Published on Feb 25, 1999
If you’ve been reading “The Daily Vault” for some time, you’ll
be familiar with what we call the “sophomore slump”. If you’re a
relatively new reader, this term refers to the difficulty an artist
faces when they release their second album – especially if the
first album is a success. I’ve seen far too many examples of
artists whose second album pales in comparison to their debut – and
sadly, some of these artists are never heard from again.
Today, I’d like to highlight a group that not only didn’t fall
into the “sophomore slump,” but released an album that was better
than their debut. That group? Body Count. The album?
Born Dead. The ferociousness of this album – in both vocals
and performances – is a major step up from the album that brought
us “Cop Killer” (and the ensuing controversy), and could well be an
overlooked classic from the ’90s.
Ice-T was seemingly on a downhill roll. After a lengthy battle
over the song “Cop Killer” (which would eventually be removed from
later pressings of
Body Count), Warner Brothers dropped the rapper. If memory
serves me correctly, the final flap with Warner Brothers had to do
with the artwork for Ice-T’s solo album
Home Invasion, which ended up being released on Virgin. Not
surprisingly, Body Count also ended up on the new label, but
Born Dead was released to the public with little – if any –
fanfare.
Too bad… it’s a damn good album, and a frightening one as
well. More on that in a minute.
The first thing that hits you when listening to
Born Dead is that the band – guitarist Ernie-C, guitarist
D-Roc, bassist Mooseman and drummer Beatmaster “V” – is a much
tighter musical unit. Granted,
Body Count was recorded after the band had only been
together for a few months. But
Born Dead shows what a little time and seasoning can do for
any band.
Second, Ice-T seems more willing to do more than just scream the
lyrics to the songs. He even – gasp! – sings on the band’s cover of
“Hey Joe”, proving that he has a pretty good set of pipes. But
Ice-T does expand things by using some vocal distortion at times –
and on tracks like “Masters Of Revenge,” it works well.
Of course, the zealots are going to complain about the violence
and language on
Born Dead, just like they did on
Body Count. They may deride the imagery on songs like “Last
Breath,” or claim that a song like “Street Lobotomy” is a billboard
for drug use.
But let’s really be honest: Ice-T is not promoting any of this.
Instead, he is acting as a social commentator on a world that many
of us are fortunate enough not to see day in and day out. But it is
real, it is not far from where we live – and Ice-T makes us
uncomfortable by reminding us about it in the music.
The fact is, tracks like “Street Lobotomy” (which tells of the
dangers of drugs and drink), “Shallow Graves” (which is an anti-war
song) and “Necessary Evil” (a commentary about life on the wrong
side of the tracks) should remind us that this world exists, and
the longer we turn our eyes away from it, the worse things are
going to get. Even the title track is a reminder that we can’t take
anything for granted, and if we just saw how bad some of our fellow
human beings had it, we might just appreciate the little things in
our own lives.
Even if you don’t go beyond the lyrics and try to find a deeper
message in these songs,
Born Dead is an album that musically does not disappoint.
This album proves that not only was Ice-T’s all-black heavy metal
band not a gimmick, but they were a force that should have been
reckoned with. It’s just too bad that some people couldn’t get past
the stereotypes.