View source for Rhyme Pays

{{Infobox album
| name       = Rhyme Pays
| type       = studio
| artist     = [[Ice-T]]
| cover      = Ice-TRhymePays.jpg
| alt        =
| released   = July 28, 1987
| recorded   = 1986–87
| venue      =
| studio     =
| genre      = {{hlist|[[West Coast hip hop]]<ref name="allmusic.com">{{Cite web|url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/rhyme-pays-mw0000193869|title=Rhyme Pays - Ice-T &#124; Songs, Reviews, Credits &#124; AllMusic|website=[[AllMusic]]}}</ref>|[[hardcore hip hop]]<ref name="allmusic.com">{{Cite web|url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/rhyme-pays-mw0000193869|title=Rhyme Pays - Ice-T &#124; Songs, Reviews, Credits &#124; AllMusic|website=[[AllMusic]]}}</ref>|[[gangsta rap]]}}
| length     = 44:55
| label      = [[Sire Records|Sire]]
| producer   = [[Afrika Islam]]
| prev_title =
| prev_year  =
| next_title = [[Power (Ice-T album)|Power]]
| next_year  = 1988
| misc       = {{Singles
 | name        = Rhyme Pays
 | type        = studio
 | single1     = [[6 in the Mornin'|6 'N The Mornin']]
 | single1date = 1986
 | single2     = Make It Funky
 | single2date = 1987
 | single3     = Somebody Gotta Do It (Pimpin' Ain't Easy)
 | single3date = 1987
}}
}}

'''''Rhyme Pays''''' is the debut [[studio album]] by American rapper [[Ice-T]], released on July 28, 1987, by [[Sire Records]]. The album peaked at number 93 on the US [[Billboard 200|''Billboard'' 200]] and number 23 on the [[Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums]] charts, and was certified [[RIAA Certification|gold]] by the [[Recording Industry Association of America]] (RIAA).

== Music and lyrics ==
The album, especially tracks like "[[6 in the Mornin'|6 'N the Morning]]", is considered to have defined the [[gangsta rap]] genre. Ice-T claims that this would be his first [[hip hop music|hip hop]] album to be carrying a [[Parental Advisory|parental advisory]] warning label,<ref>{{cite book |author=Ice T |author2=Sigmund, Heidi  |title=The Ice Opinion |url=https://archive.org/details/iceopinionwhogiv00icet|url-access=registration|year=1994 |publisher=Pan/St. Martin's Press/Macmillan Books |isbn=0-330-33629-0 |page=[https://archive.org/details/iceopinionwhogiv00icet/page/163 163] }}</ref> although, it was years before the industry-standard explicit-lyrics sticker was developed and [[Too Short|Too $hort's]] first album that also had to be carried with an "Explicit Lyrics" warning back in 1985{{citation needed|date=March 2020}}. The 1988 CD release included four bonus tracks.

Ice-T stated on his autobiography that [[Seymour Stein]] took the exception to the song "409" for the line "''Guys grab a girl, girls grab a guy/If a guy wants a guy, please take it outside''", which he saw as homophobic.<ref name="Ice">{{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/100 100-101] |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/icememoirofgangs00icet/page/100 }}</ref> Ice-T insisted that those lines were not meant to be homophobic, but simply a statement of his own preferences.<ref name="Ice"/> An article by Dennis Hunt noted that this lyric "may rub gays the wrong way" in an interview on the album's release.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1987-08-02-ca-508-story.html|last=Hunt|first=Dennis|title=RHYME PAYS FOR ICE T|date=2 August 1987|access-date=11 February 2024|work=Los Angeles Times}}</ref> Ice-T would later become one of the first hardcore rappers to condemn homophobia.<ref>{{cite book|page=102|title=Spectacular Vernaculars: Hip-hop and the Politics of Postmodernism|last=Potter|first=Russel A.|year=1995|isbn=9780791426258|publisher=State University of New York Press|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=49GKBNxqWowC}}</ref>

