History Music / IceT

* ItWillNeverCatchOn: Ice-T recorded a song about Nelson Mandela called "Prepared to Die" in 1991, containing the lines "The man is a hero/He needs a Nobel Prize / But that will never happen / So I'm gonna keep rappin'." Mandela actually did win the Nobel Peace Prize two years later.

After recording several "party" style records, Ice cut the track that made him famous: "6 In The Mornin'", and along with a cameo in ''Film/{{Breakin}}'', landed a deal with major label Creator/SireRecords. When label founder and president Seymour Stein heard his demo, he said, "He sounds like Music/BobDylan." Shortly after, he released his debut album ''Rhyme Pays'' in 1987 supported by DJ Evil E, DJ Aladdin and producer Afrika Islam, who helped create the mainly party-oriented sound. The record wound up being certified gold by the RIAA. That same year, he recorded the title theme song for Dennis Hopper's ''Film/{{Colors}}'', a film about inner-city life in Los Angeles. His next album Power was released in 1988, under his own label Rhyme Syndicate, and it was a more assured and impressive record, earning him strong reviews and his second gold record. Released in 1989, ''The Iceberg/Freedom of Speech... Just Watch What You Say'' established his popularity by matching excellent abrasive music with narrative and commentative lyrics.

%%* CoolOldGuy

%%** "I'm Your Pusher"

Upon returning to his old neigborhood, Ice found that the gang violence between Crips and Bloods had escalated, and many of his old high school friends were now either professional thieves or in jail. After several months of being kept on the outside, Ice was brought into the group, and he quickly found that his military career had inadvertently given him the tools to plan efficient, effective and non-violent crimes. His 'crew' subsequently went on a crime spree (mostly jewelry store robberies) that ran up and down the west coast, and in some cases even the Midwest. Ice also experimented with being a pimp, and dabbled in pushing cocaine before deciding he didn't have the temperament to be a drug dealer.

* ShroudedInMyth: He addresses a few in his autobiography. For example, his parents were '''''not''''' killed in a car crash, and in fact died of heart attacks four years apart from each other.

* AmbiguouslyBrown: During his childhood, Ice recalls that he was able to escape much of the racism that his white peers directed towards other black children, because they mistakenly thought he was white due to his lighter skin color.

* OlderThanTheyLook: Is 62 but looks to be in the range of late 30s to mid-40s.

* DarkerAndEdgier: His work was always dark, but the subject matter got darker which each subsequent album, in many cases Ice-T bragging about stabbing his enemies, and that the thought of stabbing them is something which can be followed by him eating food, as mentioned in "Pulse of the Rhyme Flow." His persona is very dark as well. Plus the mood of his music is outright dark and shows it. ''The Iceberg'' album is very dark, consisting of very dark samples (the intro combines Music/BlackSabbath's self-titled song with a sample of [[Music/DeadKennedys Jello Biafra]] imitating dystopian CannedOrdersOverLoudspeaker) and ominous synthesizers. One track had a sample that was lifted from the ''Franchise/{{Terminator}}'' movie (not the theme but the song that's played during the last chase sequence). "OG Original Gangster" and later albums are even darker and edgier than that. His lyrics also can be loving of police but in a very snarky and dark way, as shown in "The House" - "Do something, call a cop."

* {{Dominatrix}} -> YourCheatingHeart -> OhCrap: "The Girl Tried to Kill Me," where Ice goes to a dominatrix's home to have sex and her husband catches them.

* MachoLatino: although he's never stated he's Afro-Latino, Ice-T's music is very similar to Afro-Latino musicians. And he is part Creole, which is close to Dominican and Afro-Latino. There's a good chance he can be Afro-Nuyorican or Afro-Italian. His lyrics are more akin to Cypress Hill (an Afro-Latino group) than black groups. Not that he's ashamed of his black blood, but his persona is more similar to Afro-Latinos than blacks. The music and lyrics show it. His accent sounds Afro-Latino. Look up Christian bomba groups like Orquesta Querubin or Puchi Colon or the members of Cypress Hill (Sen Dog and B-Real) and you'll notice the similarities. His style of showing his bravado is very much Afro-Latino, moreso than black. There are times he doesn't even rap, meaning his lyrics don't rhyme (Afro-Latino musicians who do beats and trumpets just and are not singing and speaking express themselves in a very different way from rappers)

