Customer Reviews

Body Count

5 star:		(30)
4 star:		(20)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Cop killer belongs on this record for more reasons than one being that it was nine years ago when it was taken of the record. In those nine years the entire music industry has changed rappers like eminem can say far worse things on a record also ICE-T and Body Count have a freedom of speech and expression that was taken away from because the police and other political parties wanted to have one more issue during the election. These groups took away a right that Body Count and ICE-T had and that is wrong. they also are taking away the music fans right.

For me Ice-T is one of the best rappers ever and I've spent long hours listening to his hardcore gangster rap. Kind of odd for a middle-aged white guy but what can I say? His in your face, pro-freedom of speech attitude is one that I hold myself. He is one of the founding fathers of gangster rap and one of its most innovative lyricists. The heavy metal band Body Count allows Ice-T to really roar with energy and creative expression. I've seen Body Count live 4 times. With the release of their first two albums they played shows at Hammer Jacks in Baltimore, MD and a small venue called the 9:30 club in Washington, DC. A friend and I made both shows each time. Ice-T and Body Count put on a tremendous performance.

Thank goodness I got this album when it first hit the record store shelves. After I bought it and listened to it the first time and heard Cop Killers at the end, I knew it was going to stir up a ton of controversy. And boy, oh boy, did it ever do so. It caused so much controversy that Ice-T split with his long time record label, Warner Brothers (owned by Time Warner, now AOL-Time Warner). And eventually the CD with Cop Killer was pulled off the shelf. Luckily, I have a copy with the song Cop Killer on it and it is one CD that I never, ever loan to friends.

In 1992 when Cop Killers came out, the Rodney King incident and LA Riots were still fresh in people's mind and the Los Angeles Police Department was under heavy scrutiny, at least by the media, for a along history or racism and accusations of institutionalized police brutality. The song was a reaction to this reality.

But let's get to the music. Body Count's first album was a very solid album and quite well done. While I think there are other bands with more musical talent, Ernie C. is definitely an outstanding guitarist and Ice-T is super as lead singer for a heavy metal band. The lyrics are clever and the beat is hard driving. Just want you want in a metal album.

The songs Cop Killer, Body Count, Bowels of the Devil, and There Goes the Neighborhood are the best tracks.

KKK B****, a real favorite among the feminist crown (wink, wink) is very funny.


While Body Count gets 4 stars if you include Cop Killers, all the songs are entertaining and well done.

Body Count *
Bowels of the Devil *
There Goes the Neighborhood *
Cop Killers *

KKK B**** is almost a star.

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Ratings: CDs are rated simply by how many good songs are on the album. Great songs get two stars, and good songs get one star. Songs that get no stars are those that I might like but not enough to give it a star or ones I find boring or actively dislike. CDs are not penalized for songs that I don't like because they are easy enough to skip over. There is no maximum number of stars a CD can get, but of course the more stars it gets, the better the CD.

As with all reviews, these are my subjective opinions on the album.

You've got to give "Ice-T" credit. After he became the O.G. of the rap game, he went and put together a rap-metal band. I wont say this album started any kind of movement, but it is one of the early groups of the genre. This of course had all the "Cop Killer" controversy in 1992, and the track was eventually removed. The funny thing is how hardcore alot of the other lyrics are, so I guess it's ok to kill your own mother, just not cops. Anyway, even without that track, it's still a killer album. "Ice" even tries singing on "The Winner Loses", which is a really cool, ballad type song. Overall, it's a really good album, and a real sign of the times.

It was 9 yrs ago when they removed "Cop Killer" , the images of the Rodney King beating , and L.A. Riots is long gone. Ice should reissue this album with "Cop Killer" . I did enjoy the replacement "Freedom Of Speech" because of the appearance of Jello Biafra. However since it was 9 yrs ago , and music has changed "Cop Killer" should be reissued. FIGHT CENSORSHIP!!!!!!

This album is great.If it wasn't for my cousin I'd still have the original but now I have another copy! Too bad it's the revised version though, if you can find the REG. version then go for it.It's heavy metal at it's best.

Ice T and co have alot to be proud of with this album. While it may have paved the way for the onslaught of mediocre "rap metal" stars that are around to day, it actually functions almost more of one of the best "crossover" punk metal albums of all time. Ice T has always been one of the most witty, intelligent, but funny rappers in my eyes, and with this album he branches out and does a metal band. Not only is the album a statement on the early nineties in the U.S it has alot of messages that still apply. The band is all black, and nearly all of them are from south central Los Angeles, a fact that still seems unbelievable considering the circumstances and the fact that metal music is primarily made by middle class white males. They have enough talent though, to put bands like Anthrax, Suicidal Tendencies, and Dri in their place, and their similar crossover thrash style is the best example of this music from that era. Ice T is surprisingly good in his transition from rapping to more hardcore/metal type vocals and even has a (slightly strained) but passionate vocal in the power ballad about crack addiction "the Winner Loses". Other songs touch racism, politics and growing up in the ghetto, but more humor comes out of such tracks as "Voodoo", "Evil Dick" and the satirical "Mommas Gotta Die Tonight". In the aforementioned song, Ice uses horror to convey the horror of racist indoctrination that many parents give their kids. He plays a young black man who brings home a white girlfriend to his racist mother. Then the song climaxes into a misfits style tale of the macabre. Body Count's songs are angry and full of velocity, full of enough dynamics to keep the music interesting always. Its too bad they had to pull "Cop Killer" off the album, which is ironic since one of the first tracks still on it is a skit in which a man kills a police officer. Subsequent Body Count albums would recycle elements from this first release, but not with as much wit, message, and intensity as this first album, which stands as a classic, fun, hilarious album which I listen to time and time again.

