Body Count

Essentially an all-black speed metal band fronted by hip-hop innovator Ice-T, Body Count debuted with an eponymous track on the rapper's 1991 solo album, O.G. Original Gangster. Full-length Body Count, which followed in 1992, combined '80s metal riffs and gang shouts with Ice-T's urban gangsta rap vision. Lead single "There Goes the Neighborhood" was upstaged by the album track "Cop Killer," whose police-baiting lyrics landed the band at the center of a national freedom-of-speech controversy. Subsequent releases by the band, including 1994's Born Dead, 1997's Violent Demise: The last Days, and 2006's Murder 4 Hire, largely replicated the sound of the debut. Body Count returned in 2017 with Bloodlust.