Ice T (
1959, Newark
?,
New Jersey,
United States) is one of the most important rappers. He started out with other west coast rap pioneers such as
Kid Frost and
Egyptian Lover with
electro funk recordings. Later on, he changed his style and was the first rapper from the west that got accepted by the east coast. His early producers include the [Unknown DJ]
? and especially
Afrika Islam, the man behind the beats on 1987s Rhyme Pays, 1988s Power and 1989s The Iceberg/Freedom
? of Speech... Just watch what you say. As the title of this third album suggests, Ice T was from the start not only a gangster rapper - he was one of the driving forces behind the new style - but also a political rapper. Seymour Stein called him "the
Bob Dylan of rap", and this may be to the point. On "Freedom of Speech" Ice T attacked Tipper Gore for introducing the Parental Advisory sticker. In 1991, Ice's fourth album, OG, came out; including raps about child abuse and drunk driving as well as the theme song from the movie [New Jack City]
? by [Mario van Peebles]
?, the movie that re-launched Ice's career as an actor. Ice also got to be the lead singer/shouter of his metal band [Body Count]
?. This eventually lead Warner Brothers to drop Ice. Virgin Records released his next album Home Invasion (1993), an album with many political raps as well as featuring a new female rapper named Grip
? and Ice's DJ [Evil E]
? as a rapper. On VI - Return of the Real, Ice returned to his gangster rap roots. 7th Deadly Sin (1999), one of the first records to be distributed via
mp3 before via record stores, continued in this vein. In both cases, the music was updated while not breaking any new ground. In the year 2000, Ice teamed up with East Coast pioneer
Kool Keith from the
Ultramagnetic MCs to form the
Analog Brothers - a very successful (at least artistically) experiment. The same year also brought Ice-T's Greatest Hits: The Evidence.
Discography:
- Rhyme Pays(1987)
- Power (1988)
- The Iceberg/Freedom? of speech...just watch what you say (1989)
- OG Original Gangster (1991)
- Home Invasion (1993)
- VI: Return of the real (1996)
- The seventh deadly sin (1999)
- Greatest hits: The evidence (2000)