Ice-T

Still going strong on his fourth LP, the Iceman serves up more ghetto tales fuelled by dramatic production and his trademark monotone flow. Released in 1991, it sports several clutch singles, including the title track and "New Jack Hustler." Also features the debut of his hardcore band Body Count.

These two albums are shocking not simply for their brutal language and violent imagery but
because of the real-life circumstances they describe. Slapping a parental-guidance
warning on O.G. Original Gangster or the New Jack City soundtrack compilation is like
sticking a Band-Aid on a gunshot wound. "In my brain, I got a capitalist migraine," Ice-T raps
on "New Jack Hustler." Articulating the thought processes of a teenage drug dea... More >

Learning and diversifying, remembering where he comes from and sticking to what he knows, Ice-T wins big as the old school shakes out. He won't desert the hards because a hard he remains; his violence is pervasive and graphic because he knows brutalization from the inside. But he's nothing if not a moralist, and so the new jack drunk dies in his Benz, the cops break down the g*ngb*nger's door, his gays are left to live their own lives, and his prematurely ejaculated sex jam is a dis on the horny fool who slavers for it. Since most of what I know about the hard audience comes from rap records, I can't guarantee he'll get away with it. But I can guarantee that this one has something to teach everyone who can stand to listen to it and almost everyone who can't. (Grade - A)