Ice-T: Biography

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• MC Eiht
• N.W.A.
• Ice Cube
• King Sun
• Mack 10
• Eazy-E
• Compton's Most Wanted

• Run-D.M.C.
• Black Flag

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• Body Count
• Iceberg Slim
• Analog Brothers
• Full Force
• Jello Biafra
• Himalayaz

Birth Name:

Tracy Marrow

Born:

Feb 16, 1958 in Newark, NJ

Genres:

Classical Music, Rap & Hip-Hop Music, Gangsta and Hardcore Rap Music, West Coast Rap Music

Decades Active:

1980's|1990's|2000's

Artistic Quality

High

Cultural Impact

High

Popularity

High

Ratings Guide

IceT (born Tracy Morrow) has proven to be one of hiphop's most articulate and intelligent stars, as well as one of its most frustrating. At his best, the rapper has written some of the best portraits of ghetto life and gangsters, as well as some of the best social commentary hiphop has produced. Just as often, he can slip into sexism and gratuitous violence, and even then his rhymes are clever and biting. IceT's best recordings have always been made in conjunction with strong collaborators, whether it's the Bomb Squad or Jello Biafra. With his music, IceT has made a conscious effort to win the vast audience of white male adolescents, as his frequent excursions with his heavy metal band Body Count show. All the while, he has withstood a constant barrage of criticism and controversy to become a respected figure not only in the music press, but the mainstream media as well.

Although he was one of the leading figures of Californian hiphop in the '80s, IceT was born in Newark, NJ. When he was a child, he moved from his native Newark to California after his parents died in an auto accident. While he was in high school, he became obsessed with rap while he went to Crenshaw High School in South Central Los Angeles. IceT took his name from Iceberg Slim, a pimp who wrote novels and poetry. IceT used to memorize lines of Iceberg Slim's poetry, reciting them for friends and classmates. After he left high school, he recorded several undistinguished 12" singles in the early '80s. He also appeared in the lowbudget hiphop films Rappin', Breakin', and Breakin' II: Electric Boogaloo as he was trying to establish a career.

IceT finally landed a majorlabel record deal with Sire Records in 1987, releasing his debut album, Rhyme Pays. On the record, he is supported by DJ Aladdin and producer Afrika Islam, who helped create the rolling, spare beats and samples that provided a backdrop for the rapper's charismatic rhymes, which were mainly partyoriented; the record wound up going gold. That same year, he recorded the theme song for Dennis Hopper's Colors, a film about innercity life in Los Angeles. The song also called "Colors" was stronger, both lyrically and musically, with more incisive lyrics, than anything he had previously released. IceT formed his own record label, Rhyme Syndicate (which was distributed through Sire/Warner) in 1988, and released Power. Power was a more assured and impressive record, earning him strong reviews and his second gold record. Released in 1989, The Iceberg/Freedom of Speech...Just Watch What You Say established him as a true hiphop superstar by matching excellent abrasive music with fierce, intelligent narratives, and political commentaries, especially about hiphop censorship.

Two years later, IceT began an acting career, starring in the updated blaxploitation film New Jack City; he also recorded "New Jack Hustler" for the film. "New Jack Hustler" became one of the centerpieces of 1991's O.G.: Original Gangster, which became his most successful album to date. O.G. also featured a metal track called "Body Count" recorded with IceT's band of the same name. IceT took the band out on tour that summer, as he performed on the first Lollapalooza tour. The tour setup increased his appeal with both alternative music fans and middleclass teenagers. The following year, the rapper decided to released an entire album with the band, also called Body Count.

Body Count proved to be a major turning point in IceT's career. On the basis of the track "Cop Killer" where he sang from the pointofview of a police murderer the record ignited a national controversy; it was protested by the NRA and police activist groups. Time Warner Records initially supported IceT, yet they refused to release his new rap album, Home Invasion, on the basis of the record cover. IceT and the label parted ways by the end of the year. Home Invasion was released on Priority Records in the spring of 1993 to lukewarm reviews and sales. Somewhere along the way, IceT had begun to lose most of his original hiphop audience; now he appealed primarily to suburban white teens. In 1994, he wrote a book and released the second Body Count album, Born Dead, which failed to stir up the same controversy as the first record indeed, it failed to gain much attention of any sort. Nevertheless, Body Count was successful in clubs and IceT continued to tour with the band.

In the summer of 1996, IceT released his first rap album since 1993, Return of the Real. The album was greeted by mixed reviews and it failed to live up to commercial expectations. 7th Deadly Sin followed in 1999. IceT then returned to acting, taking a role on NBC's Law Order : Special Victims Unit playing, ironically, a police officer.

- Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide