The Iceberg/Freedom of Speech... Just Watch What You Say! | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | October 10, 1989 | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 55:42 | |||
Label | Sire | |||
Producer |
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Ice-T chronology | ||||
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Singles from The Iceberg/Freedom of Speech...Just Watch What You Say | ||||
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Review scores | |
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Source | Rating |
AllMusic | [1] |
Chicago Tribune | [2] |
The Rolling Stone Album Guide | [3] |
Spin Alternative Record Guide | 9/10 [4] |
The Village Voice | A− [5] |
The Iceberg/Freedom of Speech... Just Watch What You Say! is the third studio album by American rapper Ice-T, released on October 10, 1989, by Sire Records. The album has an uncharacteristically gritty sound, featuring some of the darkest tracks that Ice-T ever released.
The album was released after Ice-T was encountering censorship problems on tour. In The Ice Opinion: Who Gives a Fuck? the rapper states that "People had already told me what I could not say onstage in Columbus, Georgia. You couldn't say anything they called a 'swear' word. You couldn't touch yourself. They were using the same tactics they used on everyone from Elvis and Jim Morrison to 2 Live Crew". [6]
The album's cover, featuring a B-boy with a shotgun shoved in his mouth, and two pistols pressed against each side of his head, reflected Ice-T's experiences with the concept of freedom of speech. "The concept of that picture is, 'Go ahead and say what you want. But here comes the government and here come the parents, and they are ready to destroy you when you open your mouth'". [6]
"The Iceberg" alternates between typical violent metaphor, outlandish boasts, and comical sexual situations involving other members of Ice's Rhyme Syndicate. "Lethal Weapon" tells listeners that the mind is the most powerful weapon:
"The Weapon power has been witnessed upon my page/From Martin Luther's dream, to Hitler's psycho rage."
"You Played Yourself" advises listeners to be smart and not let themselves "be played". "Peel Their Caps Back" is about committing a drive-by to avenge a slain friend. Unlike other songs where violence is a metaphor for the rapper's ability to defeat other rappers lyrically, this song is a stark depiction of what could lead to such an event. However, it contains two surprising elements: in the end, the main character is killed, and the whole event is written off by the media as just another gang killing.
In "The Girl Tried to Kill Me", Ice-T raps about an encounter with a dominatrix:
"Said she wanted to take me home to make love / Now that's the kind of rap that brothers dream of / I said, "Fast, slow, hard or soft, baby?" / She said, "All the above!"
"Black and Decker" starts off with Rhyme Syndicate members complaining about the media's portrayal of their work as meaningless violence. Ice wonders aloud what it would sound like if you drilled into someone's head with a power drill. After some gory sound effects, Ice says "Probably sound like that." "Hit the Deck" offers sincere advice to wannabe-MCs:
"But if it's in your heart, get a pen / Don't stop writing til the inkflow ends / Work and work and don't halfstep / Dog the mic every chance you get."
"This One's for Me" offers Ice's take on the rap scene and music industry. "The Hunted Child" is a first-person account of a scared young gangbanger on the run. The busy, multi-layered composition, with its scratched sirens and staccato drums, samples Public Enemy's "Bring the Noise". [7]
"What Ya Wanna Do" is a 9-minute party song featuring several members of the Syndicate, including a young Everlast, who became famous as a member of House of Pain. "Freedom of Speech" was one of the first raps to focus on the First Amendment and in particular attacked Tipper Gore's PMRC with unmistakable venom:
"Hey PMRC, you stupid fuckin' assholes / The sticker on the record is what makes 'em sell gold / Can't you see, you alcoholic idiots / The more you try to suppress us, the larger we get."
The album ends with in "My Word Is Bond", featuring Syndicate members telling one exaggerated story after another against a looped sample of Slick Rick saying "Stop lying" from his song "La Di Da Di". [8]
The album was accompanied by a VHS entitled The Iceberg. This mixed footage of Ice-T's gigs with his own commentary. In the first section, he said that some of the footage was of poor quality because it was filmed on equipment from a pawnbroker or stolen from a mall. The video featured some footage of the Dope Jam tour, including Doug E Fresh, KRS-One and Kool Moe Dee.
