After thirty plus years both Ice Cube and Ice-T’s careers are still going strong. Ice Cube is about to release his tenth studio album Everythang’s Corrupt. The lead single “Arrest the President” is vintage Ice Cube. Ice Cube has coined the music as “Street Knowledge”. Letting the politicians know what the streets think of them. Ice-T still continues to put out meaningful material as well, provoking thought and giving knowledge. His most recent project, 2017’s Bloodlust with his group Body Count included the Grammy nominated track “Black Hoodie.”
Art of Rap – Ice Cube & Ice-T
Ice Cube – Arrest the President
Body Count – Black Hoodie
At this point both artists are household names for a number of things beyond music including commercials, television, and movies. Ice Cube and Ice-T both evolved to maintain relevancy. They will forever be synonymous with each other for the music and the movie they worked together during the 90’s. Two OG’s showing the younger generation how the game should be played.
The first time the two hip hop legends linked up was with the 1992 film Trespass, originally titled The Looters. The film was written by the team of Bob Gale and Robert Zemeckis, most famously known for the Back to the Future trilogy. The title of the film was changed due to the LA Riots that had occurred. Ice Cube and Ice-T had collaborated on “Looters” which was set to be title track for the soundtrack but went unreleased. This resulted in the track “Trespass” to coincide with the name change of the film.
Trespass – Movie Scene
Ice-T & Ice Cube – Looters
Ice-T & Ice Cube – Trespass
There most well-known song they appeared together on was “Last Words” from Tupac’s 1993 album Strictly 4 My which was co-produced by DJ Bobcat and Jam Master Jay from Run DMC. Ice-T and Ice Cube the following year would both be featured on Terminator X’s project Super Bad on the song “Sticka” along with Chuck D, MC Lyte, and Punk Barbarians. The last time the two legends worked together was on the 1995 song “Where Ya At” off the 1995 compilation One Million Strong. The track included a number of other artists as well including Mobb Deep, Rza, Chuck D, and Kam.
2Pac – Last Wordz feat. Ice Cube & Ice-T
Terminator X – Sticka feat. Chuck D, MC Lyte, Ice Cube, Ice-T & Punk Barbarians
Ice Cube – Where Ya At feat. Ice-T, Mobb Deep, Rza, Chuck D, Kam & others.
Ice Cube and Ice T’s ability to maintain relevancy in hip hop several decades in is a testament to their greatness. Throughout their career’s music wise sticking to the objective of providing material that carried weight. Providing knowledge and making a statement. While at the same time leveraging their music to achieve success in other platforms. Laying down the blueprint for other generations to follow.
