Ebook: Ice: A Memoir of Gangster Life and Redemption--From South Central to Hollywood

From Publishers Weekly

In this intriguing memoir, groundbreaking rapper and actor Ice-T chronicles his rise from nomadic criminal to hip-hop star. After losing both parents by the age of 12, Tracy Marrow was shipped to relatives in Los Angeles where he navigated the growing gang culture of the city and became a father at 18. A four-year tour in the army was followed by a lucrative interlude robbing jewelry and clothing stores. As his fellow thieves began to file off to prison, Ice-T turned to the nascent rap scene and scored immediate success. Continuing to reinvent himself, Ice-T went on to front a rock band and also was one of the first rap figures to work in film and television. There™s little focus on the music itself, but rather on his careers and his observations on the various subcultures he passes through. What lifts the book above the general run of entertainer memoirs is the quality of these observations—Ice-T is a canny businessman, and he charts clearly the decisions that brought him up each step of a very treacherous ladder. (Mar.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

From

Starred Review Famous first as a rapper, and then as an actor in numerous movies and as a regular on Law & Order: SVU, Ice-T was born Tracy Marrow in New Jersey, then moved to Los Angeles when both of his parents died prematurely of heart attacks. Raised by inattentive relatives, he became embroiled in gang life. After four years in the army, he found himself on the street and back in the criminal world. He had been writing his own rhymes since high school, then released several groundbreaking West Coast rap recordings and became lead vocalist for the influential thrash-metal band Body Count, which, in 1992, released its notorious single, Cop Killer. The subsequent controversy led to Ice-T�s first experience with censorship and even a dressing-down from the Bush-Quayle administration. In this no-holds-barred memoir, Ice-T writes with refreshing, if profane, down-to-earth candor, recalling his first memories of racism, his increasingly dangerous street life, and his experiences on tour, including a funny and wild anecdote about a show in Milan. A fascinating and inspiring story about an African American orphan who beat the odds to become successful, this memoir will appeal to fans of hip-hop and popular culture. --June Sawyers