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Have an Ice-T Day
The rapper-turned-fake detective performs tonight at the Knitting Factory
Ice-T (Photo: Jason Persse, via Flickr)
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This is the kind of press release you love to read:
Recently arrested and making national news within minutes on July 20, 2010, Ice-T was pulled over for not wearing a seat belt. He later twitted, “Some punk b—h rookie cop made the arrest of his bulls–t career today arresting the Notorious Ice T for no seatbelt,” he also wrote, “right after that is when I called him a punk B***H.”
Now that’s how you get people to pay attention. Ice-T is probably best known now for playing Det. Odafin “Fin” Tutuola on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (and to a lesser extent, his role as Mack Daddy in Leprechaun in the Hood), but the former-Tracy Marrow first hit it big with his rap career. He signed to the prestigious Sire Records in 1987 and his first two albums, Rhyme Pays and Power, are now considered classics of the genre.
In 1991, Ice-T formed Body Count, a gangster rap and heavy metal group, with Ernie C and other guys he knew from high school. The group released four albums, including their self-titled debut, which includes the infamous “Cop Killer.” The song was so controversial (“I’m ’bout to dust some shots off/I’m ’bout to dust some cops off”) that then-President George H.W. Bush denounced Sire for releasing something obscene. Ice-T’s response to reporters: “I ain’t never killed no cop. I felt like it a lot of times. But I never did it. If you believe that I’m a cop killer, you believe David Bowie is an astronaut.”
So, yeah, controversy! Ice-T hasn’t released anything as shocking since (I don’t think NBC would approve), but he’s still making solid music, like 2006′s Gangsta Rap, although with more tempered song titles (“Everything is Going to Be Alright,” “Dear God, Can You Hear Me?”). The most controversial thing about the album is its cover, with Ice-T and wife, Coco, in bed…nude.
Tonight at the Knitting Factory, in a show presented by Sean Haley, Ice-T will perform classics from throughout his career, including, with a hint of irony, “Cop Killer.” The show begins 9:30 p.m. and $20-$22 tickets can be purchased here.