Definitely busting this out at the next birthday party we attend.It takes guts to bust a rhyme

in front of a platinum-selling rapper, but Dann Florek pulled it off. Florek, who for decades played NYC Police’s Capt.

Cragen on both Law & Order and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, recalled the time he decided to toast

his co-star Ice T in verse, and it’s better than you’re probably expecting.

Dann Florek rapped for Ice T’s birthday
On comedian Marc Summers’ podcast, Florek recalled that Ice T joined the SVU cast at the end of the show’s first season in 2000, playing Det. Fin Tutuola. For Ice’s birthday at the time (February 16), Florek took what he knew about his co-star — that he’s a famous rapper — and used it to create a very special birthday message, which went a little something like this. (FYI: Ice T’s legal name is Tracy Lauren Morrow):

Today is your birthday, not yesterday or tomorrow

So happy F-ing birthday, Tracy L. Morrow

You can call yourself Ice T if you wish

But anyway you slice it, you’re one crazy bish

As Florek remembers it, Ice T was impressed, crossing his arms and observing, “Chief wrote me a rhyme.”

It was the beginning of a beautiful friendship, as the two actors went on to film literally hundreds of episodes together. During the celebration for SVU’s 25th anniversary, Florek remarked, “Some people have been telling me I’m like the OG of the show, but that’s the OG right there,” pointing to Ice T.

Dann Florek at Edge at Hudson Yards for Law & Order: Special Victims Unit 25th Anniversary party on January 16, 2024; Ice T attends the GRAMMY Gift Lounge during the 65th GRAMMY Awards At Tom’s Watch Bar on February 4, 2023 in Los Angeles, California. Photo: Cindy Ord/NBC; Araya Doheny/Getty Images for The Recording Academy

Florek’s sweet words for Mariska Hargitay

Though we still think of her as Det. Benson, Olivia is actually the captain now! And Florek had equally kind words for Mariska Hargitay, who has starred on SVU since the beginning.

Calling Benson’s ascendancy “a beautiful passing of the baton,” he recalled the brief cameo he made on the show’s 500th episode (Florek retired from SVU in 2014). “I got to do one little scene, I think I shot it on Zoom, and I was able to say to her — I’m gonna cry — ‘You have no idea how proud it makes me to say ‘Captain,’” he told People.

Captain Donald Cragen (Dann Florek) on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit Season 15 Episode 2. Photo: Michael Parmelee/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank

The veteran actor also told a touching anecdote about what the show has meant to fans. “On the way at the airport today, I was stopped again — and this has happened the entire time. People said, ‘As a family, we don’t do all that much together, but we watch SVU and then we discuss it’ — and all around the country, you know, they get on the phone and do it. How good is that?”