LIST: 50 Best Singles Released Since 1971 #23

23. “New Jack Hustler,” Ice-T, 1991

Before becoming the scowl-iest detective on the NYPD, Ice-T was actually a musician! I know! Crazy! Not only that, he was one of the architects of the gangsta rap sound. His OG: Original Gangsta album is like a Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band of violent gang fantasy. The song “New Jack Hustler” appears on that album but was first heard on the soundtrack to the semi-classic New Jack City, the “black Scarface” featuring Wesley Snipes and Ice-T himself as a cop (a role considered so highly ironic back then…who knew?). The number of times I listened to that song, and the OG album itself, way back when cannot even be counted. So classic…where did you go, Ice-T? We miss you!

Favorite Lyric: “You don’t come here much, and you better not/Wrong move, BANG! Ambulance cot.”

Favorite Musical Moment: Well it’s all just a bunch of tasty sampling, isn’t it?

Would It Make Good Karaoke? Maybe, but if you’re singing the explicit version, you’re gonna piss off a whole bar with your frequent slinging of the “n-word”.