Editing Body Count (band) (section)

==Artistry==
===Lyrics===
Ice-T's lyrics focus on reality-based themes, including gang life, because he felt it would be scarier than the fantasy-based horror themes of most heavy metal bands.<ref name=IceCentury-127/> The band's third album, ''[[Violent Demise: The Last Days]]'', featured album cover art depicting the hand signs of these gangs.<ref name=IceCentury-127/> According to Ice-T, "We named the group Body Count because every Sunday night in L.A., I'd watch the news, and the newscasters would tally up the youths killed in gang homicides that week and then just segue to sports. 'Is that all I am,' I thought, 'a body count?'"<ref name="IceOpinion"/>

When the band's debut album was released, Ice-T defined it as being "a rock album with a rap mentality".<ref name="Dellamora">{{cite book |last=Dellamora |first=Richard |title=Postmodern Apocalypse: Theory and Cultural Practice at the End |year=1995 |publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press |isbn=0-8122-1558-3 }}</ref> Like Ice-T's hip hop albums, the group's material focused on various social and political issues, with songs focusing on topics ranging from police brutality to drug abuse. Ernie C has stated that "We were just a band that played the songs that we knew how to write. Everybody writes about whatever they learned growing up, and we were no exception. Like the [[Beach Boys]] sing about the beach, we sing about the way we grew up."<ref name="MorningCall">{{cite news |last=Yoxheimer |first=Aaron |title=Despite a high body count of its own, band is a survivor |url=https://www.popmatters.com/pm/article/despite-a-high-body-count-of-its-own-band-is-a-survivor |newspaper=[[The Morning Call]] |date=April 6, 2007 |access-date=October 9, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090704022047/http://www.popmatters.com/pm/article/despite-a-high-body-count-of-its-own-band-is-a-survivor|url-status=dead |archive-date=July 4, 2009}}</ref>

While a good portion of Body Count's lyrics are current issues, Ice-T notes that he also considers Body Count "[[grindhouse]]", and that some of the songs are humorous exaggerations of violence;<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GuBBSZCMC9s|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231022043739/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GuBBSZCMC9s|url-status=dead|archive-date=October 22, 2023|title=The Jasta Show #500 - Ice T (Body Count)|publisher=YouTube|date=February 1, 2020|author=The Jasta Show}}</ref> he also expects fans to be able to tell the difference.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_5mTKl2ie0 | archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211116/Y_5mTKl2ie0| archive-date=2021-11-16 | url-status=live|title=Body Count 'Carnivore' Q&A with Ice-T |publisher=[[YouTube]] |date=March 4, 2020 |access-date=March 15, 2020}}{{cbignore}}</ref>

===Music===
Body Count's musical style derives from the dark, ominous tones of traditional [[Heavy metal music|heavy metal]] bands such as [[Black Sabbath]] and [[thrash metal]] bands such as [[Slayer]],<ref name=IceCentury-127>{{cite book |last1=Marrow |first1=Tracy |last2=Century |first2=Douglas |title=Ice: A Memoir of Gangster Life and Redemption—from South Central to Hollywood |year=2011 |publisher=Random House |isbn=978-0-345-52328-0 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/icememoirofgangs00icet/page/127 127–140] |chapter=Freedom of Speech |chapter-url-access=registration |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/icememoirofgangs00icet/page/127 }}</ref> as well as [[hardcore punk]]'s aggressiveness. According to Ernie C, "We wanted to be a big [[punk rock|punk]] band [...] Our first record is almost a punk record."<ref name="MorningCall"/> The presence of a rapper in a heavy metal band has been credited for paving the way for the rise of [[rap metal]] and [[nu metal]],<ref>{{cite web|title=Body Count's Ice-T Talks Shit but Does the Shooting|url=http://decibelmagazine.com/blog/featured/body-counts-ice-t-talks-shit-but-does-the-shooting|website=Decibel Magazine|access-date=May 2, 2015|date=June 4, 2014|quote=Back in the day, Body Count was categorized as "rap metal" or "nu metal." Manslaughter sounds like just a straight-up metal album, without the hip-hop tropes that -- because of your background (and ethnicity) -- the band was initially categorized by.|archive-date=March 3, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303204619/http://decibelmagazine.com/blog/featured/body-counts-ice-t-talks-shit-but-does-the-shooting|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Metcalf|first1=Metcalf|editor1-last=Turner|editor1-first=Will|title=Rapper, Writer, Pop-Cultural Player: Ice-T and the Politics of Black Cultural Production|publisher=Ashgate Publishing Company|page=109|quote=Moreover, the band's second album, 'Born Dead,' released on Virgin Records in September 1994, peaked at a lowly 74. Upon its release, the Los Angeles Times remarked that 'it's time to pull the plug on this genre [of rap-metal]. The novelty has worn off.'}}</ref><ref name="CNN">{{cite news |url=http://www.cnn.com/SHOWBIZ/Music/9910/27/ice.t/ |title=No thaw for rapper Ice T |access-date=October 9, 2007 |last=Freydkin |first=Donna |date=October 27, 1999 |publisher=CNN |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050212155357/http://www.cnn.com/SHOWBIZ/Music/9910/27/ice.t/ |archive-date=February 12, 2005}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Taylor |first=Steve |title=A to X of Alternative Music |year=2006 |publisher=Continuum International Publishing Group |isbn=978-0-8264-8217-4 |page=127 |chapter=Ice-T }}</ref> even though Ice-T does not [[rapping|rap]] in most Body Count songs and considers it to solely be a rock band.<ref name=IceCentury-127/> According to Ernie C, "A lot of rappers want to be in a rock band, but it has to be done sincerely. You can't just get anybody on guitar and expect it to work. [...] Ice and I, on the other hand, really loved the music we were doing, and it showed."<ref name="MorningCall"/>