“When I first started out in music, I was so negative. I was knee-deep in the streets. Then my friends started going to jail. They said, 'Boy, you better start taking this seriously; you got a chance to do something with your life.' That's when I realised I had to focus. The music led to the acting.”

American rapper and actor

Ice-T, born Tracy Lauren Marrow, is an American rapper and actor. Active since the 1980s, he is known for work in hip-hop and heavy metal, and for a career that has moved between music and screen roles. He began as an underground rapper before signing with Sire Records in 1987 and releasing his debut album, Rhyme Pays. He later founded Rhyme $yndicate Records and followed with Power, his only platinum album, then The Iceberg/Freedom of Speech... Just Watch What You Say!, O.G. Original Gangster, and Home Invasion, all of which were gold and widely acclaimed.