Ice-T

Tracy Lauren Marrow (born February 16, 1958), better known by his stage name ***Ice-T***, is an American musician, rapper, songwriter, actor, record executive, record producer, and author. He began his career as an underground rapper in the 1980s and was signed to Sire Records in 1987, when he released his debut album Rhyme Pays; the first hip-hop album to carry an explicit content sticker. The following year, he founded the record label Rhyme $yndicate Records (named after his collective of fellow hip-hop artists called the "Rhyme $yndicate") and released another album, Power.

He co-founded the heavy metal band Body Count, which he introduced on his 1991 rap album O.G.: Original Gangster, on the track titled "Body Count." The band released their self-titled debut album in 1992. Ice-T encountered controversy over his track "Cop Killer," which glamorised killing police officers. Ice-T asked to be released from his contract with Warner Bros. Records, and his next solo album, Home Invasion, was released later in February 1993 through Priority Records. Body Count's next album was released in 1994, and Ice-T released two more albums in the late-1990s. Since 2000, he has portrayed NYPD Detective/Sergeant Odafin Tutuola on the NBC police drama Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.

### Career Highlights

#### Music

***OG: Original Gangster*** (1991)

* **Released** May 1, 1991

* #38, Silver (UK); #37, Gold (US)
* **Listen** to *OG: Original Gangster*

***Home Invasion*** (1993)

* **Released** March 22, 1993
* #15, Gold (UK); #14, Gold (US)
* **Listen** to *Home Invasion*

**"That's How I'm Livin'"** (1993)

* #21 (UK)
* **Watch** "That's How I'm Livin'"

***Born Dead*** (1994) with Body Count

* **Released** September 6, 1994
* #74 (US)
* **Listen** to *Born Dead*

**"Born Dead"** (1994) with Body Count

* #28 (UK); #52 (US)
* **Watch** "Born Dead"

**"Gotta Lotta Love"** (1994)

* #24 (UK)
* **Watch** "Gotta Lotta Love"

***Ice-T*** ***VI: Return of the Real*** (1996)

* **Released** June 4, 1996
* #26 (UK); #89 (US)
* Listen to VI: Return of the Real

**"I Must Stand"** (1996)

* #23 (UK)
* **Watch** "I Must Stand"

**"The Lane"** (1996)

* #18 (UK)
* **Listen** to "The Lane"

#### Cinema

**New Jack City** (1991)

* **Released** August 30, 1991 (UK); March 8, 1991 (US)

Ice -T stars as Scotty Appleton, a New York police detective who vows to bring drug kingpin Nino Brown (Wesley Snipes) down as retribution since Nino was clearly responsible for his mother's death.

**Ricochet** (1991)

* **Released** April 24, 1992 (UK); October 4, 1991 (US)

Ice-T stars as criminal Odessa, who helps rookie cop and childhood friend Nicholas Styles (Denzel Washington) who is being hunted by vengeful hitman Earl Talbot Blake (John Lithgow).

**Trespass** (1992)

* **Released** May 7, 1993 (UK); December 25, 1992 (US)

Ice-T stars as gang leader King James, who wants to silence two Arkansas firemen, played by Bill Paxton and William Sadler, who have witnessed him commit murder.

**Surviving the Game** (1994)

* **Released** April 15, 1994 (US)

Ice-T stars as Jack Mason, a homeless man suffering from depression after the death of his wife and child who is offered a job as a hunting guide by a business man (Rutger Hauer) who leads the hunting team.