== Critical reception ==
''[[Rolling Stone]]'' gave the album three stars. In a contemporary review for ''[[The Village Voice]]'', [[Robert Christgau]] gave ''Rhyme Pays'' a "B" and credited [[Afrika Islam|DJ Afrika Islam]] for helping flesh out Ice T's crime-themed raps: "Can't know whether his streetwise jabs at [[Ronald Reagan|Reagan]] and [[recidivism]] will make a permanent impression on his core audience, but his sexploitations and true crime tales are detailed and harrowing enough to convince anybody he was there."<ref>{{cite news|last=Christgau|first=Robert|author-link=Robert Christgau|date=February 23, 1988|url=http://www.robertchristgau.com/xg/cg/cgv2-88.php|title=Christgau's Consumer Guide|newspaper=[[The Village Voice]]|location=New York|access-date=April 26, 2016}}</ref> According to [[AllMusic]]'s Alex Henderson, who later gave the record three-and-a-half out of five stars, "the West Coast was well on its way to becomining a crucial part of hip-hop" when ''Rhyme Pays'' was released.<ref>{{cite web|last=Henderson|first=Alex|url=http://www.allmusic.com/album/rhyme-pays-mw0000193869|title=Rhyme Pays - Ice-T|publisher=[[AllMusic]]|access-date=April 26, 2016}}</ref> ''[[Los Angeles Times]]'' writer Dennis Hunt said the album helped popularize [[gangsta rap]].<ref>{{cite news|last=Hunt|first=Dennis|date=April 21, 1991|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-04-21-ca-572-story.html|title=POP MUSIC : Q & A : A Rapper Goes Hollywood : Can Ice-T, the pioneer of L.A.'s gangsta rap, keep his street edge now that he's moved far from the ghetto and into the movies?|newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]]|access-date=April 26, 2017}}</ref>

== Commercial performance ==
''Rhyme Pays'' debuted at number 93 on the US [[Billboard 200|''Billboard'' 200]] and number 26 on the ''Billboard'' [[Top R&B/Hip Hop Albums]] charts. It also became the first hip-hop album to be released on [[Sire Records|Sire]] and [[Warner Bros. Records]]. The album was eventually certified [[RIAA Certification|gold]] by the [[Recording Industry Association of America]] (RIAA) for sales of over 500,000 copies in the United States.

== Track listing ==
{{Track listing
| title1   = Intro/Rhyme Pays
| writer1  = Ice-T, Dave Storrs
| length1  = 6:30
| note1    = interpolates "[[Tubular Bells]]" and samples "[[War Pigs]]"
| title2   = [[6 in the Mornin'|6 'N The Mornin{{'-}}]]
| writer2  = Ice-T
| length2  = 3:44
| title3   = Make It Funky
| writer3  = Ice-T, [[James Brown]], Charles Bobbitt, [[MC Shan]]
| length3  = 5:10
| note3    = samples "[[Make It Funky]]"
| title4   = Somebody Gotta Do It (Pimpin' Ain't Easy)
| writer4  = Ice-T
| length4  = 3:04
| title5   = 409
| writer5  = Ice-T
| length5  = 5:22
| title6   = I Love Ladies
| writer6  = Ice-T
| length6  = 4:45
| title7   = Sex
| writer7  = Ice-T
| length7  = 2:58
| title8   = Pain
| writer8  = Ice-T
| length8  = 3:36
| title9   = Squeeze the Trigger
| writer9  = Ice-T
| length9  = 6:14
}}
{{Track listing
| headline        = CD bonus tracks
| title10  = Make It Funky
| note10   = 12" mix
| writer10 = Ice-T
| length10 = 5:57
| title11  = Sex
| note11   = "bonus beat"; instrumental
| writer11 = Ice-T
| length11 = 3:52
| title12  = Somebody Gotta Do It (Pimpin' Ain't Easy)
| note12   = 12" mix
| writer12 = Ice-T
| length12 = 3:28
| title13  = Our Most Requested Record
| note13   = long version; samples "[[Heartbreaker (Led Zeppelin song)|Heartbreaker]]" and "[[Whole Lotta Love]]"
| writer13 = Ice-T
| length13 = 6:43
}}

== Charts ==

===Weekly charts===
{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders"
|-
! Chart (1987)
! Peak<br />position
|-
|US [[Billboard 200|''Billboard'' 200]]
| style="text-align:center;"|93
|-
|US [[Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums]] (''Billboard'')
| style="text-align:center;"|26
|}

==Certifications==
{{Certification Table Top}}
{{Certification Table Entry|region=United States|type=album|artist=Ice-T|title=Rhyme Pays|award=Gold|relyear=1987|certyear=1991}}
{{Certification Table Bottom | nosales=true}}

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

{{Ice-T}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:1987 debut albums]]
[[Category:Albums produced by Afrika Islam]]
[[Category:Albums recorded at Unique Recording Studios]]
[[Category:Ice-T albums]]
[[Category:Sire Records albums]]

{{1980s-hiphop-album-stub}}