No. | Title | Length |
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1. | "Shut Up, Be Happy" (featuring Jello Biafra) | 2:36 |
2. | "The Iceberg" | 4:21 |
3. | "Lethal Weapon" | 4:33 |
4. | "You Played Yourself" | 4:14 |
5. | "Peel Their Caps Back" | 3:42 |
6. | "The Girl Tried to Kill Me" | 4:10 |
7. | "Black 'n' Decker" | 1:16 |
8. | "Hit the Deck" | 3:46 |
9. | "This One's for Me" | 4:33 |
10. | "The Hunted Child" | 4:27 |
11. | "What Ya Wanna Do?" (featuring Bronx Style Bob, Donald D, Everlast, Hen Gee, Nat The Cat, Randy Mac, Shakell Shabazz, Toddy Tee, MC Taste, and Divine Styler.) | 8:57 |
12. | "Freedom of Speech" (featuring Jello Biafra) | 4:11 |
13. | "My Word Is Bond" | 5:07 |
Total length: | 55:42 |
Sample credits
Chart (1989) | Peak position |
---|---|
Australian Albums (ARIA Charts) [10] | 81 |
US Billboard 200 [11] | 37 |
US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums (Billboard) [12] | 11 |
Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
---|---|---|
Canada (Music Canada) [13] | Gold | 50,000^ |
United States (RIAA) [14] | Gold | 500,000^ |
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. |
Tracy Lauren Marrow, better known by his stage name Ice-T, is an American rapper and actor. He is active in both hip hop and heavy metal. Ice-T began his career as an underground rapper in the 1980s and was signed to Sire Records in 1987, when he released his debut album Rhyme Pays. The following year, he founded the record label Rhyme $yndicate Records and released another album, Power (1988), which would go platinum. He also released several other albums that went gold, including The Iceberg/Freedom of Speech... Just Watch What You Say! (1989), O.G. Original Gangster (1991) and Home Invasion (1993).
The Parents Music Resource Center (PMRC) was an American committee formed in 1985 with the stated goal of increasing parental control over the access of children to music deemed to have violent, drug-related, or sexual themes via labeling albums with Parental Advisory stickers. The committee was founded by four women known as the "Washington Wives"—a reference to their husbands' connections with government in the Washington, D.C. area. The women who founded the PMRC are Tipper Gore, wife of Senator and later Vice President Al Gore; Susan Baker, wife of Treasury Secretary James Baker; Pam Howar, wife of Washington realtor Raymond Howar; and Sally Nevius, wife of former Washington City Council Chairman John Nevius. The PMRC eventually grew to include 22 participants before shutting down in the mid-to-late 1990s.
Body Count is an American heavy metal band formed in Los Angeles in 1990. The group is fronted by Ice-T, who first established himself as a rapper but co-founded the group with lead guitarist Ernie C out of their interest in heavy metal music. Ice-T took on the role of vocalist and writing the lyrics for most of Body Count's songs, while Ernie C has been responsible for writing the group's music.
Ernie Cunnigan, better known by his stage name Ernie C, is an American musician best known as the guitarist of rap metal band Body Count.
Robert "Bob" Khaleel, better known by his stage name Bronx Style Bob, is an American rapper from the Bronx, New York City.
Donald Lamont, professionally known by his stage name Donald-D, is an American rapper and record producer from the Bronx, New York. He is a member of the Universal Zulu Nation, a member of the B-Boys, and is best known as a member of Ice-T's Rhyme Syndicate.
"Cop Killer" is a song by American heavy metal band Body Count. Released on the group's 1992 self-titled debut album, the song was written two years earlier, and was partially influenced by "Psycho Killer" by Talking Heads.
Body Count is the debut studio album by American heavy metal band Body Count, released on March 30, 1992, by Sire Records. The album's material focuses on various social and political issues ranging from police brutality to drug abuse. It also presents a turning point in the career of Ice-T, who co-wrote the album's songs with lead guitarist Ernie C and performed as the band's lead singer. Previously known only as a rapper, Ice-T's work with the band helped establish a crossover audience with rock music fans. The album produced the single "There Goes the Neighborhood".
Howard Klein is an American writer, political activist, media personality, and former record label executive, DJ, and producer. He was the President of Reprise Records from 1989 to 2001. He appears occasionally as himself in music and political related film documentaries and has received accolades for his stance against censorship and for his advocacy of free speech protection.
