FIRESTORM “We never, ever, ever expected it to get that type of response.

BODY COUNT’S ICE-T AND ERNIE C LOOK BACK ON THE MAKING OF — AND REACTION TO — THEIR POLARIZING SELF-TITLED 1992 DEBUT ALBUM

- BRAD ANGLE

30 years ago, in April 1992, Los Angeles was a powder keg. Tensions between minority communities and law enforcement had reached critical mass as the city, and nation, waited for the verdict of the highly publicized trial of four LAPD officers charged with using excessive force during their arrest of African American motorist Rodney King.

The violent incident — during which police repeatedly beat King with batons after pulling him over for speeding and evading arrest — was, unfortunately, a familiar reality for many citizens within Los Angeles’ Black and minority neighborhoods. For years, discriminatory drug laws, aggressive policing and a general lack of accountability for those in power had become a way of life.