Art of Rap featuring Ice-T

Before beginning his rap career in the early 1980s, Ice-T spent four years in the United States Army, after which he returned to Los Angeles and took up a life as a self-styled hustler. Crime paid for a time, allowing Ice-T to take impromptu trips to the Bahamas and collect over 350 pairs of sneakers, but soon his addiction to the high life began to fade. In an interview, Ice-T recalled his breaking point: "I had a friend who I looked up to, 'cause he made more money than me. And he said, 'Yo, Ice, you got a chance. Do that rap thing.' And that word 'chance' messed up my mind. And I just gave up hustling completely." Because every hip-hop artist needs a nom de guerre, "Ice-T" came into being with help from author Robert Maupin Beck III, whose pen name "Iceberg Slim" became Tracy Marrow's inspiration. After spending a few years honing his craft by creating music for videos and releasing various recordings, Ice-T signed with Sire Records in 1987. Later that year, he released Rhyme Pays, his debut album, which eventually went gold. His recording of the theme song for Dennis Hopper's gang-themed movie Colors (1987) also garnered the new artist plenty of attention. The movie explored life in the Los Angeles projects and marked the beginning of Ice-T's controversial depictions of South Central in his artistic work. When the black community pushed back against Colors' cultural critique, Ice-T said, "People should give Dennis Hopper credit—he deglamorized the situation. He just showed the street gangsters. He didn't show the kids wearing their diamonds and cruising in their Ferraris." Ice-T released two more albums in the late 1980s, confirming his status as one of West Coast rap's most promising stars. His album O.G. Original Gangster (1991) was later cited as one of the key factors in developing the genre of gangster rap. Mixing social commentary with inflammatory lyrics, the rapper pushed musical boundaries by recording a heavy metal track with the band Body Count.…