To change society, people must become part of the system but maintain a radical stance, rapper Ice T said at the Law School's Ames Courtroom yesterday afternoon.

For more than an hour, the rap star addressed an overflow audience of more than 300 people, predominantly Law School students, on topics ranging from his past to his views on sex, violence, and racism.

Ice T touched on several controversial aspects of his career, most notably the criticism of his 1992 release, "Cop Killer," on the album, "Body Count." Critics at the time said the song promoted violence against law enforcement officials.

The rapper said he was surprised by the reaction to the song, which made headlines across the country.

"I didn't think it was a controversial record because I though everybody hated the police," Ice T said. "Everyone I know hates the police."

Controversy has also surrounded his music, beginning in 1987, when the Parents' Music Resource Center launched a campaign to require that his first album "Rhyme Pays" be issued with stickers warning of its "explicit lyrics."

"No one has been able to define the word 'profanity' to me," Ice T said. "You say [expletives] make me sound ignorant, but you're ignorant because you don't know why you don't say them."

Though adamant in defending his right to expression, Ice T criticized those who back him on the basis of the First Amendment.

"I have the basic human right under God to say anything I want," he said. "As soon as you stand on the First Amendment, they will knock you down."

"I don't believe the Constitution exists," the rapper said. "You can bend it and twist it any way you want. This is a tool you attorneys will use."

The rapper opened his talk with a look into his past. Orphaned by the time he was in seventh grade, he was sent to live with a relative in Los Angeles, where he was taken in by a local gang and where he began a career in "any odd crime it takes to get over," he said.

In his talk, he used his personal experience as an example of the lack of role models for young Black men in the inner city.

"All I ever wanted to be when I grew up was a pimp," Ice T said. "There was no other image in my mind that was fly. I didn't play basketball. We didn't know any lawyers, except the ones who kept us out of jail."

Ice T's remarks were preceded by an excerpt from one of his videos. His talk was followed by an animated question and answer period. The event was introduced and mediated by Charles J. Ogletree Jr., assistant professor of law