Tracy Lauren Marrow was born on February 16, 1958, in Newark, New Jersey. He lost both parents young, his mother to a heart attack when he was in third grade, his father a few years later, and was raised by an aunt in South Los Angeles. He took his name from Iceberg Slim, the author of pimp novels he used to recite to his friends as a teenager.
From the clubs to a major label
Sire Records signed him in 1987, the year Rhyme Pays came out. Power (1988), The Iceberg/Freedom of Speech… Just Watch What You Say (1989) and O.G. Original Gangster (1991) followed. With tracks like 6 in the Mornin’ Ice-T is counted among the fathers of gangsta rap, and critics draw a direct line from there to Tupac and N.W.A. In 1990 he formed the metal band Body Count, whose song Cop Killer caused a national uproar in 1992. He also built an acting career, from New Jack City (1991) to Tank Girl and Johnny Mnemonic (both 1995).
Songs together
Ice-T appears with Tupac on two tracks:
- Last Wordz on Strictly 4 My N.I.G.G.A.Z. (1993), with Ice Cube;
- Gangsta Team on South Central Cartel’s ‘N Gatz We Truss (1994), with MC Eiht and Spice 1.
In 1995, while Tupac was in prison, Ice-T played the concierge in the Temptations video, set in a hotel full of Tupac’s friends (see Coolio).
“You Don’t Bring Me Flowers”
Their best-known moment together is on television. On May 4, 1996, Tupac and Ice-T were guests on Fox’s short-lived Saturday Night Special. Together they sang You Don’t Bring Me Flowers, the ballad known as a Barbra Streisand and Neil Diamond duet, complete with fake tears, and Tupac visibly struggling to keep a straight face. The clip resurfaced years later when Questlove shared it on Twitter, and it still gets passed around.
This is sometimes placed on NBC’s Saturday Night Live; it was in fact Saturday Night Special on Fox. There is also no source for the claim that Ice-T converted to Islam shortly after his debut. Wrong as well: his parents did not die in a car accident, and Born Dead (1994) is a Body Count album, not an Ice-T solo record.