Ice-T

A successful 80s music producer turned wealthy stockbroker is drawn out of is longtime funk by a classically trained dancer who reignites his passion in life in director Fred Williamson's gritty psychological drama. Ricardo French (Richard Brooks) has long fallen out of the limelight. His days as a flashy musical producer are but a distant memory, and these days recovering alcoholic Ricardo directs most of his energy into staying sober. Richard has grown detached, but that all starts to change when he meets Lexie (Cindy Herron Braggs). Lexie is a classically trained dancer who has been forced into servitude for shady nightclub owner Rashid (Ice-T). The moment Richard sees Lexie take the stage, he's inspired again. Not only does he go back to writing music, but he makes it his mission to prove that he can still pen an undisputed hit. Yet as Richard makes his way back to the top, Lexie is being pulled beneath the undertow by the abusive ex-husband who's threatening to take her daughter away. Will these two lost souls be able to meet on a common ground, or are they destined to remain two passing ships in the night? ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

True to its title, this cable-TV vehicle for popular recording artist Ice-T found the eponymous star conducting classes in rap music. Adding extra spice to the mix was the fact that all of Ice-T's pupils were wealthy eighth-grade students attending York Prep, a private school located in New York City's fashionable Upper West Side. As was often the case in such reality series, the students (only one of whom was African-American) were identified either by their first names (Dodge, Sophia, Phil, Mary, Sam, Leir, Erin, Arielle) or by the "stage names" imposed upon them by Ice-T. The star's task was to hone the kids' singing, dancing, and rhyming skills to the point that they would be able to function as opening act for rap group Public Enemy at "BB King's" in New York. Although "culture clash" was the order of the day, a lighthearted and good-natured ambience pervaded the whole project. In one episode, for example, the kids face the prospect of a visit to the South Bronx with abject terror, only to have the time of their lives upon arrival. Ice-T's Rap School made its VH1 debut on October 17, 2006. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Clap features hip-hop artists talking about the tricks they learned that help them survive their difficult childhoods, often spent involved in street life. Among the artists featured are Maino, Ice T, Camron, and Young Buc. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide

Season six of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, gets off to a powerful (and timely) start with the episode "Birthright," about a disreputable fertility doctor who plans to rob an embryo bank for his own purposes. Several subsequent episodes likewise showcase "respectable" authority figures who are anything but: "Debt" finds the SVU unit exposing a crooked immigration attorney who is involved in a prostitution ring, and "Obscene" features two teenagers whose lives are destroyed by publicity-hungry adults. This season also offers a number of personal shakeups for several familiar characters. For starters, Det. Elliot Stabler (Christopher Meloni) is bluntly informed that his wife has left him and taken the children in "Doubt." And former Assistant DA Alexandra Cabot (Stephanie March), presumed murdered by Colombian drug lords during the previous season, emerges from the Witness Protection Program to confront her enemies in "Ghost" -- thereby forcing Stabler and Det. Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay) to perjure themselves by claiming they were unaware that Cabot was still alive. In the season's most talked-about development, former Murder, She Wrote star Angela Lansbury is cast as the stern, cold-blooded mother of a rape suspect in "Night" -- the first episode of a two-part story which would be concluded on another branch of the Law & Order family tree, Law & Order: Trial by Jury. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

C-Walk: It's a Way of Living documents the dance craze known as C-Walk. Because the origins of the dance lie in gang initiation rituals, the move is shrouded in controversy. This film features prominent rap figures such as Snoop Dog, Warren G, Malik Yoba, and Ice-T as well as interviews with the Crip gang members who created the walk. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide

