Long before there was Rage Against the Machine to give us the fusion of rap and rock, there was Ice-T and his group Bodycount to fuse the equally subjugated genres of rap and hardcore punk.
The other day we were talking about rappers and how they're political. A lot of the rappers that we mentioned were praised for their articulation within the form (Tupac, Common, Public Enemy), which seemed to be indirectly suggesting that those rappers who are more intellectually advanced have increased credibility and importance within the public sphere. With that discussion, we mentioned the devaluation of gangsta rap. And that kind of sounded like a slightly less exclusive version of the Westernists' philosophy regarding the hierarchy of genres. With that said, I found an incredibly less-articulate, yet equally eloquent and subversive political spectacle. This may be offensive and easy to disagree with, and I was planning on defending this clip, but Ice-T was nice enough to do an interview about his motivations for writing this song that explain exactly what I would've said to defend his point with this song. So please click the link below the video and lyrics after you digest all that.
Ice-T interview on Cop Killer
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