Ice-T has been indulging in his endorsement hustle over the past few years. With placements in several GEICO, CarShield, Cheerios and Tide commercials, the West Coast gangsta rap pioneer is making more money from ads than he is from touring these days. Now, the seasoned Law & Order: Special Victims Unit actor can add Raising Cane’s to the list.
One day ahead of National Ice Tea Day (June 9), the 63-year-old rapper/actor shared a photo of himself to Instagram working the cash register at a Raising Cane’s in Phoenix, Arizona — headset and all. He wrote in the caption, “FACT: Iced Tea is better served at @RaisingCanes by Ice-T… Let’s do this again sometime. #CaniacAmbassador.”
Ice-T also brought along his son Tracy Marrow (who he shares with ex-girlfriend and former model featured on his 1988 Power album Darlene Ortiz) for a few photo opportunities. They both posed alongside a cardboard cutout of the veteran MC that read, “Ice-T Knows Iced Tea.”
He added in the caption, “Check out @RaisingCanes. Iced Tea is Ice-T approved. Like father like son, Iced Tea runs in the family. @ICE_Marrow #CaniacAmbassador Live in Today in AZ.”
In a July 2021 interview with HipHopDX, Ice-T talked about his lucrative side hustle and explained how his “Cop Killer” persona almost stopped it from happening.
“It was difficult because I’m the cop killer,” he said at the time. “Everybody in the mainstream was like, ‘They won’t fuck with you because you’re too taboo.’ And I was like, ‘Right.’ And then Snoop started knocking down walls. That’s my brother. So Snoop was going through doors and I’m like, ‘Look, Snoop’s making it through these doors, let’s try.’
Ice-T Explains How Body Count's 'Cop Killer' Almost Killed His Endorsement Hustle
“So the first big one I got was the GEICO commercial with the lemonade. The advertising world was watching and there was no blowback. From there, I did RXBARs, CarShield. You see, people don’t understand but if you look at Shaq, like the one he does for The General, that could be eight to $10 million a year. The numbers aren’t bullshit. You know that bitch Flo from Progressive? Trust me, she lives in a mansion. Flo is caked out.”
(And there’s no doubt Ice-T is, too.)
Dude from from being a gangsta, to a gangsta rapper, to a cop actor, to a Cane’s worker. I applaud that sh*t.
He doesn’t get enough credit as an artist. His first 5 albums were great
Selling that “cane” on tha low I’m sure to customers. Smart guy
Exactly how stupid are you son? Ice T is worth over 60 million. He doesn’t need to be selling bags of blow like an idiot.
Ice-T is an all-time top 3 in my book. He must be a great person as well. He has no tattoos, teetotal and always gives props to Schoolly D for the inspiration. After he made it in hiphop he made it in metal, too. He’s truly one of the greatest.