Birth name Joseph Williams, Jr Years active 1986–present | Name Joseph Williams Jr Role Rapper | |
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Born June 22, 1965 (age 58) ( 1965-06-22 ) Associated acts KRS-OneKurtis Mantronik Albums | ||
Just ice going way back
Joseph Williams Jr. (born June 22, 1965), better known by the stage name Just-Ice, is an American rapper from New York City.
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A former bouncer at punk clubs, Williams was the first of the New York rappers to embrace gangsta rap, and when he burst out of the Castle Hill neighborhood in the New York City borough of the Bronx as Just-Ice, he gained instant notoriety. Muscle-bound, tattooed, aggressive—he resembled Mike Tyson in more than just looks—and with a mouthful of gold teeth, he certainly stood out. His debut album Back to the Old School came out on the independent New York label Sleeping Bag, and certainly sounded like no other hip-hop album, thanks to his fast and forceful rhymes, Ben "Human DMX" Paynes's beatboxing, as well as the distinctive production of Mantronix's Kurtis Mantronik.
In 1986 he was charged with the murder of drug dealer Ludlaw DeSouza, but later proven innocent. His third album, The Desolate One (1989), had minor success in the United Kingdom, reaching no. 16 on the UK Independent Chart.
Williams relocated from the Ft. Greene area in Brooklyn to the Castle Hill section of the Bronx in his early adolescent years. He currently resides in the Bronx which he considers his hometown.