Music Early career (1980–1981) After leaving the Army, Marrow wanted to stay away from gang life and violence and instead make a name for himself as a DJ. As a tribute to Iceberg Slim, Marrow adopted the stage name Ice-T. While performing as a DJ at parties, he received more attention for his rapping, which led Ice-T to pursue a career as a rapper. However, he soon returned to a life of crime and robbed jewelry stores with his high school friends. Ice-T's raps later described how he and his friends pretended to be customers to gain access before smashing the display glass with small sledgehammers. Ice-T's friends Al P. and
Sean E. Sean went to prison. Al P. was caught in 1982 and sent to prison for robbing a high-end jewelry store in
Laguna Niguel for $2.5 million in jewelry. Sean was arrested for possession of not only cannabis, which Sean sold, but also material stolen by Ice-T. Sean took the blame and served two years in prison. Ice-T stated that he owed a debt of gratitude to Sean because his prison time allowed him to pursue a career as a rapper. Concurrently, he wound up in a car accident and was hospitalized as a
John Doe because he did not carry any form of identification due to his criminal activities. After being discharged from the hospital, he decided to abandon the criminal lifestyle and pursue a professional career rapping. Two weeks after being released from the hospital, he won an open mic competition judged by
Kurtis Blow at the Carolina West nightclub. According to Michael Khalfani (known as Disco Daddy), Ice-T won the first week of the competition under the name of DJ Tracy, but got beaten by Disco Daddy the second week, which led to the name change of Ice-T (Khalfani got signed to Rappers Rapp Records).
Professional career (1982–present) In 1982, Ice-T met producer Willie Strong from Saturn Records. In 1983, Strong recorded Ice-T's first single, "Cold Wind Madness", also known as "The Coldest Rap", an
electro hip-hop record that became an
underground success, becoming popular even though radio stations did not play it due to the song's explicit lyrics about taking a woman to the Snooty Fox motel in Los Angeles. That same year, Ice-T meets to set up one of the first hip-hop clubs in Los Angeles, The Radio, where he also meets DJ
Chris "The Glove" Taylor. He released "Body Rock", another electro hip-hop single that found popularity in clubs. In 1984, Ice-T was a featured rapper on "Reckless", a single by DJ Chris "The Glove" Taylor and (co-producer) David Storrs that gained widespread popularity as a featured track via the motion picture ''
Breakin' and its soundtrack album. This song was almost immediately followed up with a sequel entitled "Reckless Rivalry (Combat)", which was featured in the Breakin
sequel, Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo, however, it was never featured on the soundtrack album and was only released as a single on Taxidermi Records. In 1985, he appeared in the film Rappin''' by performing two verses of his track "Killers", which was his first political rap. Ice later recorded the songs "Ya Don't Quit" and "Dog'n the Wax (Ya Don't Quit-Part II)" with Unknown DJ, who provided a
Run-DMC–like sound for the songs. Ice-T received further inspiration as an artist from
Schoolly D's
gangsta rap single "
P.S.K. What Does It Mean?", which he heard in a club. Ice-T enjoyed the single's sound and delivery, as well as its vague references to gang life, although the real life gang, Park Side Killers, was not named in the song. Ice-T decided to adopt Schoolly D's style, and wrote the lyrics to his first gangsta rap song, "
6 in the Mornin'", in his Hollywood apartment, and created a minimal beat with a
Roland TR-808. He compared the sound of the song, which was recorded as a
B-side on the single "Dog'n The Wax", to that of the
Beastie Boys. The A-side caused some controversy for the lyrics, which were unusually violent by the standards of hip-hop at the time. The B-side was more successful and was later released as an extended rap on his first album. He intentionally did not represent any particular gang, and wore a mixture of red and blue clothing and shoes to avoid antagonizing gang-affiliated listeners, who debated his true affiliation. 's 1988 "Bring the Noise" concert tour, which was supported by then up-and-coming acts
Eazy-E and
EPMD. Ice-T finally landed a deal with a major label
Sire Records. When label founder and president
Seymour Stein heard his demo, he said Ice-T sounded like
Bob Dylan. 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
Recording Industry Association of America. That same year, he recorded
the title theme song for
Dennis Hopper's
Colors, a film about inner-city gang 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. In 1991, he released his album
O.G. Original Gangster. On
OG, he introduced his heavy metal band
Body Count in a track of the same name. Ice-T toured with Body Count on the first annual
Lollapalooza concert tour in 1991, gaining him appeal among middle-class teenagers and fans of alternative music genres. The album
Body Count was released in March 1992. Controversy later surrounded Body Count over its song "
Cop Killer". The rock song was intended to speak from the viewpoint of a criminal getting revenge on racist, brutal cops. Ice-T's rock song infuriated government officials, the
National Rifle Association of America, and various police advocacy groups. Consequently, Time Warner Music refused to release Ice-T's upcoming album
Home Invasion because of the controversy surrounding "Cop Killer". Ice-T suggested that the furor over the song was an overreaction, telling journalist
Chuck Philips "...they've done movies about nurse killers and teacher killers and student killers.
