The film's nearest equivalent, Boyz N The Hood – which starred Ice Cube and also came out in 1991 – was the superior work on almost all levels, although it scored less highly on cheesy, violent thrills. Bluffing his way through the part without any formal acting training, our man pulled off a spectacular coup, wading into firefights while emitting a kind of bruised tenderness. While the clothes, hairstyles and music are wince-makingly dated, the plot and performances remain convincing – not least when it comes to Ice-T, who played the part of an undercover cop. Director Mario Van Peebles, a newbie to the film world, took the basic conceit – a hero from Greek tragedy, struck down by success and hubris – and dressed it in slick urban accoutrements and a contemporary hip hop soundtrack. has retained a large chunk of its sonic relevance. Of course the production sounds a touch thin all these years later, specifically because we're so accustomed to tarmac-weakening bass parts, but compared to (say) early albums by Public Enemy and NWA, O.G. The standout track from the album is probably still the single 'New Jack Hustler', in which Ice-T spits out a tale of the “capitalist nightmare” endured by a drug dealer, who is doomed to an early death (“There'll be another one after me”). Even if you discount the eye-opening fast-talking and probing lyrics, it's plain that a musically literate intellect was at work here, from the vintage soul grooves plundered in songs such as 'Mind Over Matter' and 'M.P.V.S' to the eerie riff nabbed from Black Sabbath's eponymous song for 'Midnight'. These came at the exact point at which gangsta rap (as pioneered by Ice-T and NWA) transitioned into G-Funk (largely the work of NWA alumnus Dr Dre), with the 1992 LA riots accompanying this subtle change of flavour. Original Gangster and New Jack City: two works that represent not only the critical pinnacle of his career, but also the audio and filmic end of an era. He admits himself that few, if any, of these come close to matching the two 1991 epics, O.G.
Looking back at the albums and movies that Ice-T has made since then, the first thing you notice is that there are a hell of a lot of them: seven of the former and over 50 of the latter, in fact.
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The authorities hated him, the media got in a froth about him, the kids loved him: Ice-T simply sat back, wrote a book called The Ice Opinion: Who Gives A Fuck?, presented TV shows, took film roles and counted his money. Many of these fans were white, middle-class and never likely to set foot in South Central, LA, the crime-ridden zone that inspired him – but they thought he sounded just great alongside Jane's Addiction at Lollapalooza.
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The previous year, Ice-T's acting role in the classic hood crime movie New Jack City had cemented him as an unlikely icon for Generation X youth.
This tasteless – but ultimately harmless – little ditty incensed Body Count's record label Warner, so much so that the late National Rifle Association poster boy (and Warner shareholder) Charlton Heston repudiated its violent message in public, whining about how dreadful and mean the song was and making a face that looked like he'd just licked a nettle. You may remember Body Count's 1992 song 'Cop Killer', which endorsed the offing of an unidentified plod with lines such as “I know your family's grieving – fuck 'em”.
Back in the early 90s, thanks to his albums as a solo artist and with his heavy metal side project Body Count, he was at loggerheads with powerful enemies: the Los Angeles police department, the giant Warner Brothers empire and the Tipper Gore-led PMRC among them. The American actor and rapper Ice-T (Tracy Marrow, as literally no-one calls him) has beaten a curious path since his establishment-baiting revolutionary days.
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