Hollywood has a big reward for New Jersey’s Ice-T

Newark-born and Summit, New Jersey-raised Ice-T will receive the impressive Hollywood Walk of Fame on Feb. 17.

Ice-T you may know is a rapper, music producer, record label owner and movie and TV actor.

Ice-T, whose birth name is Tracy Lauren Marrow, was born in Newark on Feb. 16, 1958. After his mother passed away from a heart attack when he was in the third grade, his father moved with him to Summit.

At the age of 13, his father also passed away from a heart attack and he was sent to move in with an aunt and her husband in South Los Angeles. Ice-T shared a room with his cousin Earl who was a big fan of heavy metal music. That interest in heavy metal music would pay dividends when in 1991 he co-founded the heavy metal band Body Count and weaved the band into his rap album OG Original Gangster.

Ice-T’s life in Los Angeles had interludes of crime even after a stint in the U.S. Army. He has an extensive rap sheet but although his life he continued with writing and producing rap music. As his music interests and music business started to flourish, his life of crime started to diminish.

His first appearance on screen featured him as a rapper and break-dancer on the documentary Breakin and Enterin, which was a documentary focused on the West Coast hip-hop community.

After that, he was tapped for a few more documentaries, got an agent and started to get parts on TV shows and landed a few great movie roles and a regular part on the NBC Law & Order TV series.

He’s won Grammys, Image Awards, been nominated for dozens more and has never forgotten his New Jersey roots with living in a penthouse in North Bergen and building his dream home in Edgewater, New Jersey.

When asked to comment on the news that he would be receiving a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, Ice-T said that he thought it was ironic that he went from being arrested on the streets of Hollywood to being honored on those same streets.

The post above reflects the thoughts and observations of New Jersey 101.5 weekend host Big Joe Henry. Any opinions expressed are Big Joe’s own.

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