Ice T* - Ya Don't Quit

Released right on the cusp of his massive stylistic change, this might be the best record of early Ice T. As he mentioned in later tracks, this was the period when most of the West Coast was aiming for more of a NY style, but also embraced rapid, uptempo electro--Techno Hop and Electrobeat being two of the major labels of the time and genre. Ice later rhymed that he was trying to sound line someone else. His more laid-back gangsta style really came about with "6 In The Mornin", issued the same year as this record. But the very street "6 In The Mornin" sounds almost relaxed compared to this track. "Ya Don't Quit" is rapid-fire hard rhymes with a firm grip on the electro sound that dominated both the left coast and the Radio scene in LA that Ice came out of. The sound seems like a cross between Marley Marl on the drum machine, and the California electro rap sound. Evil E has a scratching portion, and Ice just raps the hell out of the track, in a breathless lyrical style that he only utilized in rare spots later on in his career. The sparsely programmed style uses very hard drums, and a few samples. It's an outstanding document, not only in that it shows how aggressive and varied Ice T could be, but in that it shows a period of time when a West Coast rapper struggled to find a style between East Coast rap, rock beats, electro beats, fast and verbose rapping style, and laid-back crime story/gangsta. As a big Ice T fan, this is unusual to be sure, but just as good as anything on "Original Gangster."

"This beat is crushin', end of discussion.."
"But the squares won't dance 'cause they just all fakes/ they can't understand the command of the breaks!"