There's no question that Ice-T has had one of the most varied careers in entertainment. He's a Hip-Hop legend, a movie star, a TV icon, a Grammy-nominated heavy metal artist and a corporate pitchman. But Ice has shared that he had to fight a bit for that last one. Because of his past controversies, it was work for corporations to embrace Ice-T initially. 

Ice-T explained that it was Snoop who broke ground for "gangstas" to get that Madison Avenue money. 

“It was difficult because I’m the cop killer,” he told HipHopDX in a recent interview. “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.’"

"Cop Killer" is the controversial 1991 heavy metal track that Ice-T's band Body Count released on their debut album. That song sparked outrage and backlash from watchdog groups, police orgs and politicians.

And Ice broke down just how he was able to work his way into the endorsement game, despite early trepidation from brands. 

“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.”