Before becoming of television and film star, Ice-T had already been considered one of the pioneers of the hip-hop genre that would be dubbed gangsta rap in the 1980s.
While the former New York gang member grew up on the East Coast, the burgeoning MC and dancer ended up being introduced to Los Angeles gang culture after his parents passed away and he moved out west to Los Angeles.
It was those experiences out on the street hustling, as he has often called his young ambition, that would help shape his vision as a rapper of a more harder hitting version of hip-hop in the mid to late 1980s, initially called reality rap, which ultimately got the gangster rap moniker.
After eight solo records, which began with Rhyme Pays (1987), Ice-T (born Tracy Lauren Marrow), 65, has shifted all of his musical artistry to his heavy metal band Body Count, which has dropped seven studio albums, starting with their self-titled debut in 1992 that included the controversial song Cop Killer.
When asked why he hadn’t made a solo album since 2006 during an interview with Variety, the Law & Order: Special Victims Unit star revealed he just doesn’t connect with the modern day rappers and hip-hop.
Not playing the game: Legendary rapper-turned actor Ice-T, 65, called modern day hip-hop and rapper ‘goofy’ and ‘soft’, while explaining why has hasn’t released a solo rap album since 2006 to Variety
‘The music got goofy to me. The kids started looking weird. It all turned into something I wasn’t comfortable with,’ he said of his aversion to making another solo rap record.
‘There was a point where I was selling tons of records, then it cooled off. I felt a certain way. Then I realized Public Enemy, Rakim, Big Daddy Kane, and Wu-Tang Clan weren’t selling records, either. There was a paradigm shift.’
He went on to confess: ‘These kids got softer, and soft is not something I’m able to give audiences. The first word in hip-hop is “hip” so how something stays hip for over 10 years is difficult.’
Wanting to take advantage of the opportunities that were being presented to him at the time, Ice-T got into the acting game at the height of his reign as a rapper.
‘I never wanted to act. I was ready to turn it down because they wanted me to play a cop, at the same time I’m putting out an album called “OG.” Are you kidding me? Play a cop? But my friends were like “Motherf***er, if you turn this down, you’re a real-life sucker.” So, I did it. I didn’t know I was going to be successful at it,’ he admitted.
After making his acting debut on the television series fame in 1983, the two-time Grammy award winner has since gone on to to star in over 70 shows, which includes his role as Sergeant Odafin ‘Fin’Tutuola in NBC’s Law and Order: Special Victims Unit — a role he has played since 2000.
He’s also starred in dozens of films over the years, such as the critically acclaimed action crime film New Jack City (1991), as well as Ricochet (1991), Surviving The Game (1994) and 3000 Miles To Graceland (2001).
‘Acting wasn’t something that I desired to do, but now I realized that it was something that I was supposed to do,’ he explained during the interview.
OG: Ice-T is considered one of the pioneers of hard-hitting reality rap, which ultimately was dubbed gangsta rap in the mid to late 1980s
Rocker: The rapper, who went on to front Body Count in 1992, has shifted all of his musical artistry to the metal band to this day; they are pictured after the release of their debut record in 1992, which included the controversial song Cop Killer
While his solo rap career has been dormant for 17 years and counting, Ice-T has continued on with Body Count, releasing four studio albums with the band during that same 17 year time frame.
The most recent release, Carnivore (2020), included the song Bum-Rush, which went on to win the Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance.
Among his other accolades: the actor, rapper and rocker was honored with a star on the on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, which is the 2,747th ever given out, on February 17, one day after celebrating his 65th birthday.
Acting game: Wanting to take advantage of ‘the opportunities that were being presented’ to him at the time, Ice-T got into the acting game at the height of his reign as a rapper; he has starred on NBC’s Law and Order: Special Victims Unit since 2000
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