KING CASE AFTERMATH: A CITY IN CRISIS : For ‘Gangsta’ Style Rappers, Urban Explosion Is No Surprise : Music: Lyrics by Ice-T and other stars with a tough, street-oriented theme warned that inner cities could erupt in anger. ‘I’m not saying I told you so, but . . . ‘

Ice-T, a founder of the controversial “gangsta” style of rap music, rode through the Los Angeles battle zone Friday morning talking to a reporter on his car phone.

“I’m not saying I told you so, but rappers have been reporting from the front for years,” said the thirtysomething rapper, whose songs carry such provocative titles as “Squeeze the Trigger” and “Prepared to Die.”

“(Rappers) Public Enemy . . . Ice Cube . . . we were all saying that you have a potentially explosive situation (in the inner cities).” Ice-T, who refuses to reveal his real name, was born in New Jersey but grew up in South-Central Los Angeles. He now lives in the hills above the Sunset Strip, yet he says he keeps close ties with the old neighborhood.

Like other rap stars long accused of promoting violence through their explicit lyrics of urban anger, Ice-T declared that this week’s rioting in Los Angeles confirmed the inner-city rage reflected in the music.

“Black people look at the cops as the Gestapo. People thought it might come to an end (with the Rodney G. King trial) and they might get some justice,” he continued as the car headed north along the Harbor Freeway. “That was a false hope. People saw (that) justice is a myth if you’re black. Of course people will riot.”

His remarks were echoed by other rappers, both in California and in New York--the two centers of the tough, street-oriented music that has had a strong hold on urban youth since the late ‘80s.

“The only language the oppressors in this nation seem to understand is violence,” said Paris, a 24-year-old San Francisco rapper.

“So it’s time for us to start speaking that language. People up here are fed up. The last thing I would want to be right now is a police officer. Because starting tonight, they’re going to start getting poached.”

However, Q-Tip, a 22-year-old member of New York’s Tribe Called Quest, is hoping for a peaceful alternative. He is planning to march with other rappers, including Public Enemy’s Chuck D, next week in New York to protest the King verdict.

“I’m like most every other young black male in New York or South-Central (Los Angeles),” he said. “I never cared about politics before. I’ve never even registered to vote, but this verdict really woke me up. I’m going to register next week at the end of our march. I’m going to show the 80,000 people who listen to my music that I’m serious about changing things. We need new leaders.

“I think rappers have more of a voice than Tom Bradley or Daryl Gates. And we plan to make ourselves heard at this march. Destroying our community ain’t helping nobody but the white contractors who will make a fortune rebuilding these areas. The main thing the Black Panthers taught us was to vote. We need to vote these guys out of office. You know what I’m saying?”

James Bernard, senior editor of the Source, the nation’s premier rap magazine, thinks rappers can influence young people and that they should speak out now.

“Whether they claim to be or not, rappers are perceived as community leaders,” he said by phone from the magazine’s New York offices. “The rappers have been questioning these problems for years. Now they are going to have to rise to that occasion. I think we’re looking for some leadership from the rappers, something more than a just few sound bites.”

But Eazy E, the leader of N.W.A., the most controversial of the “gangsta rap” groups, said he does not think rappers can stop the action in the streets.

“Nobody wants to hear us lecture them. What they want is to see something done to those four officers,” said the rapper, whose real name is Eric Wright. “They want justice. They want to see something done to that grocer who shot that little girl. They want the government to make an example of those four officers the way they made an example of Mike Tyson. What this boils down to is a matter of respect.”

Three years ago, an FBI public affairs officer sent a letter to N.W.A.’s Los Angeles record company, Priority, claiming that “F--- Tha Police,” a song on the group’s “Straight Outta Compton” album, encourages violence against law enforcement officers.

The group’s “gangsta” image also disturbed so many law enforcement agencies around the country that police officers in some cities refused to provide security at N.W.A. concerts.

Ice Cube, who co-wrote the song and subsequently left the group for a solo career, was widely criticized late last year for the lyrics to “Black Korea,” a diatribe on his “Death Certificate” album against Korean merchants that do not show respect for black customers.

Ice Cube was unavailable Friday, but he released a statement through his New York publicist regarding the King verdict: “No justice . . . no peace.”

Times staff writer Dennis Hunt contributed to this story.