Ice-T was a rapper.
Tracy Lauren Marrow ( born February 16 , 1958 ) , better known by his stage name Ice-T , is an American rapper , metal vocalist and actor . He began his career as a rapper in the 1980s and was signed to Sire Records in 1987 , when he released his debut album Rhyme Pays , one of the first hip-hop albums to carry an explicit content sticker . The next year , he founded the record label Rhyme $ yndicate Records ( named after his collective of fellow hip-hop artists called the ` Rhyme $ yndicate ' ) and released another album , Power . He co-founded the heavy metal band Body Count , which he introduced in his 1991 album O.G. : Original Gangster . Ice-T encountered controversy over his track `` Cop Killer '' , which was perceived to glamorize killing police officers .