Description
Well America, you've gone and done it now - you've awakened a sleeping giant. This isn't your parents' Ice-T, the mild-mannered star of television's Law And Order: Special Victims Unit, who takes his charm to affable new heights while selling lemonade alongside precocious kids in a current Geico commercial. No, this is BODY COUNT, the gangster-metal collective that made music fearsome to mainstream America, their renegade track "Cop Killer" sending politicians, parents and law enforcement officials into a proverbial tailspin when it was released unto the world a quarter-century ago.
That's not to say Ice-T and BODY COUNT have been silent over the past 25 years, but as Ice is quick to point out, you can't start a movement if people aren't willing to move."Music happens in climates," the BODY COUNT frontman says when asked about his expectations for the band's new opus, the aptly titled BLOODLUST, a razor-sharp collection of social right hooks and body blows that paint a picture of an America in utter and complete shambles. "Groups like Rage Against The Machine and Korn were born when the world was in turmoil, then music went into this delusional period where hip-hop became about nothing more than poppin' bottles. Now we have impending doom again, racism is at an all-time high and it's our season again. This is the optimal time for a BODY COUNT record - as an artist, you can be as pissed off as you want, but if the audience is dormant and care more about their chai lattes, well."Ice breaks into laughter before he can finish the statement. Nothing against $6 coffee drinks that pack more sugar and syrup than dark roasted caffeine, but our man is onto something. This isn't about the elephant in the room or the donkeys sulking in the corner, it's about a culture turned upside down and a people too distracted by fluff and filler to care about making a difference in their world."The '60s was real music, and BODY COUNT was born into that - I'm going to tell you how I feel about shit, that's who I am and who I will always be.
