Home Invasion

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This article is about a rap album. For a type of crime, see Home invasion.

Home Invasion was Ice-T's fifth solo album and his first album on Rhyme Syndicate Records. It contains nineteen tracks, including an intro, an outro and a skit. There is also one track on which most of the rapping is done by D.J. Evil E the Great and another where a female rapper Grip stars.

[edit] Track Listings

1. Warning

2. It's On

3. Ice MF. T.

4. Home Invasion

5. G Style

6. Addicted To Danger

7. Question And Answer

8. Watch The Ice Break

9. Race War

10. That's How I'm Living

11. I Ain't New To This

12. Pimp Behind The Wheels (DJ Evil E The Great)

13. Gotta Lotta Love

14. Hit The Fan

15. Depths Of Hell

16. 99 Problems

17. Funky Gripsta

18. Message To The Soldier

19. Ain't A Damn Thing Changed

[edit] Analysis

This was Ice-T's first album after the Cop Killer controversy. Warner Records had stood by freedom of expression during the controversy, although some within the company were now favouring a more pragmatic policy. 15th November, 1992 was the original release date set for the album. However, Ice-T agreed to postpone its release due to the sensitive political climate: the L.A. riots were still fresh in people's minds, an election was in process, and political releases by Ice Cube and Dr Dre were causing controversy. Ice-T also agreed to axe a track called "Richochet" after complaints that it was insensitive to slain police officers; the song had already been released separately on the soundtrack to the film "Richochet".

The new release date was 14th February, 1993. However, Warner Records changed their mind on the album cover, which depicted a White child who was engrossed in Black culture in the middle of images of violence. Ice-T originally agreed, opting for an all-black colour and a name-change to "The Black Album". He later realised that his future output was going to be continuously monitored and censored. An amicable break was negotiated between the two sides.

Due to the postponed release of the album, tracks were altered to keep the topics up-to-date. Track 2 on the album was a very late inclusion: "It's On" begin with the phrase, "Turn up the mic, dog, so I can get off/ Find me Charlton Heston and I might cut his head off." Charlton Heston had pushed for Ice-T to be axed from Warner Records. The title track explored the concept of a White supremacist home being invaded by political rappers who were seeking to rescue the children from racist indoctrination. Other highlights include "Gotta Lotta Love" - a tribute to the gang truce in L.A.; "That's How I'm Living" - an autobiographical track; "Race War" - a reflection on the riots and a warning against such events repeating themselves; and "Message to the Soldier" - a track of advice to those involved in political hip hop. After abstaining from sex rhymes on O.G. Original Gangster, Ice-T made a point of including two such tracks on this album with "Addicted to Danger" and "99 problems".

This was the last hip hop release of Ice-T that had significant political content. His later releases were much less serious, and were more in tune with the rest of gangsta rap. This is reflected in how this album featured the end of the accumulated pleas that had appeared inside the pamphlets of his albums since Power. The final list read:

Special thanks to all the radio stations with brains and guts! Peace to all L.A. gangs. We are all brothers, we can all live together. Death is no answer. Please chill! To all drug dealers: you're playin' yourselves - you're gonna die!!!!!!!!! Get out while you got a chance. Don't be a sucka, no one lives in the ghetto by choice. Go to school, build your brain. ESCAPE FROM THE KILLING FIELDS! Rhyme Syndicate - we're in here! Peace! <----- fuck that WAR! HOME INVASION. The injection of black rage into the American white youth is the last stage of preparation for the revolution. Prepare - it's goin' down.

It also often seen as the release with which Ice-T's career began to take a downturn. Reviews were generally less impressed than they had been with his earlier work, although Rolling Stone magazine gave it a good review[1]. The hip hop audience was moving away from political artists at the time. The rivalry between the West and East Coast was also at its peak. Ice-T had always stayed out of the dispute. He also didn't seem to fit neatly into either camp; he hailed from the West Coast, but his raps were more in the style of the East Coast.

The album was later re-released along with an extra disc entitled "The Last Temptation of Ice", which contained remixes and the axed track "Richochet".