I wonder what it is about this record that received so much backlash? Could it be that the pearl-clutching politicians and cops who don’t do a fucking thing for anyone except hold cities, elected officials, budgets, citizens, and businesses hostage unless they get what they want zeroed in on the title of one of the songs? Seriously, the police in one town refused to answer to calls to a record store if it carried this record. I wonder why no one gave a shit when coke head Eric Clapton covered I Shot The Sheriff? Props to Body Count for never backing down on what they stand for - and for even removing Cop Killer from subsequent pressings of this album because the controversy was overshadowing the main message - and gave the single away for free to prove they weren’t doing it for the money.
No matter what Dan Quayle wanted you to think, this is a crossover record, by a black band - not a hip hop album. Musically there are some ripping guitar solos, but is overall strongly lacking in solid riffs - and Ice-T kinda raps / yells over the music arrhythmically for the most part. If I could get over the vocals, I might be more into the music, but as a whole package it doesn’t work for me. Voodoo, for example, had potential to be a solid Venice-style crossover song, but it’s just too lackluster - there’s nuggets of potential but falls short. Some of songs can also be pretty dumb (see KKK Bitch, Evil Dick). I kinda like the slow, melodic anti-drug song “The Winner Loses” - but it would have been done better by Suicidal Tendencies: it’s like a longer, worse version of It’s Not Easy by Los Cycos / ST. Overall the record is just too long and too boring to hold my attention.
My version is shitty bootleg on red vinyl I overpaid for with pixelated artwork.