In 1992 I was studying dentistry in Athens University. Having long hair, I stood out there somehow. That wouldn't be the case in other departments, but Dental School was different: most students dressed and acted as the future petit-bourgeois they were; many were already preparing to take over their parents' dental practices. So I naturally would hang around with the other longhair in my year. We found out we had a lot in common: left-wing political ideology, similar tastes in literature (including a lot of SF), and music. Mine were much wider, all kinds of rock music and beyond that, he was more into metal. Like me, he bought a lot of records, both vinyl and CD, and I'd often go to his place, we'd listen to music, and I would tape anything I liked. One day he asked me whether I'd heard of Ice T. I said Sure, he's a famous rapper. Not your kind of thing, how come you ask? He said You have to listen to this record he made, it's un-fucking-believable! So, after the lesson, we went back to his place and listened to this LP, playing air drums/guitar, rapping along with the naughty lyrics trying to stifle our giggles - not easy when one's listening to "Evil Dick" and "KKK Bitch". I taped it, of course, and listened to the cassette from time to time that year. I had decided to buy the LP, too, some time - on vinyl of course, because at the time it was cheaper than CD, almost by half. I should have snatched it immediately, but how was I to know that it would soon get pulled from the shops, and replaced with a censored version? I kept looking for the original "copkiller" album, but no such luck; the few times I came across it, it cost way more than I was ready to pay, certainly over €100. One reasonably-priced CD I bought from Ebay turned out to be the censored version inside the original's case: normally, they're easy to tell apart, since the tattoo on the gangsta's chest reads "cop killer" whereas on the new version it reads "body count". But the CD itself is identical, so someone mixed them up. Disappointed, I tried to return it, but the seller said they'd refund me but didn't want the CD back. I still have it, as you see in the photo here. Recently, I came across a shiny new vinyl copy for €20. Sure, I knew it was a bootleg, but what about it? It still looks and sounds like the original, at 1/10th of the price.
Today, rap metal is an established genre - and a very commercial one, at that. But there was a time when such a combination was unthinkable. The two genres, and their audiences above all, were worlds apart. During the late 60's and 70's, black and white music had begun conversing, with artists like Jimi Hendrix and Sly Stone bridging the gap. Disco, created mostly by black artists, was the music of choice across the race spectrum. But rap was a different beast altogether. It looked at the hard reality of urban ghettos face on, and unapologetically. Gangsta's, pimps, and ho's on the one side, wizards, warriors, and booze on the other. Musically, one used samples of pre-existing recorded music, the other relied on instrumental prowess. Rampant sexism was the only common thread joining rap and metal. Was the creation of Bodycount a conscious effort by Ice T to sell more records by tapping into a different audience, or was he seeking a different form of expression? I think it was a little bit of the former, but mostly the latter. With this band, he was aiming at white teenagers, selling them his cartoonish gangsta image. At the same time, I believe he tried to open their eyes to social injustices, in his own, politically incorrect, manner. One should also keep in mind that Bodycount weren't a made-up band formed to support Ice T in his rock dalliances; they were a bunch of homies, all of whom graduated from the same South Central high school. Ernie C (lead guitar), D-Roc (rhythm guitar), Mooseman (bass), and Beatmaster V (drums) just happened to be black kids who loved rock and metal music, it's only natural that they'd get together and jam at some point with their famous rapper friend. Ice T wrote the lyrics and rapped, while the others wrote and performed the music. The result didn't fit in any of the already known subgenres, and still doesn't sound much like modern rap metal: there are the familiar choppy riffs, but not as much funk as one would expect. Thrash and hardcore punk seem to be the main influences, especially in the fastest tracks e.g. "Bowels of the Devil", "KKK Bitch", "Voodoo", and -above all- the album's best and most controversial track "Cop Killer". Lead single "There Goes the Neighborhood"'s Sabbath-y riff is the closest it gets to conventional Heavy Metal, while there's even a power ballad with an anti-drug message called "The Winner Loses", and a mellow instrumental called "C Note" which is a better testament to Ernie C's guitar talent than the shredding he sometimes does in the faster tracks. "Body Count's in the House" and "Body Count Anthem" employ some great thrash metal riffs and feature countless repeats of the band's name - on the former, Ice T also introduces us to the rest of the group. The third(!) eponymous track "Body Count" is different: starting off with an acoustic intro, it evolves into hard rock dynamite replete with call-and-response vocals and drum and guitar solos. Most importantly, it is an address to white America, trying to open its eyes to the hopelessness, anger, and violence brewing in urban ghettos.
"Cop Killer" goes further in that direction, fantasizing about killing a cop. Album lyrics in general alternate between the angry/political and the humorous; sometimes -as in "Momma's Gotta Die Tonight"- the humor is very dark, others -as in "Evil Dick"- just naughty and puerile. Overall, Ice T is doing his best to shock and enrage Middle America by inhabiting the cartoonish gangsta "nigger" boogeyman character they've learned to hate and fear. It worked only too well: "Cop Killer" especially created a huge backlash from politicians, police unions of course, and members of the public. Record company executives started getting death threats, etc. Faced with this reactionary avalanche, Ice T agreed to pull all the records from the shops and replace them with a new version, the one still available: the tattoo on the cover is different, and "Cop Killer" is replaced by another track called "Freedom Of Speech", a rap piece featuring a Hendrix sample and a guest vocal by Dead Kennedys' Jello Biafra. Cue the rarity of the original LP, mentioned in my introduction. But, really, what people should have done was listen. "Cop Killer" wasn't provocative in the same way that "KKK Bitch" was. It was an earnest expression of the anger brewing in the ghetto: the last years had seen an escalation of police oppression; while the Crips and Bloods gang war continued unencumbered, the LAPD conducted themselves like an occupation army, dispensing violence and humiliation, and harassing citizens based on their appearance or skin colour. Shortly before the recording of this album, there was the Rodney King incident; an everyday event of police brutality, only this one was captured on camera and endlessly replayed on TV, igniting passions further. When Ice T sings "Cop Killer - Better You Than Me" and "But Tonight We Get Even" he voices the feelings of ghetto youth. Had people taken the song as a warning, the L.A. Riots which cost 63 lives and $1 billion in damages, could have been avoided. Instead, the result was nationwide indignation for the "troublemaker rap star". White metalheads did listen though, and what could have been a one-off experiment sparked a parallel career for Ice T, and paved the way for other bands to combine rap and metal. Subsequent Bodycount albums all had their moments, but none came close to their debut. For its innovation and influence, I couldn't possibly give it less than 5*. The fact that I always have fun listening to it is, of course, an added bonus. Bodycount still perform at festivals, although Ice-T and Ernie C are the only original members still standing; D-Roc and Beatmaster V succumbed to cancer, while Mooseman was killed in a driveby shooting, one more innocent bystander senselessly mowed down in the ghetto. Just like in a Bodycount song. As they say in this album "This weekend, 17 youths killed in gang homicides. And now, sports".
***** for Body Count's in the House, Body Count, Cop Killer
**** for Bowels of the Devil, KKK Bitch, The Winner Loses, There Goes the Neighborhood, Evil Dick
*** for C Note, Voodoo, Body Count Anthem, Momma's Gotta Die Tonight
spoken word= Smoked Pork, Now Sports, A Statistic, The Real Problem, Oprah, Out in the Parking Lot
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