Body Count

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Body Count

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For me Ice-T is one of the best rappers ever and I've spent long hours listening to his hardcore gangster rap. Kind of odd for a middle-aged white guy but what can I say? His in your face, pro-freedom of speech attitude is one that I hold myself. He is one of the founding fathers of gangster rap and one of its most innovative lyricists. The heavy metal band Body Count allows Ice-T to really roar with energy and creative expression. I've seen Body Count live 4 times. With the release of their first two albums they played shows at Hammer Jacks in Baltimore, MD and a small venue called the 9:30 club in Washington, DC. A friend and I made both shows each time. Ice-T and Body Count put on a tremendous performance.

Thank goodness I got this album when it first hit the record store shelves. After I bought it and listened to it the first time and heard Cop Killers at the end, I knew it was going to stir up a ton of controversy. And boy, oh boy, did it ever do so. It caused so much controversy that Ice-T split with his long time record label, Warner Brothers (owned by Time Warner, now AOL-Time Warner). And eventually the CD with Cop Killer was pulled off the shelf. Luckily, I have a copy with the song Cop Killer on it and it is one CD that I never, ever loan to friends.

In 1992 when Cop Killers came out, the Rodney King incident and LA Riots were still fresh in people's mind and the Los Angeles Police Department was under heavy scrutiny, at least by the media, for a along history or racism and accusations of institutionalized police brutality. The song was a reaction to this reality.

But let's get to the music. Body Count's first album was a very solid album and quite well done. While I think there are other bands with more musical talent, Ernie C. is definitely an outstanding guitarist and Ice-T is super as lead singer for a heavy metal band. The lyrics are clever and the beat is hard driving. Just want you want in a metal album.

The songs Cop Killer, Body Count, Bowels of the Devil, and There Goes the Neighborhood are the best tracks.

KKK B****, a real favorite among the feminist crown (wink, wink) is very funny.

While Body Count gets 4 stars if you include Cop Killers, all the songs are entertaining and well done.

Body Count *

Bowels of the Devil *

There Goes the Neighborhood *

Cop Killers *

KKK B**** is almost a star.

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Ratings: CDs are rated simply by how many good songs are on the album. Great songs get two stars, and good songs get one star. Songs that get no stars are those that I might like but not enough to give it a star or ones I find boring or actively dislike. CDs are not penalized for songs that I don't like because they are easy enough to skip over. There is no maximum number of stars a CD can get, but of course the more stars it gets, the better the CD.

As with all reviews, these are my subjective opinions on the album.

Cop killer belongs on this record for more reasons than one being that it was nine years ago when it was taken of the record. In those nine years the entire music industry has changed rappers like eminem can say far worse things on a record also ICE-T and Body Count have a freedom of speech and expression that was taken away from because the police and other political parties wanted to have one more issue during the election. These groups took away a right that Body Count and ICE-T had and that is wrong. they also are taking away the music fans right.