin these days rockin roll music

[KATRINA]

I'm so tired of people using the term "ghetto" and not knowing what the hell they're talking about. The style of dress is not ghetto, it's simply a style. If you have to chang your T.V. with pliers, that's ghetto. If your antenna on your T.V. is broken off like a crackhead used it to make pipes, that's ghetto. This style of dress is simply a style. That's for all you ignorant people that can't wait to use the word"ghetto". Don't use it if you don't know what it means. Didn't yo mama teach you that?

[cierra]

them kids can't rap.

[summer]

Props to Ice & the group. His gaol was to teach this group of young teens who knew nothing about rap, to rap and that he did.He was able to break it down for them, to create a learning exprience that took them outside of thier comfort zone and to push past all those feelings that would make anyone want to give up.

[ABrady]

I am fascinated by this show. I told sombody I was watching it and they're like, "you're kidding me." But the concept is fresh and what could be more fun than watching a bunch of silver-spoon kids in one of the most whitebread, tightassed schools hanging out with Ice T. I'd love to see the parents' faces if they checked out Ice T's website. It'd be like.."HONEY...OH MY GOD - COME LOOK AT THIS..."

[Lil A.]

Shows tight. When you compare the first episode to the forth them kids have came far. We should do more of this in schools to help kids bring out their emotions and be more expresive. Great job Ice Tea! Holla!

[Megan]

I liked this show also. It wasn't about making rappers out of these kids. It was about introducing them to something different and seeing their growth. If you can get someone like Mary to perform in front of an audience, you have made a major impact on a life. Ice was cool and real. It was interesting to watch how desperate those kids were for his attention and approval and how easily he gave it. It doesn't matter where kids come from, they all want to feel that approval.

[Katelyn-B]

Omg i loved this show
Mann
Missy-M
you got far and you did it in style i watch every time it comes on and your the best i mean that you went from shyy to AWESOME!!

Ohh and Shopia
Aka: So Fine
I like you alot your so cool and everything you do.

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