The O.G.

I can still remember the first time I heard Ice-T’s voice through my Boombox in my room in 1990.

Time froze, everything went in slow motion, vertigo happened, just like in the movies.

My cousin brought a tape of the Colors soundtrack, put it into the family cassette player that my parents had bought for the living room (but had made its way to the kids room) pressed play and once that dark, menacing synth bass kicked in, I was hooked. Hip-Hop was everything i wanted to live, be, breathe and listen to.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LI8Zx_QvNVU

Up until then, I used to listen to Michael Jackson, Technotronic, Milli Vanilli and everything that was on the radio and sounded “cool” to me. Of course I had heard rap music before, but you cant compare Ice Ice Baby and Can’t Touch This to the Colors soundtrack (even though I went bananas everytime these 2 songs where on TV or the Radio).

I had that kind of cousin that was the coolest kid in town, that everyone feared, respected and wanted to be friends with, the kind that could get you out of trouble if an older bully wanted to beat your ass. Which means that everything he thought was dope, was actually DOPE.

Ice T in 1990 was one of the biggest names in Hip-Hop. He had dropped Rhyme Pays, Power, The Iceberg and was about to drop Original Gangster, star in New Jack City and about to unleash one of the greatest Rock/Thrash/Metal albums of all time with his band Body Count, called Cop Killer.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Djb3YbRMWGU

He was (and still is) smart, had the ability to paint pictures with his words, be one of the greatest storytellers in Rap music history, influencing a whole generation of rappers who would go down the same path of telling stories about the hood, the prison system, life on the streets as a hustler and the repercussions that came with all of the above. Never gloryfying the lifestyle of a gangster, he told you what would happen exactly to you if you didn’t follow his advice and leave it all behind.

The first concert i ever went to, was Body Count in Duesseldorf, 1993. Until then, I had bought everything Ice-T related on cd. Home Invasion was the dopest record out at the time, and Cop Killer was playing non-stop on my walkman (I had the edited version of course, my friend had the original pressing and made a tape for me. The Freedom of Speech/Foxy Lady remix is still one of my favorite Ice-T/Body Count songs of all time)

I can still vividly remember Ice-T coming on stage with a ski mask, while the band was playing “Body Count’s in the House“, introducing everyone and then taking off the mask and yelling “…and im Ice Muthafuckin T, Bitch!“. The whole night was crazy. They played almost all of the songs from Cop Killer, Born Dead and Last Breath from the upcoming album and even told us that the police told them that if they performed the song Cop Killer, everyone in the venue would be arrested (I didnt believe that, even though I was 13, there where thousands of people. Which police precinct in Duesseldorf would fit all of us?)

The security guards even let my father in, after he told them that he was waiting for me. He coudnt believe what he was watching, he came in when Ice-T made everyone scream “DEAD” and all of the lights would go on. That’s all he could talk about for a week.

I couldnt hear anything from my left ear for a week, but it was worth it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o4zs1PcrMvU

I never stopped being an Ice-T fan, I always bought every album he dropped and to this day i watch every interview he releases, cause he still teaches game like no one else. He has been there, came out of it alive and is here to tell you what not to do. He is 61 years old, still rocking stages with Body Count, playing in front of thousands, screaming his lungs out like its 1992.

He’s not your everyday type prankster, he’s Ice-T the Original Gangster.