When Ice-T first decided to meld Heavy Metal and Punk riffs with his Rap it arrived with minimal fanfare or overall interest as at the time the two styles very rarely mixed nor did people hold both as interests in the same sitting. You either liked Rap or you liked Metal and the train only met previously when Anthrax goofed around with "I'm The Man" and Faith No More used some rap essence in their hit "Epic". One of the Body Count tracks was "Cop Killer" and if certain politicians and leaders never turned their attention to the song then many feel that Body Count would have become a failed experiment, die a quiet death and have Ice turn back to his rapping and acting efforts. The resulting buzz and fervor about this track however ended up making the original release an impossible find and collector's item. It sold so much that the record company had to re-release a version without the controversial track. That was then, and this is now where we find a number of Body Count releases surfacing to those who might find interest in them still. Two DVD's featuring concert appearances have been released (on Escapi Music and Eagle Vision) and now this new CD which comes care of Escapi Music as well.
To be brutally honest I think there was little point in revisiting this group for Ice-T. The time of the Rap & Metal mix seems to be thankfully over with Hard Core mixing it up giving the fans Grind Core, and Power Metal holding strong as the primary dominant form in the genre. Back when this was launched the group had a limited fan base and I feel most have by now moved on to the next happening thing – when you considered that the new release finds much of the same formula used on the earlier albums I am hard pressed to find this something people have been waiting for. There isn't any semblance of the shocking material of the debut (such as KKK Bitch & Evil Dick) and nothing that instills political fervor (like Cop Killer) anywhere on this album. On top of this the consistent proclamations of "Body Count Mutha F**ker" in many tracks just comes across as dated by today's standards. After listening to the entire record I can safely say that no tracks stood out for me at all. Readers should be aware that most of the original Body Count has died either from illness or gang violence and this album features a lot of new members joining Ice-T and Ernie C.
Perhaps he did this in tribute to his fallen comrades but all in all this is an album for Ice-T fans who enjoy all aspects of his work and that's about it.
Track Listing
- Invincible Gangsta
- The End Game
- You Don't Know Me (Feel My Pain)
- The Passion Of Christ
- In My Head
- D Rocs (R.I.P.)
- Murder 4 Hire
- Down In The Bayou
- Dirty Bombs
- lies
- Relationships
- Mr. C's Theme
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