Ice the T

Tracy Marrow (born February 16, 1958), better known as Ice T, is an American rapper.

He was born in Newark, New Jersey and started out with other West Coast rap pioneers such as Kid Frost and Egyptian Lover with Electro (music)|Electro recordings. Later on, he changed his style and was the first rapper from the west that got accepted by the East Coast. "6 N The Morning" is sometimes seen as the track that triggered off the whole gangster rap movement. It was produced by Unknown DJ, who produced electro funk tracks before and went on to produce Compton's Most Wanted. "Six N The Morning" was inspired by Schoolly D's "PSK" and became itself the inspiration for Eazy E and NWA's "Boyz N The Hood". Ice T went on to work with 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, Original Gangster, 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 and made a song called "Cop Killer" in 1992, eventually causing 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. His 7th Deadly Sin (1999), one of the first records to be distributed via mp3 before appearing in 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 rap|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. More recently, Ice T teamed up with east coast rappers Smoothe Da Hustler and Trigger The Gambler, establishing a new group called SMG. A DVD was followed by a CD called "Repossession" in 2004.

Ice-T is also a successful actor. This IMDb page details his acting engagements. He debuted as a rapper in the films Breakin' and Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo in 1984, only two years after his first 12" (The Coldest Rap, 1982) appeared. In 1991, he embarked onto a serious acting career, playing a police detective in Mario Van Peebles' film "New Jack City". Many films followed. Ice T did a notable lead role performance in Surviving the Game (as opposed to his many supporting roles), he also appeared in films such as "R'Xmas" by Abel Ferrara and "Tank Girl". He also wrote a song for the soundtrack of the latter. As for more current/recent acting engagements, Ice-T (ironically) plays a police officer on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. Another TV series that features Ice T is "Players".

Discography

• 1987: Rhyme Pays
• 1988: Power (Ice-T album)|Power
• 1989: The Iceberg/Freedom of Speech...Just Watch What You Say
• 1991: O.G. Original Gangster
• 1993: Home Invasion (album)|Home Invasion
• 1996: VI - Return of the Real
• 1999: The Seventh Deadly Sin
• 2006: Gangsta Rap (album)|Gangsta Rap

Filmography

• 1984: Breakin'
• 1984: Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo
• 1984: Be Somebody... or Be Somebody's Fool!
• 1985: Rappin (Uncredited)
• 1991: New Jack City
• 1991: Ricochet (film)|Ricochet
• 1992: Why Colors?
• 1992: Trespass (film)|Trespass
• 1993: Who's the Man?
• 1994: Surviving the Game
• 1995: Tank Girl (film)|Tank Girl
• 1995: Johnny Mnemonic (film)|Johnny Mnemonic
• 1996: Frankenpenis
• 1997: Mean Guns
• 1997: The Deli
• 1997: Below Utopia
• 1997: Space Ghost Coast to Coast
• 1998: Crazy Six
• 1998: Exiled: A Law & Order Movie|Exiled
• 1999: Sonic Impact
• 1999: Frenzo Smooth
• 1999: The Wrecking Crew (1999 film)|The Wrecking Crew
• 1999: The Heist (2001 film)|The Heist
• 1999: Judgment Day (film)|Judgement Day
• 1999: Urban Menace
• 1999: Stealth Fighter
• 1999: Final Voyage
• 1999: Jacob Two Two Meets the Hooded Fang
• 1999: Corrupt
• 2000: Guardian
• 2000: Sanity, Aiken's Artifact
• 2000: Gangland
• 2000: Leprechaun in the Hood
• 2000: The Alternate
• 2000: The Disciples
• 2001: Stranded
• 2001: Kept
• 2001: Tara (2001 film)|Tara
• 2001: Crime Partners 2000
• 2001: 3000 Miles to Graceland
• 2001: Point Doom
• 2001: Deadly Rhapsody
• 2001: R, Xmas
• 2001: Ticker (2001 film)|Ticker
• 2001: Out Kold
• 2001: Ablaze
• 2001: Air Rage
• 2002: On the Edge (film)|On the Edge
• 2004: Up In Harlem
• 2004: Lexie
• 2004: Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas|San Andreas (video game) as Madd Dogg.