Rhyme Pays

by Ice-T

Rhyme Pays cover art
  • Type: Album
  • Released: 4 November 1987
  • Label: Sire
  • Country: United States
  • Length: 1:01:30
  • Community rating: 3.41/5 from 3 ratings

Album Notes & Community Reviews

Widely acknowledged as one of the earliest defining documents of West Coast gangsta rap, Ice-T's debut heavily samples rock music to create a sparse, menacing sonic backdrop. The unfiltered narratives of street violence and crime explicitly shifted hip-hop's focus away from party aesthetics toward stark, uncompromised urban realism.

Genres

Descriptors: Gangsta, crime, rhythmic, drugs, sampling, noisy, rap, street, old-school, funky, gangsta

Tracklist

  1. Intro / Rhyme Pays (6:30)
  2. 6 'N the Mornin' (3:44)
  3. Make It Funky (5:10)
  4. Somebody Gotta Do It (Pimpin' Ain't Easy!!!) (3:04)
  5. 409 (5:22)
  6. I Love Ladies (4:45)
  7. Sex (2:58)
  8. Pain (3:36)
  9. Squeeze the Trigger (6:14)
  10. Make It Funky - 12" Mix (5:57)
  11. Sex - Bonus Beat (3:52)
  12. Somebody Gotta Do It (Pimpin' Ain't Easy!!!) - 12" Mix (3:28)
  13. Our Most Requested Record - Long Version (6:43)

Credits

  • DJ Evil E - scratches
  • Emanon - human beatbox

More from Ice-T: full discography