"La Di Da Di" is a song performed by Doug E. Fresh, who provides the beatboxed instrumental, and MC Ricky D, who performs the vocals. It was originally released in 1985 as the B-side to "The Show". The song has since gained a reputation as an early hip hop classic, and it is one of the most sampled songs in history.
An iceberg is a large piece of ice that has broken off from a snow-formed glacier or ice shelf, and is floating in open water.
Forever Everlasting is the debut solo studio album by American recording artist Everlast. It was released on March 27, 1990 via Warner Bros. Records. The eleven track full-length album features a remix song of his 1988 single "Syndication", and singles "Never Missin' a Beat", "The Rhythm" and "I Got the Knack". Single "The Rhythm" featured guest appearances from his Rhyme Syndicate bandmates Donald D and Ice-T, as well as an early appearance from the Brand New Heavies singer N'Dea Davenport who is credited as "Diva", and "I Got the Knack" featured scratches provided by DJ Lethal, whom he would later join to form House of Pain.
4,5,6 is the debut studio album by American rapper Kool G Rap, released on September 26, 1995, on Cold Chillin' Records. The release followed his break-up with DJ Polo in 1993. The album was mostly received neutrally among critics, but was warmly accepted by underground fans. Despite the album's dark, grimy street sound, it peaked at number one on the R&B/Hip-Hop chart, and the single "Fast Life" charted on the Billboard Hot 100. The album features guest appearances from B1, MF Grimm, and Nas, as well as production from Dr. Butcher, Naughty Shorts, T-Ray, and Buckwild of D.I.T.C. It would also be Cold Chillin' Records' final release before it went defunct in 1997.
Power is the second studio album by American rapper Ice-T, released on September 13, 1988, by Sire Records. Recorded at Syndicate Studios West in Los Angeles, the home studio of DJ Evil E, it was produced by Ice-T and Afrika Islam. The Los Angeles Daily News noted that its lyrical themes ranged from sex to gun violence, and that Ice-T "implicates everyone from radio programmers to the police as accomplices in the decline of western civilisation." The album contains lyrics that began a feud between Ice-T and rapper LL Cool J. The album cover, which features Ice-T's then-girlfriend Darlene Ortiz, Ice-T, and DJ Evil E, was described as "perpetuating stereotypes" by the Chicago Tribune and "violence-glorifying" by both the Chicago Sun-Times and The Sydney Morning Herald.
"You Played Yourself" is a song performed by American recording artist Ice-T. It was released on April 5, 1990, as a single from the rapper's third studio album The Iceberg/Freedom of Speech...Just Watch What You Say through Sire Records. The song was written and produced by Ice-T and Afrika Islam, who sampled James Brown's "The Boss", which was written by James Brown, Charles Bobbit and Fred Wesley. The single peaked at number 64 in the UK.
"Lethal Weapon" is a song by American recording artist Ice-T. It was released on September 21, 1989 as a single from the rapper's third studio album The Iceberg/Freedom of Speech...Just Watch What You Say through Sire Records. The song was written and produced by Ice-T and Afrika Islam, who used a sample from Little Royal and The Swingmasters' "Razor Blade". The single peaked at number 22 in New Zealand and number 98 in the UK.
Freedom of speech is the freedom to speak without censorship or limitation.
Fast Life is the fourth studio album by American rapper Paul Wall. It was released on May 12, 2009, by Swishahouse, Asylum Records and Warner Bros. Records.
"What Ya Wanna Do?" is a single by American recording artist Ice-T from his third studio album The Iceberg/Freedom of Speech...Just Watch What You Say. It was released in 1989 via Sire Records. The song served as a posse cut and featured several artists from hip hop collective Rhyme Syndicate: Bronx Style Bob, Divine Styler, Donald D, Everlast, Hen-Gee, M.C. Taste, Nat The Cat, Randy Mac, Shakell Shabazz, Toddy Tee, and DJ Evil E. It was produced and programmed by Afrika Islam and co-produced and arranged by Ice-T himself for Rhyme Syndicate Productions. The song was recorded at Syndicate Studios West & Wide Tracks, in Los Angeles, California, and mastered at Future Disc Systems, also in L.A.