Editing Body Count (band) (section)

===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>