Arnold Schwarzenegger blew away dozens of cops as the
Terminator. But I don't hear anybody complaining about that". In the same interview, Ice-T suggested to Philips that the misunderstanding of
Cop Killer, the misclassification of it as a rap song (not a rock song), and the attempts to censor it had racial overtones: "The
Supreme Court says it's OK for a white man to
burn a cross in public. But nobody wants a black man to write a record about a cop killer". The album peaked at No. 9 on
Billboard magazine's
Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums and at No. 14 on the
Billboard 200, spawning several singles including "
Gotta Lotta Love", "
I Ain't New Ta This" and "99 Problems" – which would later inspire
Jay-Z to record
a version with new lyrics in 2003. In 2003 he released the single "
Beat of Life" with
Sandra Nasić,
Trigga tha Gambler and
DJ Tomekk and placed in the German charts. Ice-T had also collaborated with certain other heavy metal bands during this time period. For the film
Judgment Night, he did a duet with
Slayer on the track "Disorder". In 1995, Ice-T made a guest performance on
Forbidden by
Black Sabbath. His first rap album since 1999,
Gangsta Rap, was released on October 31, 2006. The album's cover, which "shows [Ice-T] lying on his back in bed with his ravishing wife's ample posterior in full view and one of her legs coyly draped over his private parts", was considered to be too suggestive for most retailers, many of which were reluctant to stock the album. Some reviews of the album were unenthusiastic, as many had hoped for a return to the political raps of Ice-T's most successful albums. Ice-T appears in the film
Gift. One of the last scenes includes Ice-T and Body Count playing with
Jane's Addiction in a version of the
Sly and the Family Stone song "Don't Call Me Nigger, Whitey". Besides fronting his own band and rap projects, Ice-T has also collaborated with other
hard rock and metal bands, such as
Icepick,
Motörhead,
Megadeth,
Pro-Pain, and
Six Feet Under. He has also covered songs by
hardcore punk bands such as
the Exploited,
Jello Biafra, and
Black Flag. Ice-T made an appearance at
Insane Clown Posse's
Gathering of the Juggalos (2008 edition). Ice-T was also a judge for the 7th annual
Independent Music Awards to support independent artists. His 2012 film
Something from Nothing: The Art of Rap features a who's who of underground and mainstream rappers. In November 2011, Ice-T announced via Twitter that he was in the process of collecting beats for his next LP which was expected sometime during 2012, but , the album has not been released. A new Body Count album,
Bloodlust, was released in 2017. After the release of the album, responding to an interview question asking if he's "done with rap", he answered "I don't know" and noted that he's "really leaning more toward
EDM right now". Body Count received their second Grammy nomination and later won the award at the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards in 2021 for "Best Metal Performance" with their song "Bum-Rush" from the album
Carnivore. In July 2019, Ice-T released his first solo hip-hop track in 10 years, titled "Feds in My Rearview". The track is the first in a trilogy, with the second track, "Too Old for the Dumb Shit", described as a prequel to "Feds in My Rearview", and released in September 2019. Ice-T was also featured on the 2020 hip-hop posse cut "The Slayers Club" alongside
R.A. the Rugged Man,
Brand Nubian and others. Ice-T performed at New Year's Eve Toast & Roast 2021,
Fox broadcast.