* MachoLatino: although he's never stated he's Afro-Latino, Ice-T's music is very similar to Afro-Latino musicians. And he is part Creole, which is close to Dominican and Afro-Latino. There's a good chance he can be Afro-Nuyorican or Afro-Italian. His lyrics are more akin to Cypress Hill than black groups. Not that he's ashamed of his black blood, but his persona is more similar to Afro-Latinos than blacks. The music and lyrics show it. His accent sounds Afro-Latino. Look up Christian bomba groups like Orquesta Querubin or Puchi Colon or the members of Cypress Hill (Sen Dog and B-Real) and you'll notice the similarities. His style of showing his bravado is very much Afro-Latino, moreso than black.

* MachoLatino: although he's never stated he's Afro-Latino, Ice-T's music is very similar to Afro-Latino musicians. And he is part Creole, which is close to Dominican and Afro-Latino. There's a good chance he can be Afro-Nuyorican or Afro-Italian. His lyrics are more akin to Cypress Hill than black groups. Not that he's ashamed of his black blood, but his persona is more similar to Afro-Latinos than blacks. The music and lyrics show it. His accent sounds Afro-Latino. Look up Christian bomba groups like Orquesta Querubin or Puchi Colon or the members of Cypress Hill (Sen Dog and B-Real) and you'll notice the similarities.

* MachoLatino: although he's never stated so, Ice-T's music is very similar to Afro-Latino musicians. And he is part Creole, which is close to Dominican and Afro-Latino. There's a good chance he can be Afro-Nuyorican or Afro-Italian. His lyrics are more akin to Cypress Hill than black groups. Not that he's ashamed of his black blood, but his persona is more similar to Afro-Latinos than blacks. The music and lyrics show it. His accent sounds Afro-Latino. Look up Christian bomba groups like Orquesta Querubin or Puchi Colon or the members of Cypress Hill (Sen Dog and B-Real) and you'll notice the similarities.

* MachoLatino: although he's never stated so, Ice-T's music is very similar to Afro-Latino musicians. And he is part Creole, which is close to Dominican and Afro-Latino. There's a good chance he can be Afro-Nuyorican or Afro-Italian. His lyrics are more akin to Cypress Hill than black groups. Not that he's ashamed of his black blood, but his persona is more similar to Afro-Latinos than blacks. The music and lyrics show it.

* DarkerAndEdgier: His work was always dark, but the subject matter got darker which each subsequent album, in many cases Ice-T bragging about stabbing people, and that the thought of stabbing them is something which can be followed by him eating food. His persona is very dark as well. Plus the mood of his music is outright dark and shows it. ''The Iceberg'' album is very dark, consisting of very dark samples (the intro combines Music/BlackSabbath's self-titled song with a sample of [[Music/DeadKennedys Jello Biafra]] imitating dystopian CannedOrdersOverLoudspeaker) and ominous synthesizers. One track had a sample that was lifted from the ''Franchise/{{Terminator}}'' movie (not the theme but the song that's played during the last chase sequence). "OG Original Gangster" and later albums are even darker and edgier than that.

* DarkerAndEdgier: ''The Iceberg'' album is his darkest album to date even by today's standards, and probably one of the first dark and edgy rap albums, consisting of very dark samples (the intro combines Music/BlackSabbath's self-titled song with a sample of [[Music/DeadKennedys Jello Biafra]] imitating dystopian CannedOrdersOverLoudspeaker) and ominous synthesizers. One track had a sample that was lifted from the ''Franchise/{{Terminator}}'' movie (not the theme but the song that's played during the last chase sequence).

* ActionGirl: The girl in "Big Gun".
* {{Adorkable}}: Sometimes. On meeting his wife, he has mentioned that one line he used in response to her only liking nice boys was "You should date me. Because if you add an n to Ice, you get nice."

** Both in real life and as the character Danny Up/Danny Cort from ''Series/NewYorkUndercover'', who was a tech-savvy nerd gangster.

* OlderThanTheyLook: Is 60 but doesn't look much older than his late 30's.