Ice-T says Pink Floyd gave heavy metal band rare approval for 'Comfortably Numb' sample
Ice-T and Body Count are back.
The band is debuting a flip of a classic Pink Floyd song with unlikely origins, and the rapper-actor is explaining how it happened.
The frontman of the heavy metal-rap band took the stage Wednesday night on "The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon" to perform a take on the 1980 Pink Floyd classic record "Comfortably Numb."
Earlier in the show, Fallon excitedly pointed out that Ice-T got rare approval from the band to sample the record. "Pink Floyd said yes to you. They don't say yes to anyone," Fallon said.
"David Gilmour and Roger Waters, who haven't agreed on anything in 20 years," Ice-T replied.
The "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" actor added: "Rappers always listen to music for tracks they could rap over: breakbeats, things like that. And I always liked the bass line to 'Comfortably Numb.' I wanted to rap on it."
The band ran into hiccups trying to get approval from the song's publishers and were told Pink Floyd doesn't allow covers or samples. But when they went straight to Gilmour and Waters' managers, they got the green light.
"David heard the record and was blown away, just by the lyrics. Roger Waters listens to it. And he said, 'Well, who sang it?' They said Ice-T. He approved it," he said. "So now you've got two people on opposite sides who approved the song, which made me feel really good. Because that means that the song is honest and real."
Ice-T later found out that Gilmour wanted to play on the record. "He plays on it, then he says, 'What's up with the video?' So we send a crew over there in London." The video, released in October, features clips of Gilmour playing the guitar throughout.
Ice-T's last solo record was 2006's "Gangster Rap," but he has been active with Body Count since forming the band with guitarist Ernie C in the early 1990s. The Grammy-winning band has eight studio albums, including their new album "Merciless" and 2020's "Carnivore," which won a Grammy for best metal performance for the song "Bum-Rush."
This story has been updated to add additional information.