It was five years before “Three Dollar Bill, Yall” and 16 years before “Swan Songs”, the debut Hollywood Undead album. One year after the controversial self titled debut album, the soundtrack of the film “Judgement Night” bought together several rock and rap/hip hop artists and set a new trend in mixing opposite musical genres. Body Count, the rock/metal band of the (in)famous rapper Ice-T it’s definitively one of the reference points of crossover. Although, they might be inspired by artists such as Bad Brains, Living Colour, Mordred, Suicidal Tendencies, Faith No More, etc they inspired and bought to life a generation to follow.
The debut album was originally set to be distributed under the title Cop Killer, named for the song of the same name, which criticizes police brutality and after the release the Combined Law Enforcement Association of Texas launched a campaign to force Warner Bros. Records to withdraw the album finally entitled Body Count and released on March 10, 1992 – just months before the L.A. riots. “Body Count” it’s a flawless album where punk, rap, rock, hip hop and thrash metal are melting into one.
It was followed by “Born Dead” in 1994, “Violent Demise: The Last Days” in 1997, with a considerable gap “Murder 4 Hire” in 2006 and now we’ve got chapter 5, “Manslaughter” (smart reference back to “Body Count”) released on June 10, 2014 by Sumerian Records and produced by Will Putney (credited for working with artists such as Asking Alexandria, Poison The Well, Thy Art Is Murder, Miss May I, Came As Romans, etc). Read more Body Count – Manslaughter (2014) ›