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b. Tracy Marrow, 16 February 1958, Newark,
New Jersey, USA. One of the most outspoken rappers on the
west coast, Ice-T boasts (sometimes literally) a violent
past in which he was shot twice - once whilst involved in
an armed robbery. His name, fittingly, is taken from
black exploitation author Iceberg Slim, and he is backed
on record by Afrika Islam and DJ Aladdin's hardcore
hip-hop. His first record was actually 'The Coldest
Rapper' in 1983, which was improvised over a Jimmy Jam And
Terry Lewis rhythm, and made him the first Los
Angeles hip-hop artist. Unfortunately, he was
subsequently held under contract by mogul Willie Strong
for several years. Disillusioned, he made his money from
petty and not so petty crime, and also appeared in the
breakdance movie Breakin', which included his 'Reckless'
cut on the soundtrack. He followed it with the faddish
'Killers' single. The breakthrough, however, came with
'Ya Don't Know', which was widely credited with being the
first west coast hip-hop artefact (although the honour
was undoubtedly Ice-T's, the real beneficiary should have
been the obscure 'The Coldest Rapper' cut). Four LPs in
just three years created something of a stir in the USA,
based as they were largely on his experiences as a gang
member in Los Angeles. In 1989, he reached the lower end
of the UK charts with 'High Rollers', but did better the
following year teaming up with Curtis Mayfield on a
remake of 'Superfly'. He married Darlene, the model who
normally appeared semi-clad on his record sleeves, and
admitted to owning a pit bull terrier affectionately
titled Felony. For a time, too, he delighted in inviting
journalists to his luxury Beverly Hills home to show them
his personal armoury of semi-automatic weapons. Success
also enabled him to start his own record company, Rhyme
Syndicate. His vision of the black man as sophisticated
and articulate (being hard as nails is, of course, de
rigueur ) ranks him among the most potent forces in
contemporary black culture. His refusal to engage in a
white liberal agenda (he was the first rap artist to have
warning stickers placed on his album sleeves) has
irritated many, but helped to establish him as an
authentic spokesperson for dispossessed black youth. Ice-T's debut, Rhyme Pays, features an Uzi emblazoned on the cover, an image which has served as a particularly effective mission statement: hardcore raps on street violence and survival being the order of the day. By the time of its follow-up, there was demonstrably greater imagination displayed in terms of backing music. Like many of his west coast brethren, Ice-T had rediscovered funk. Notable tracks included 'Girls L.G.B.N.A.F., which the PMRC later discovered stood for 'Let's Get Butt Naked And Fuck'. Their reaction to this (arguably among the least offensive statements on Ice-T's records) was so overheated that the debate heavily informed his follow-up set. However, his crowning glory to date is OG (an acronym for Original Gangster that has passed into rap's lexicon) which ranks alongside the best work of Ice Cube, Public Enemy or NWA in terms of sustained intensity, yet managed to maintain a little more finesse than his previous work. In 1991, with appealing irony, he starred as a cop in the movie New Jack City. He had earlier contributed the title track to the LA gangster movie Colors. He also appeared with former NWA and solo artist Ice Cube in the Walter Hill movie Looters (renamed Trespassers due to its release at the same time as the LA riots), as well as Surviving The Gameand the cult comic hero movie, Tank Girl. His other soundtrack credits include Dick Tracy. Ice-T's hobbies include his own thrash metal outfit, Body Count, who released an album in 1992 and stirred up immeasurable controversy via one of its cuts, 'Cop Killer' (detailed under Body Count entry). Little wonder that he was targeted on right-wing assassination lists discovered by the police in 1993. His album from that year, Home Invasion, saw him take on the mantle of agent provocateur in the young white male's home, a theme reinforced in its cover and title - Ice-T was a threat in your neighbourhood, with another manifesto of spiteful intent ('I'm takin' your kids' brains, You ain't getting them back, I'm gonna fill 'em with hard drugs, big guns, bitches, hoes and death'). Then he went and spoiled all the good work by writing a book, the Ice-T Opinion, which was so full of dumb ideas that it largely discredited such achievements. On 22 March 1994 he introduced Channel 4's Without Walls, a documentary on the rise of the blaxploitation movies. His own recording career in the late 90s was side-tracked by his movie commitments, although he managed to find the time to record 1999's poorly received 7th Deadly Sin. His own life would make an excellent documentary subject, although, as he notes in Home Invasion's 'Ice Muthafuckin' T', 'Every fucking thing I write, Is going to be analysed by somebody white'. |