BODY COUNT:

Ice-T:Lead Vocals
Ernie C: Lead And Acoustic Guitars
Mooseman: Bass
Beatmaster "V": Drums

"Cop Killer" Album:
1. Smoked Pork
2. Body Count's In The House
3. Body Count
4. A Statistic
5. Bowels Of The Devil
6. The Real Problem
7. KKK Bitch
8. C Note
9. Voodoo
10. The Winner Loses
11. There Goes The Neighborhood
12. Oprah
13. Evil Dick
14. Body Count Anthem
15. Momma's Gotta Die Tonight
16. Out In The Parking Lot
17. Cop Killer

For those who are just getting into Body Count, the original name of Body Count's debut album was titled "COP KILLER" until they stopped the production of the album because of the controversy and the backlash from law enforcement officials all over the country over the song "Cop Killer" and the title on the cover. Fortunately, an estimate of about 500,000 made it to store shelves and into the hands of Body Count fans. They then re-released a censored version re-titled "BODY COUNT" with "Freedom Of Speech" replacing "Out In The Parking Lot" and the notorious "Cop KIller". (Just wanted to make it clear between the original version and the censored version of the album)

Body Count is one of the best bands in the Rap-Metal genre and one of the few bands that both left their mark on the Heavy Metal genre and caused an uproar of criticism from politicians and law enforcement officials across the country. I've been a Body Count fan for a few years and I couldn't get enough of them. The album has some funny track titles like "Evil Dick" but just because the title is funny that doesn't make it any less brutal. "Bowels Of The Devil" has heavy and brutal speed metal-like riffing that would definitely start the the mosh pits (I know since I moshed to that song at one of their concerts). The best songs on this album are: "The Winner Loses" (great power ballad from Ice-T and the band), "There Goes The Neighborhood", "Bowels Of The Devil", "Body Count", and "Cop Killer" (the rest are good too!). The song "Cop Killer" is a classic metal song that is sadly taken too seriously by most people.

I own both versions of Body Count's debut album but I would recommend getting the cop killer version since it is a collectable and you deserve the real deal and not a stripped down version.

Raw is the one word that I would use to describe this record - raw production values, raw lyrics, raw attitude.

When this album came out, the Rodney King incident and the L.A. Riots had just occurred. If there was one record that could freeze the feelings of that time, this would qualify. The music is loud, fast, sloppily played at times, profane, and angry, and it leaps right out of the speakers at you. The songs feel like they were each written under 5 minutes during someones bender - yet somehow the chaos of it all works in the end.

Anyone who likes to hear true grass-roots revolution-rock, punk like Black Flag, The Mentors, Atari Teenage Riot, etc. - probably will enjoy this album. Metallica fans - it's not for you.

There Goes The Neighborhood, The Winner Loses, Cop Killer it's the best "ghetto-metal" album to come out ever. So good I had to buy the tape in Canada when it got bannded in the US, worth the trip. Find a version with Cop Killer though, the Freedom of Speech replacement song is a poor rehash of another Ice T joint from a previous CD. I gave ita 3 since it is Cop Killer-less, 4 1/2 with CK.

I'd never heard Body Count before just recently. Of Course when I was a kid I'd heard of the song "Cop Killer" thought it to be some lame piddling gangsta rap garbage I hate with a blood boiling rage. Yet going about on the internet I saw a song "Cop Killer" by Body Count I was like who the hell is Body Count? So I played it. It was one of the most kick ass songs I'd heard in a long time I got chills up and down my spine. I went to find out about this group and what I found out suprised me. It was Ice T's Hard core Metal band. What? So it wasn't gangsta rap but a metal song. I had to hear more. I loved it. I bought this album and haven't regreted it. It is one of the best metal albums I have. Its just aggressive and driving all the way through to the end. It sucks that the record company bowed to the lifestyle facists and took the song "Cop Killer" off of it. Look I don't agree with the cop killing stuff and no sane person would. This whole album is over the top and the muisicians in this band like Ernie C. have been way over looked. But even without "Cop Killer" its still a head banging album. Pick up this album now.