The SVU unit is confronted with a murder case yielding too many suspects and too many confessions in "Tragedy," the opening episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit's fifth season. Things take a truly disturbing turn a few episodes later in "Loss," wherein Assistant DA Alexandra Cabot's (Stephanie March) relentless prosecution of a murder tied in with a Colombian drug cartel results in her death -- or so it appears to the world. The next episode, "Serendipity," introduces Diane Neal as Cabot's replacement, ADA Casey Novak, who immediately develops an adversarial relationship with detectives Benson (Mariska Hargitay) and Stabler (Christopher Meloni). Novak's professional zeal is admirable, but she proves to have as many human flaws as anyone else in the series -- notably in the season finale, "Head," in which she lives to regret allowing a child molester to cop a plea and win a lighter sentence. Season five marks the series' 100th episode, "Control," about a mutilation victim who turns out to be a sexual predator and kidnapper -- leading to Benson being raked over the coals in court because she'd refused to heed the warnings of one of the predator's potential captives. Benson is also the focus of attention in "Escape"; trying to defuse a hostage situation involving an escaped convicted pedophile, the detective ends up concluding that the man was the innocent victim of widespread political and departmental corruption. In a similar vein, the SVU unit's skipper, Captain Cragen (Dann Florek), faces the grim possibility that he may have unwittingly railroaded a guiltless criminology professor on a rape-murder charge in the episode "Criminal." And like Cragen, Det. Munch (Richard Belzer) is forced to confront the demons of his own past while handling an assisted-suicide case in "Painless." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Rap artist-cum-actor Ice-T was both the producer and host of the weekly, 60-minute cable "reality" series Beyond Tough. In keeping with the "everyday hero" motif popularized during the dark days surrounding 9-11, the series focused on people who worked in dangerous and death-defying "everyday" jobs. Professions thus profiled included sulfur-pit workers, steeplejacks, and demolition experts. Even the streetwise Ice-T was in awe of these hardy souls, though he suggested that some of the on-the-edge professionals were "just crazy." Beyond Tough first aired on September 18, 2002. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Some rappers simply talk about the lifestyle, and other rappers live it. From his trying childhood in a crime-ridden New Orleans housing project to the nightclubs where he first began to develop his unique style on the microphone, rapper C-Murder returns to his roots to discover the influences and people to helped to drive his creativity. Hosted by legendary rapper Ice-T. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Formerly appearing on a recurring basis as forensic psychologist Dr. George Huang, B.D. Wong graduates to full series regular in "Chameleon," the opening episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit's fourth season. Among the year's best episodes are "Vulnerable," guest-starring former musical comedy ingenue Jane Powell as an elderly Alzheimer's victim who is misused by both a sexual predator and her own caregiver; "Disappearing Acts," in which the SVU team runs smack against the stone wall of the Witness Protection Program while tracking down a brutal rapist; "Waste," a compelling exploration of the dark side of stem-cell research; and "Risk," wherein the team must expose the rotten apples in their own police ranks to find out who caused the cocaine-related death of a baby. As in previous seasons, many of the plotlines are driven by the unique personalities of the principal characters. In "Mercy," for example, Assistant DA Alex Cabot (Stephanie March) finds herself sympathetic to a mother who euthanized her desperately ill daughter, and in "Pandora," Det. Elliot Stabler (Christopher Meloni) travels all the way to Prague to crack a difficult kidnapping case. Other episodes emulate the Law & Order "ripped from today's headlines" formula. Case in point: "Appearances," which is clearly inspired by the still-unsolved murder of JonBenet Ramsey. Season four ends with "Soulless," chronicling the frustrations of using the juvenile record of a suspect to arrest him for sex crimes committed as an adult. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

When the movie opens, John Kross (Mario Van Peebles) is a U.S. soldier on a covert mission deep inside Iraq on the eve of the Gulf War. What he sees from behind a sand dune is some sort of mysterious excavation, but things go badly and Kross is discovered and wounded. He awakens with vague memories of a baby being born and stolen -- and with hideous symbols carved into his torso. Years later, as a detective for the L.A.P.D., Kross' episode catches up with him when Tel-Al, an invisible, body-shifting supernatural entity, arrives in Los Angeles to claim the stolen child, now a young boy. Meanwhile, Kross is dealing with stopping the flow of a new street drug called Chaos, which is being sold by a malevolent disco owner (Ice-T) and is also connected to the Iraqi excavation that unloosed the evil spirit. The demon takes over Kross' partner's body (James Remar), just as Kross discovers the whereabouts of the boy who is "the chosen one." ~ Buzz McClain, All Movie Guide