It didn't grow up in South Central. Unless that's South Central Somerset. Midway between Taunton and Yeovil in a nice little market town. There isn't much crime 'going down' there although some of neighbouring Chard's pubs could be a little rough. Not quite as tough as The Crips or The Bloods, the handy sorts were known as 'Chard ards' and best avoided. Crime syndicates were few and far between though your never more than a few miles (as the crow flies) from a gypo who'd sell you an 'eighth'. Apparently.
Imagine how exciting Ice T's fifth album HOME INVASION was. First time I heard it I was crusin' back from a shift at the Little Chef in my friends poo-brown Astra. Chris could drive. And was into Hip Hop. He played Home Invasion really loud and with the window down. And I thought, "cool".
I can honestly say this is still the rudest album I have ever heard. I don't mean rude as in rude boy, I mean rude as in bad language. Tracy Marrow a.k.a. Ice T displays here has the most impressive mastery of Anglo-Saxon you will ever hear on any record. As he clearly states in his opening 'Warning' if you are offending by such words (which he repeats at length) then you should "take the tape out now. This is not a pop album". However if this is the case then you should also suck his "muddy funking popsicle" (I've paraphrased that).
It is an amazing rap album. Angry, antagonistic and controversial. Ice T's first release after the controversial Cop Killer track (recorded with his metal band Body Count) and due for release shortly after the Rodney King riots in LA. The release was pushed back six months to early 1993.
Due to the controversial album cover artwork Warner/Sire said that they would not release it. The image is an illustration of a white child engrossed in Black culture (Malcolm X books, Public Enemy music cassettes, an Africa shaped pendant around his neck) but surrounded by scenes of death, violence and rape. Ice T said he'd release it with a black cover and rename it The Black Album. However he realised that if he stayed with Warners his output would always be scrutinised so he left the label and released the album (and artwork) as he intended on his own label. Incidentally Home Invasion includes the track '99 Problems' which Jay-Z rips the chorus from, for his own track of the same name, which appears on his very own LP called The Black Album. Coincidence? Who knows.
More than just another violent gangster rap album, Home Invasion, is extremely political. He confronts censorship, racism - particularly reflecting on the troubles of '92 - and explores the violent lives of the young men of LA. There is also blatant misogyny, drug cartels and acts of unwarranted violence and murder. There's also several graphic sex raps. You can see why to white conservative America Ice T was Public Enemy Number 1. Crackpot gun toting actor Charlton Heston even campaigned Warners to drop him. Ice repaid him with the lyrics "turn up the mike, dog, so I can get off / find me Charlton Heston and I might cut his head off".
When on the title track Ice raps that he would break into houses, shoot mum and dad and "steal the f***ing kids" you have to assume that a large proportion of America took him literally.
Of course you could argue that Ice is simply holding up a mirror up to the world he came from, offering his words of wisdom as someone who was once aligned with The Crips gang. Probably this is correct. But being truthful as a teenager cruisin' in a poo-brown Astra with my arm out the window and the sun-shining. I just thought it sounded cool.
As an "adult" I realise I should know better but I must admit still feel a little giddy with excitement at the opening gunshots. More than any other rap album since, it still makes a chap from the West Country feel a little badass. And if you can't understand that, well suck my muddy funking popsicle!
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