Tuesday 22 November 2011

Martorial elegance # 54: the Bristow hotel

Ice-T - I'm Your Pusher
(From Power; 1988)


Junkie: "Yo, whassup, man? I need to get high, man, I need to get hold of some big time dope, man, you know where I can get a ki'?"

Ice-T: "I know where you can get an LP!"

Junkie : "LP, man? Have you went crazy, man? I'm talkin' 'bout some dope, man, I need to get high right now, man, why you don't you hook me up with a 5-0?"

Ice-T: "I can hook you up with a 12 inch!"


A classic Gangsta-Rap single that's of major historical importance for 3 reasons: originating the Rap game/crack game analogy, the aforementioned early AYO!-able moment on wax, and Ice's incredible outfit in the video during said exchange; the absolute apex of all menswear? The men from Del Martorialist, we say Yes! :



When I'm a trillionaire I'll be hiring Hiroki Nakamura to replicate me this get-up using a special red dye that's derived from the blood of the 200,000 people who bought J-Cole's album. But such an outfit begs a couple of pertinent questions: how does one own an ensemble as amazing as that and then not just wear duplications of it for the rest of one's life, and did former British Darts Goliath Eric Bristow ever step to Ice and accuse him of swaggerjacking his whole steez? Fall back, Eric - fuck around with Tracy and get Jocky Wilsoned out' the box again, fam.

9 comments:

brad said...

is the bloke in the headband an actor? he looks familiar.

done said...

My favorite entry in the canon/use of Bounce, Rock, Skate, Roll.

Kelvin Mack10zie said...

Not sure, Bradley, but he does he familiar.

scjoha said...

Ha, yeah, Ice had a fly shirt on there.
The junkie: http://www.wallkrushcrew.nl/?cat=3&subcat=9
Could that be DJ Evil E? Not sure.
The flat top dude from the video - is that BDK?
Ice-T. Rarely mentioned on blogs, seldomly acknowledged as the pioneer he is. Everybody tells me that his first important song, 6 In the Morning, is derivative of Schoolly D, and a lot of his style and ideas copied from other rappers. But why wasn't he called out for biting back then, in those times when that was supposedly considered a deadly sin?
Whether original or not, Ice-T was fucking great. O.G. Original Gangster was the first rap album I listened to, and really loved, when I was 12 years old. (Well, along with As Nasty As They Wanna Be and Apocalyse 91... The Enemy Strikes Black - I still love the intro track, Nighttrain, Can't Truss It, ...Arizona, and Shut Em Down (OG) off that. Original Gangster is an untouchable classic, though, and most of as Nasty still listenable. Even Get Loose Now, a song that actually should be corny, without the signature dirty rapps - but those sampled drums in combination with Mixx's 808 are killer. Would play that in a club today. - Sorry for tangent. I'm taken back to a better time by watching that video and thinking about ny first listening experiences in hip hop). Body Count was the first rock I listened to (along with Living Color. Well, today the only rock Im listening to is Hendrix. Nothing else comes close.)
I'm quite sure that all that music would sound like coming from Mars (no Lil Wayne) to todays' young hip hop fans. Fuck, I feel old.

Kelvin Mack10zie said...

I look at it that Ice was really the first conscious Gangsta-Rapper, because his street records always had some sort of message and he was a master of delivering them without being heavy-handed. I mean, shit, as a total outsider New Jack Hustler seems to me to be as definitive a comment on Black America as, say, The Ghetto or A Bird In The Hand. Oh well, at least Pimp C recognised him as a pioneer.

But, yeah, O.G is a total masterpiece, and Drama, Soul On Ice and High Rollers from Power are some of my fav' Rap songs ever.

Anonymous said...

Come on, Power is arguably of greater historical importance than O.G. It is the bridge between the LA-electro rap of the mid 80s (with the drum maschine beats and synth baselines) and the sample based production of the late 80s. Even though it´s produced by a new yorker - Afrika Islam.

I always thought that the Freestyle Fellowship talk about that album (and maybe 7A3) in "sunshine men":
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nY3Woskun-M

Also "I´m your Pusher" is pretty much the dopest song ever!

Jasper

Anonymous said...

Classic Eric B http://youtu.be/OnBTjVm3bik

Kelvin Mack10zie said...

The O.G Eric B.

Power is definitely more historically important, Jesper, but O.G is the better album, IMO.

Mr Bozack said...

Helllll nah - Power is the full on doo-doo. His first four albums are downright classics tbf.