Acting Television and film Ice-T was prominently featured as both a rapper and a breakdancer in ''Breakin' 'n' Enterin''' (1983), a documentary about the early
West Coast hip-hop scene. Ice-T's first film appearances were in the motion pictures, ''
Breakin' (1984), and its sequel, Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo (1984). These films were released before Ice-T released his first LP, although he appears on the soundtrack to Breakin''. He has since stated he considers the films and his own performance in them to be "wack". In 1991, he embarked on a serious acting career, portraying police detective Scotty Appleton in
Mario Van Peebles' action thriller
New Jack City, gang leader Odessa (alongside
Denzel Washington and
John Lithgow) in
Ricochet (1991), gang leader King James in
Trespass (1992), followed by a notable lead role performance in
Surviving the Game (1994), in addition to many supporting roles, such as J-Bone in
Johnny Mnemonic (1995), and the marsupial mutant T-Saint in
Tank Girl (1995). He was also interviewed in the Brent Owens documentary ''
Pimps Up, Ho's Down'', in which he claims to have had an extensive pimping background before getting into rap. He is quoted as saying "once you max something out, it ain't no fun no more. I couldn't really get no farther." He goes on to explain his pimping experience gave him the ability to get into new businesses. "I can't act, I really can't act, I ain't no rapper, it's all game. I'm just working these niggas." Later he raps at the
Players Ball. In 1993, Ice-T, along with other rappers and the three
Yo! MTV Raps hosts
Ed Lover,
Doctor Dré, and
Fab 5 Freddy starred in the comedy ''
Who's the Man?'', directed by
Ted Demme. In the film, he is a drug dealer who gets really frustrated when someone calls him by his real name, "Chauncey", rather than his street name, "Nighttrain". shooting
Law & Order: SVU on
Broome Street in SoHo, New York City, 2008 In 1995, Ice-T had a recurring role as vengeful drug dealer Danny Cort on the television series
New York Undercover, co-created by
Dick Wolf. His work on the series earned him the 1996
NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series. In 1997, he co-created the short-lived series
Players, produced by Wolf. This was followed by a role as pimp Seymour "Kingston" Stockton in
Exiled: A Law & Order Movie (1998). These collaborations led Wolf to add Ice-T to the cast of
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. Since 2000, he has portrayed
Odafin "Fin" Tutuola, a former undercover narcotics officer transferred to the Special Victims Unit. In 2002, the NAACP awarded Ice-T with a second Image Award, again for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series, for his work on
Law & Order: SVU. Around 1995, Ice-T co-presented a UK-produced magazine television series on black culture,
Baadasss TV. In 1997, Ice-T had a
pay-per-view special titled ''Ice-T's Extreme Babes'' which appeared on Action PPV, formerly owned by
BET Networks. In 1999, Ice-T starred in the
HBO film
Stealth Fighter as a
United States Naval Aviator who fakes his own death, steals an
F-117 stealth fighter, and threatens to destroy United States
military bases. He also acted in the film
Sonic Impact, released the same year. Ice-T made an appearance on the comedy television series ''
Chappelle's Show'' as himself presenting the award for "Player Hater of the Year" at the "Player-Haters Ball", a parody of his own appearance at the Players Ball. He was dubbed the "Original Player Hater".
Beyond Tough, a 2002 documentary series, aired on
Discovery Channel about the world's most dangerous and intense professions, such as alligator wrestlers and Indy 500 pit crews, was hosted by Ice-T. In 2007, Ice-T appeared as a celebrity guest star on the MTV sketch comedy show
Short Circuitz. Also in late 2007, he appeared in the short-music film
Hands of Hatred, which can be found online. for the premiere of
Burning Down the House Ice-T was interviewed for the
Cannibal Corpse retrospective documentary
Centuries of Torment, as well as appearing in
Chris Rock's 2009 documentary
Good Hair, in which he reminisced about going to school in hair curlers. A 2016 advertisement for
GEICO features Ice-T behind a lemonade stand run by children. When people ask if it is Ice-T, the actor yells back, "No, it's lemonade!" In 2020, Ice-T competed on
The Masked Singer spin-off
The Masked Dancer where he portrayed "Disco Ball" and was the first to be eliminated.
Voice acting Ice-T's voice acting roles include Madd Dogg in the video game
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, as well as Agent Cain in ''
Sanity: Aiken's Artifact. He also appears as himself in Def Jam: Fight for NY and UFC: Tapout fighting video games. He also voiced the character Aaron Griffin in the video game Gears of War 3. Marrow also made an appearance in the 2019 video game Borderlands 3, in which he voices the character of BALEX. On August 22, 2023, it was revealed at Gamescom 2023 that he would be voicing the contractor, Mac in Payday 3''.
Other ventures Podcasting In 2013, Ice-T began co-hosting the
Ice-T: Final Level podcast with his longtime friend, Mick Benzo (known as Zulu Beatz on Sirius XM). The duo interviewed many guests from the early days of
hip-hop. The last episode was released in 2017.
Reality television On October 20, 2006, ''
Ice-T's Rap School aired and was a reality television show on VH1. It was a spin-off of the British reality show Gene Simmons'
Rock School, which also aired on VH1. In Rap School'', rapper/actor Ice-T teaches eight teens from
York Preparatory School in New York called the "York Prep Crew" ("Y.P. Crew" for short). Each week, Ice-T gives them assignments and they compete for an imitation gold chain with a microphone on it. On the season finale on November 17, 2006, the group performed as an opening act for
Public Enemy. On June 12, 2011,
E! reality show
Ice Loves Coco debuted. The show is mostly about his relationship with his wife,
Nicole "Coco" Austin. ==In popular media==