The Iceberg/Freedom of Speech...Just Watch What You Say

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The Iceberg/Freedom of Speech...Just Watch What You Say
Studio album by Ice-T
Released	October 1989
Genre	West coast rap, Hardcore rap, Gangsta rap
Length	55:42
Label	Sire
Producer(s)	Afrika Islam, Ice-T
Professional reviews
All Music Guide link
Ice-T chronology
Power (1988)	The Iceberg/Freedom of Speech...Just Watch What You Say (1989)	OG: Original Gangster (1991)

1989's The Iceberg/Freedom of Speech... Just Watch What You Say was Ice T's third album and has an uncharacteristic dark, gritty sound. (Ice often explores dark themes, but this album as a whole has some of the darkest musical scores he ever released.) The cover was a gruesome depiction of a B-boy with a gun in his mouth and two guns pointed at either side of his head. The B-boy has a piercing in his left ear, indicating that he is a Crip. He is also crying a sole tear, and has a L.A. Raiders cap on.

[edit] Analysis

It opens with "Shut Up, Be Happy" a spoken word performance by Jello Biafra laid over a low, heavy, distorted guitar (the music is from Black Sabbath's 'Black Sabbath', of which Ice-T is a fan). The next track is the odd "The Iceberg" which alternates between typical violent metaphor, outlandish boasts, and comical sexual situations involving other members of Ice's Rhyme Syndicate. "Lethal Weapon" (the single of which had the movie's logo but nothing else in common) again is full of typical violent metaphor--"If you're in my way, you'll lay beneath the ground soon/Violence is my business fool, the microphone of doom/Mission that's to cure all punks as I bust caps/Peelin ya back, my ammunition hollow-point raps"--but it also has an overall message--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" is an upbeat tune again advising listeners to be smart. ("To be played" in hip-hop slang means to be taken advantage of or made a sucker, and in this song Ice talks about people who "play" themselves.) "Peel Their Caps Back," on the other hand, is a dark story 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.

Ice T is known for having at least one sexually-charged rhyme on each album and this one is no exception, but it has a twist--in "The Girl Tried to Kill Me" he talks about an encounter with an aggressive female. ("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!") This was also released as a radio-friendly single (friendlier, actually; despite the lack of swear words, its meaning is still quite clear) with a different drumbeat, guitar, and arguably better lyrics--compare

I said, "Don't, don't, don't whip me!/I'll do anything you ask!"/Then homegirl stripped, 38 tits/Man you shoulda seen that ass

to

I said "Don't, don't, don't whip me/I'll do anything you say!"/Then she ripped off her dress, I said "Yes!"/We all gotta die someday.

"Black and Decker" is a bizarre skit that starts off with Rhyme Syndicate members complaining about the media's portrayal of their work as meaningless violence. Apropos of nothing, Ice wonders aloud what it would sound like if you drilled into someone's head with a powerdrill. After some gory sound effects, Ice matter-of-factly says "Probably sound like that." "Hit the Deck" is a fast-paced dance track with typical bragging and battle-rap style, but it also offers some sincere advice to wannabe-MCs: "But if it's in your heart, get a pen/Don't stop writin til the inkflow ends/Work and work and don't halfstep/Dog the mic every chance you get." The next song, "This One's for Me," is Ice's take on the rap scene and music industry. "The Hunted Child" is a fast-paced, intense, first-person account of a scared young gang-banger on the run--"I'm only 17, I didn't mean to kill, man/But I was slangin' and bangin' for the thrill, man"--which also includes Ice's typical point of view on South-Central LA's ghetto environment, delivered with some of Ice's most powerful lyrics to date: "I killed a brother cos this system had me geared to kill/Cos what I call home you call hell/My ghetto quarters ain't no better than a jail cell/But there's a message in this story that I'm tryna tell.../My life on Earth was hell, you understand?/But when I die I'm goin' to hell again." The busy, multi-layered composition, with its scratched sirens and stactto drums, sounds similar to Public Enemy--perhaps Ice was inspired when he sampled PE's "Bring the Noise" ("Death Row/What a brother know") in this song.

"What Ya Wanna Do" is a 9-minute party song featuring several members of the Syndicate. "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 another Syndicate song, this time with the members telling one exaggerated story after another in "My Word is Bond"--an ironic title, since the song is full of lies and outrageous claims and a repeating sample of Slick Rick saying "Stop lying" from his song La Di Da Di.

[edit] Track list

1. Shut Up, Be Happy
2. The Iceberg (Produced by Sleepy John)
3. Lethal Weapon
4. You Played Yourself
5. Peel Their Caps Back
6. The Girl Tried To Kill Me
7. Black 'N' Decker
8. Hit The Deck
9. This One's For Me
10. The Hunted Child
11. What Ya Wanna Do?
12. Freedom Of Speech
13. My Word Is Bond