MEMORIES:
“Mad with no music but happy 'cause I'm free
And the streets to a player is the place to be…”
Though Ice T is known as a West Coast rapper, he was born in Newark, New Jersey. He lost his parents at a young age, and moved in with his aunt in South Los Angeles, better known as South Central. He fell in love with “ghetto street life,” eventually joining the notorious street gang, the Crips. While attending Crenshaw High School, he became obsessed with raps, reciting rhymes for classmates, including poetry by ex-pimp turned author, Iceberg Slim. He went on to become one of hip-hop’s most intelligent and well-spoken stars through a frustrating, offensive, yet socially-conscious career.
After leaving high school and spending a few years with the U.S. Army, Ice T (taking a cue from Iceberg Slim’s name) recorded a handful of 12” records for various studios that caught relatively little attention. Thanks to some exposure in the low-budget hip-hop films Breakin’ and Breakin’ II: Electric Bugaloo, he eventually landed a deal with Sire Records, and released his 1987 debut, Rhyme Pays, supported by the beats and samples of DJ Aladdin and Afrika Islam. He also did the vocal arrangements for Mr. T’s motivational children’s video Be Somebody or Be Somebody’s Fool. In the same year, he also recorded the theme song for the Dennis Hopper film about inner-city life, Colors, a song that was both lyrically and musically stronger than anything he had yet released.
Soon, Ice T formed his own record label, Rhyme Syndicate, and in 1998 released Power. The album got strong reviews and earned him his second gold record. The 1989 release of The Iceberg/Freedom of Speech… Just Watch What You Say established Ice T as a hip-hop superstar with its fierce political consciousness, most notably about censorship.
Crossing artistic barriers, Ice T was asked to play the role of Scottie in the Mario Van Peeble’s updated ‘blaxploitation’ film, New Jack City. He almost turned it down, because he thought the film would flop, and put a bad light on his rapping career. But little did he know it would be the breakthrough for a steady acting career. For the movie, he recorded “New Jack Hustler,” which became the center of his next record, 1991’s OG: Original Gangster. The album also featured a metal track titled “Body Count” which he recorded with his new band of the same name. Body Count joined the Lollapalooza tour, and the sound struck a chord with new fans from alternative music and middle-class teens in general. Body Count is often credited as being the predecessor to the “rapcore” and “nu metal” bands of the 2000s.
In 1992, Body Count released its self-titled debut, which attacked racism and criminality in South Central Los Angeles. The controversial song “Cop Killer,” sung from the perspective of a police murderer, sparked a controversy that still resonates today. The song brought nation-wide protests from the NRA and various police activist groups, and led into a well-known public feud between Ice T and then LAPD police chief Darryl Gates. While Ice T was initially backed by Sire/Warner Bros. Records, to avoid any further troubles for the label, they amicably dropped him and the album Home Invasion from the label. It was released on a new label, though it was met with lukewarm sales and middling reviews. His rap fans felt alienated and the new ones weren’t enough to keep it up. Body Count remained popular in the clubs, and Ice T continues to perform and record with the band.
In 1994, Ice T wrote a book titled The Ice Opinion. The book’s purpose was to answer the questions he was constantly being asked about his life, his political beliefs and the controversy around him and his music. He has also gone on to a successful acting career in films such as Surviving the Game, for which he took the lead, and supporting roles in Tank Girl, Johnny Mnemonic, Judgement Day and 3000 Miles to Graceland. He currently stars, ironically, as a cop in the TV series Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. It’s no doubt that Ice T will be remembered in our generation and in generations to come for his indelible footprint in the pages of pop culture.
