Body Count – Body Count (1992): Yell! Magazine’s Greatest Album Series

Body Count Review:

Ice-T’s side project that was named after his hit song “Body Count” off his album OG: Original Gangster, this band, which includes Ernie-C on guitar, D-Roe also on guitar, Mooseman on bass, and Beatmaster V on drums, was never taken very seriously by the critics and fans. All the members were high-schoolers together at Crenshaw in South Central L.A. The band was noticed on the 1991 Lollapalooza tour when they played the song “Body Count.” Their self-titled debut was released the next year and got mixed reviews.

People didn’t know how to take the band. Were they being serious, and if they were, then the music wasn’t anything great. The lyrics, which were, at points, nothing but a promotion of delinquent behavior, led critics to crucify the band in the press. So much so, that the song “Cop Killer” was removed from the album soon after its original release and Ice-T and Warner Brothers parted ways.

I like this album. I’m a sucker, I guess, for the over-the-top speed metal/rap that this album puts forth. Although it is way over-the-top, and some cringe from albums of that sort, I like it for that reason. If you take what Ice-T is saying seriously, then it is frightening what he is proposing on some of the songs. But if, like me, you realize they are not serious, but just trying to be as outrageous as possible, then the humor comes out and you enjoy the album.

With songs that speak of police doing nothing but eating donuts (“Smoked Pork”) about shooting police (“Cop Killer”), about not messing with Voodoo (“Voodoo”), about drug addiction (“The Winner Loses”), and matricide (“Momma’s Gotta Die Tonight”), you can see how some would strongly object to this album.

But if you take some of the more humorous elements, sick as they are, you can see a message through all the “muthafuckas” and other swearing. For example, the song “KKK Bitch,” which I laughed aloud when I first heard it, tells of Ice-T, a black man, who is clandestinely dating the daughter of the Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan and how it would really fuck with the wizard’s state of mind if his daughter brought home some of Ice-T’s offspring. The song “The Winner Loses” is an antidrug song. On “Momma’s Gotta Die Tonight” Ice-T states that racism, whether against blacks, whites, or others is wrong, however, killing his mother because she taught him this hatred is an overreaction. Another quite humorous song, “Evil Dick,” speaks of infidelity and all the problems that happen because of it.

With the speed of the music, the mix of hard rock and rap, the humor of the lyrics, the over-the-top atmosphere, and the underlying positive message on some of the songs, this album is one of my favourite Ice-T albums. I like it in the same way as Licensed to Ill by the Beastie Boys or Chocolate Starfish by Limp Bizkit, testosterone and comedy all wrapped up in one; quite enjoyable.