Tuesday, 7 April 2009

Cold as Ice

Ras Kass can kiss my arse. I break wind sulphuriously in the direction of his pisspoorly produced debut album and the Diamond D remix of the title track because there's only one Soul On Ice which really matters.

Back when Ghostface rhymed over the entirity of La La Means I Love You by The Delfonics on Holla you had dudes spunkin' themselves and claiming a rapper rhyming over a full song was the reinvention of the wheel. Holla was a great tune and all but it was nothing than Ice T didn't do back in 1988 when he instructed Afrika Islam to let his copy of Harlem Buck Dance Strut by Les McCann play and then got his Lightnin' Rod on over it.

Ice-T - Soul On Ice



But then most people barely even remember Ice-T as a rapper these days, do they? It's a tragedy that Ice's '85 - '91 prime (Why do people always forget Killers? Isn't that the track where Ice found his niche and, thus, the real genesis of West coast gangsta rap?) is almost forgotten by the average rap fan nowadays because O.G is every bit as good as, say, Death Certificate and the image of Darlene in her swimsuit on the double sided cover of Power is seared onto the consiousness of every early 30 something male who clumsily had a tug over it as a teenager :





Much like the image of the Fat Lace spoof of Power is seared onto the consiousness of every ageing rap nerd :



As far as Power goes, beyond Soul On Ice, the classic singles like High Rollers, I'm Your Pusher and the infamous sex-jam Girls L.T.G.B.N.A.F (remember when it featured in the Christian Slater teen-angst 'n' pirate radio flick Pump Up The Volume?), i've always been a mark for Drama and it's the cold, sinister synth squiggles on Ice tracks like that, Squeeze The Trigger and Colors which were clearly the blueprint for everything from Season Of Da Siccness by Brotha Lynch Hung to old Three 6 Mafia production to pretty much any regional gang$ta rap underpinned by eerie keyboard beats you care to mention.

Ice T - Drama

8 comments:

  1. if you don't rate ice t up there with the best of them then you shouldnt listen to hip hop

    as far as early ice t tunes go, the coldest rap is dope too

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  2. yes! I am also a fiend for Drama... best Ice T track.

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  3. Yeah for some reason Ice-T is barely mentioned these days - whilst some also-rans get hella love.

    Was weird I just talked about 'Squeeze...' and'Colors' too as that new Eddie Projex song reminded me of them - http://www.southernhospitality.co.uk/blog/?p=1623

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  4. I guess i should've added Hell Hath No Fury to the list of heavily Squeeze The Trigger/Colors/Drama influenced rap.

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  5. Power is easily my fave Ice-T album. Still gets played at least once every few weeks when drunk. Iceberg has way too much filler and OG is a bit cheesy.

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  6. I used to love Ice T so much - 'Drama' is incredible. And if Ice T gave us at least one worthwhile thing, it's me wearing my ex-girlfriend's tiny swimsuit.

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  7. The first side of Iceberg is pretty great, though.

    I really wish the proper LP version of High Rollers had come out on 12".

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  8. hahah I just noticed:

    Labels: Ice T, Wanking over Darlene

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