Rhyme Pays  by Ice-T

The 1987 album Rhyme Pays was the debut of rapper Tracy Lauren Marrow, also known as Ice-T from New Jersey, who built his career on the West Coast of the U.S. and was a pioneer of what would be called gangsta rap. Musically, Rhyme Pays is a typical mid-1980s hip hop album. Samples from funk and rock hits, drum machines, and synthesizers. The title track contains samples from Mike Oldfield's Tubular Bells and Black Sabbath's War Pigs (!), while Make It Funky "leans" on the 1971 James Brown track of the same name.

What makes a difference is the hard-hitting lyrics of the songs, lyrics full of sex, gangs, violence, and bravado. The 6 In The Mornin' and its lyrics as the first single from the album felt like a punch in the face at the time of its release. Thus, those who consider it the first gangsta rap album have many reasons to support this view.

Rhyme Pays entered the Billboard Top-100, reaching No.93. Over the years, with the dominance of gangsta rap, the album managed to achieve gold status in the U.S. as it sold over 500,000 copies.