Tracy Lauren Marrow, born February 16, 1958, records as Ice-T. Born in Newark, New Jersey, and orphaned by the time he was in his early teens, he moved to Los Angeles to live with an aunt, attended Crenshaw High School and served four years in the U.S. Army before turning to music. He signed to Sire Records in 1987 for Rhyme Pays, founded Rhyme $yndicate Records, and released Power, The Iceberg, O.G. Original Gangster and Home Invasion, work that helped define West Coast gangsta rap. He co-founded the heavy metal band Body Count in 1990, and their song "Cop Killer" set off a national political controversy in 1992. He has played Detective Odafin Tutuola on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit since 2000, one of the longest-running roles in American television.