Ice-T stirred up some controversy recently when, during an interview with Krishnan Guru-Murthy on Britain's Channel 4, he staunchly defended his Second Amendment right to bear arms last Friday, just hours after the infamous shooting in Aurora, Colo., occurred.

"It's legal in the United States," he explained in the interview. "It's part of our Constitution. You know, the right to bear arms is because that's the last form of defense against tyranny. Not to hunt. It's to protect yourself from the police."

He went on to deny any perceived relation between the access to guns in the U.S. and the rates of violent crime in the country, arguing that, "If somebody wants to kill people, you know, they don't need a gun to do it. You can strap explosive on your body; they do that all time."

Ironically enough, for much of his career as a rapper, Ice-T was protests by pro-gun rights groups like the National Rifle Association for his controversial songs including the 1996 song "Cop Killer"  that he wrote and performed with his band "Body Count."

The aftermath of Ice-T's pro-gun pronouncement last Friday therefore led to some bizarre and humorous ideological idiosyncracies from right-wing pundits who are usually predisposed to disagree with almost everything a man like Ice-T would say. Most controversially, for instance, Rush Limbaugh offered the 54-year old rapper and actor a bizarre back-handed compliment, saying he was surprised that Ice-T "knew the word 'tyranny,' and he knows that tyranny comes from government representatives. Double impressive." Shortly thereafter, Ice-T himself responded on Twitter by calling Limbaugh "a racist piece of sh--." 

It would seem like Ice-T's ideological justification for gun-ownership is very different from that of a conservative like Rush Limbaugh's. But even though the two's cultural dispositions are world's apart, when speaking about gun rights, really the two are essentially in agreement: Ice-T's point in many of his songs is that disenfranchised black men are forced to use violence to rebel against a system of structural oppression that is violently imposed upon them—the same defense that Limbaugh himself makes in appealing to Federalist notions of self-determination when justifying Second Amendment rights.

The irony of Ice-T's position, however, is that he also made any number of songs that describe much less politically motivated forms of violence such as, say, domestic robbery. But this tension complicates almost all of the bravado and posturing of the entire genre of "gangster rap" that Ice-T himself helped create—the late rapper Tupac makes aggressive threats in his songs almost as often as he laments the violent, anarchic state that inner-city youth find themselves in.

To show some of this tension, we consider the top 10 rap songs about guns and violent crimes. Watch the slideshow above.

Key lines: "Hit-and-run, get it done, get the funds, split and run. /
Got about fifty guns, and I love all of 'em the same - bang bang! /
Damn baby girl what's your name?"

Made when 50 Cent was still very much in the underground of the New York rap scene, "How To Rob" first gained the rapper the notoriety that continues to chase him throughout his career. The song is basically a long rant about robbing rappers that were, at the time, all much more famous than 50 himself. Key lines: "I'ma keep stickin n-=i--as until I'm livin'. / I'll rob Boys II Men like I'm Michael Bivins / Catch Tyson for half that cash like Robyn Givens. / I'm hungry for real im bout to stick Mister C / That ni---a still eatin off Big's first LP. / I had Busta and the whole Flipmode on the floor, / He asked me if I had enuff I told him "Gimme Some More."

"Who Shot Ya" attracted a great deal of controversy given the fact that it was released shortly after Tupac Shakur was shot himself in New York City, leading many (including Tupac himself) to interpret the song's opening lines as a mocking the rapper. While both of their deaths are still shrouded in mystery, they certainly didn't do themselves any favors by antagonizing each other so publicly. Key lines: Who shot ya? / Separate the weak from the obsolete, / Hard to creep them Brooklyn streets. / It's on ni--a, f--k all that bickering beef. / I can hear sweat trickling down your cheek. / Your heartbeat soun' like Sasquatch feet / thundering, shaking the concrete. / Finish it, stop, when I foil the plot. / Neighbors call the cops said they heard mad shots."

Key Lines: "Slow the flow down so I can what? Tell you same face I make when I'm shooting the guns the same face that I make when I f--k!" The music blog Rap Genius explains that Royce is making an explicit connection between sex and violence (the song, as the title implies, is mostly about the former) to eliminate any idea of romantic intimacy.

Key Lines: Raekwon - "Ayo, one thing for sure, keep you of all. / Keep a nice crib, fly away, / keep to the point. / Keep ni--as outta ya face, who snakes. / Keep bi---es in they place, keep the mac in a special place."

Key Lines: "Here's an example, just a little sample. / How I could just kill a man. / One-time tried to come in my home, / take my chrome, I said "Yo, it's on. / Take cover son, or you're a-- out. / How you like my chrome?", then I watched the rookie pass out. / Didn't have to blast him, but I did anyway. / [Laughs] That young punk had to pay. / So I just killed a man!"

"Forgot About Dre" was one of Dr. Dre's relative few appearances on his long-awaited album "The Chronic 2001." While the song reasserts his presence as a semi-competent rapper (although it's fairly certain that his lyrics were ghostwritten here), the song was largely used to showcase Eminem's skill on his guest appearance. Still, Dr. Dre wanted to remind people of his heritage as one of the members of the controversial group N.W.A. Key Lines: "Now you wanna run around and talk about guns like I ain't got none. What you think I sold 'em all?"

On the other side of the Tupac/Biggie spectrum, Tupac laments the uncontrollable violence black men find themselves enmeshed in in this song. Key lines: "Even a smooth criminal one day must get caught. / Shot up or shot down with tha bullet that he bought. / Nine millimeter kickin' thinking about what the streets do
to me. / Cause they never talk peace in the black community. / All we know is violence, do the job in silence. /
Walk the city streets like a rat-pack of tyrants."

A pioneer of ganster rap, N.W.A.'s "Straight Outta' Compton" became legendary for allegedly attracting the attention of the FBI itself with its virulent lyrics celebrating violence against authority. Key lines: Ice Cube--"Ni--as Start To Mumble, They Wanna Rumble. / Mix 'Em And Cook 'Em In A Pot Like Gumbo. / Going Off On A Motherfucker Like That, / With A Gat That's Pointed At Yo A--. / So Give It Up Smooth, / Ain't No Tellin When I'm Down For A Jack Move. Here's A Murder Rap To Keep Yo Dancing / With A Crime Record Like Charles Manson. / AK-47 Is The Tool, / Don't Make Me Act The Motherfu--in' Fool."

Before Ice-T even starts rapping, he opens this song with a rant about his plan to rob a house: All right, when we go up in this goddamn house all I want is the motherfu--in' kids. As far as pops I don't give a f--k what you do. Bust him in his motherfu--in' head. If he got any money, take it. If there is money there, rob the motherfu-in' joint! As far as moms bust her in her goddamn head. Dumb bi--h, that's the reason we're going up in there!" It's unclear if Ice-T would support homeowners arming themselves against this kind of armed robbery as a legitimate "defense against tyranny" as well.