Original Videostar

Ice-T: wearing questionable studded-leather vests a decade before 'Pac.
Not only was Ice-T the first west coast gangsta rapper, he was the first rapper period to release one of his album as a VHS tape. Warner Brothers had tested the market in 1989 with the release of The Iceberg Video, but rather than it being the full Ice-T album of the same title on VHS, it was a 30 minute interview interspersed with live footage, the 1988 videos for Colors, High Rollers and I'm Your Pusher, plus new videos for the album's 2 singles Lethal Weapon and You Played Yourself.

Presumably The Iceberg Video was a success, because Warner Brothers greenlit a budget for Ice's next album O.G. Original Gangster in 1991 to come out on VHS with video clips for the entire 24 song tracklist, perhaps to cash-in on Ice's then-burgeoning acting career. Most of the videos were fairly standard clips of Ice & his mates posing in various locales around South Central wearing L.A Raiders gear and Ice's own SYNDICATE clothing line, so it was the videos for the album's skits and interludes where shit got most entertaining...

Ice-T - First Impression
(From O.G. Original Gangster VHS tape; 1991)



A video clip which worked as a brief moment of calm between the album's intro Home Of The Bodybag and its first song Ziplock in much the same way as the skit did on the LP? Absolutely. A video clip which confirmed the rumour it was Darlene putting on a British accent and pretending to be a stuffy Guardian journalist seduced by the Power of Ice's music? Afraid not.

Ice-T - The House
(From O.G. Original Gangster VHS tape; 1991)


Wherein Ice's VHS-album really was like a movie. Oh the unfortunate irony of a Zulu Nation member like Ice recording an interlude about the sensitive issue of child abuse given the recent accusations towards alleged serial-pederast Afrika Bambaataa.

Ice-T ft. Evil E - What About Sex?
(From O.G. Original Gangster VHS tape; 1991)


AKA the skit where Ice-T and his DJ invented #Banter precisely 20 years before Richard Keys and Andy Grey.

Ice-T - Fried Chicken
(From O.G. Original Gangster VHS tape; 1991)


Ice was a trailblazer on so many levels video wise - first he pioneered the act of having wifey all up in their videos dancing, then he went and pioneered the art of rappers having a Cheeky Nando's all up in their videos eating.

Ice-T - Street Killer
(From O.G. Original Gangster VHS tape; 1991)


Question: what do you get if you cross a gumbo of samples by 4 of America's great black artists with a comedy okie dokes which reveals itself to be a pertinent critique of America's bent coppers? Answer: the G.O.A.T Ice-T interlude Street Killer as brought to life here.