Estatísticas
Biografia
Born in Newark, New Jersey, U.S., Tracy Marrow moved to Los Angeles when he was 12, where he attempted to immerse himself in a non-existent rap culture. The name Ice-T derives from Iceberg Slim, a novelist and poet pimp whom Marrow used to recite to his friends. Ice-T’s first live performance came singing/dancing in the group The Precious Few of Crenshaw High School, after which Ice-T left school and joined the U.S. Army. After which, Inspired by the Sugar Hill Gang’s freshly released “Rapper’s Delight”, Ice-T would attempt to rap over the instrumentals, although struggled to make his delivery fit with the beat.
Having acquired stereo and DJ equipment, Ice-T began honing his rapping and beat-making skills, which resulted in signing with Sire Records in 1987. Ice-T’s debut “Rhyme Pays” was released the same year featuring production from DJ Aladdin and Afrika Islam. Unlike the beats in “Rapper’s Delight”, “Rhyme Pays” features rolling, sparse beats with which the rapper deliver’s his articulate, party-orientated style. The rapper subsequently contributed the track “Colors” to the Dennis Hopper film of the same name, which unlike Ice-T’s debut, properly showcased the pioneering rapper’s lyrical and musical talent. After launching his own label Rhyme Syndicate, the rapper released his sophomore album “Power”, earning strong reviews from the musical press.
Reaching new heights, Ice-T’s third, “The Iceberg/Freedom of Speech…Just Watch What You Say” arrived in 1989. The album cemented the rapper as a founder of gangster rap, with apt political and social commentary and once again earned rave reviews. In 1991 Ice-T appeared in the film “New Jack City”, and contributed the song “New Jack Hustler”, which became synonymous with the rapper’s subsequent album “O.G.: Original Gangster”. The album also marked the formation of the Ice-T’s heavy metal group Body Count, which expanded the rapper’s appeal to middle class and alternative music fans. The resulting album “Body Count” however earned fierce criticism for the track “Cop Killer”, which documents a protagonist killing a police officer.
The rapper subsequently released the album “Home Invasion”, however due to the controversy of “Cop Killer”, Ice-T was dropped from Time Warner Records and the album was released on Priority Records. The album turned out to be both a commercial and critical disappointment, and the rapper’s audience main audience was no longer the black, hip-hop youth intended. The full-length rap album “Return of the Real” arrived in 1996, followed by “7th Deadly Sin” in 1999.
Avaliações ao vivo
Grammy Award winning artiste, Ice T is like a swiss army knife. He has so many tricks up his sleeve that over the last three decades has seen such a fruitful career. He really can do it all. Lets take a brief look at his accolades. He is a hugely successful hip-hop artist, of course that is the soul reason that we are here this evening to witness him perform some of his biggest hits. He has embarked on a serious acting career; with some of his biggest roles bring in Johnny Mnemonic, and Tank Girl. He has done voice acting, most notably in the video game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. He has even had a crack at Reality television.
Back to tonight’s performances, he walks out on stage with intent of giving a huge performance complete with live band. It’s gonna be big! He launches into the crossover hit, “O.G Original Gangster” which has pretty much every word sang along to throughout this performance. “I Ain’t New Ta This” is another hit that wows the audience. Ice T has a huge amount of stage presence in this performance, just carrying the audience throughout the evening in the palm of his hand proving his worth in the musical world today.
Tracy Lauren Marrow better known by his stage name Ice-T is one of the original West Coast rappers and prides himself on being an original to the scene. Over a career that now spans thirty years he has founded a record label and appears regularly on television, even with all of these commitments he still manages to find time to head out onto the road for his loyal fanbase.
Now nearing his 60s, you cannot take away any of Marrow's natural swagger as he saunters out onto stage and laps up the applause like a total pro. He has not recorded any new studio material in quite some time yet this does not really seem to bother the fans as they are more than happy to jump along to neo-classics such as 'Make It Funky' and 'Colors'. Its pretty impressive that Tracy can still wrap at such speeds despite his increasing age yet some would say that once you have it, it never really goes away. He thanks the crowd and conducts one more mass jump-along to 'New Jack Hustler' before disappearing offstage.