Classic Verse: Ice-T’s “6 ‘n the Morning” (Video & Lyrics)

Since he's now more well known for an (incredibly ironic) run playing a cop on "Law & Order", and his marriage to former Payboy bunny Coco, than his raps, it's easy to forget just how major Ice-T was back in the day, but lately I've been playing a lot of old school Ice, like his hallmark cut "6 'n the Morning" off his 1987 debut "Rhyme Pays", and let me tell you, the man could rhyme.

Lyrics are underneath the video:

"6'n the morning' police at my door
Fresh Adidas squeak across the bathroom floor
Out the back window I make a escape
Don't even get a chance to grab my old school tape
Mad with no music but happy 'cause I'm free
And the streets to a player is the place to be
Gotta knot in my pocket weighin' at least a grand
Gold on my neck my pistols close at hand
I'm a self-made monster of the city streets
Remotely controlled by hard hip hop beats
But just livin' in the city is a serious task
Didn't know what the cops wanted
Didn't have the time to ask."

When most people think about the advent of west coast storytelling rap they think about tracks like Eazy-E's "Boyz in the Hood" - or more accurately the rhymes Ice Cube wrote for Eazy, but the truth is Ice-T laid the blueprint for the gangsta storytelling rhyme that emcees like Snoop would later follow. I'll gladly argue that "6'n the morning' police at my door / Fresh Adidas squeak across the bathroom floor" is one of the best openings to any rap song, and while the opening verse is classic in its own right, Ice goes on for an incredible nine verses, eventually ending the tale at, of course, six in the morning the next day. Now that's some classic shit.