Was the C&C Music Factory rapper actually Ice-T?

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"We work hard, we play hard" said the 'festive' steel workers in the Simpsons, shortly before their workplace became the Anvil and the sounds of C&C Music Factory's Everybody Dance Now rang out.

But was their rapper actually Ice-T under an assumed name? Doesn't half sound like him. From my dim recollections of their videos, you never got to see the rapping gentleman, and it could very easily have been a lip-synching Ice-T stand-in.

― M Carty (mj_c), Friday, 5 November 2004 08:48 (twenty-one years ago)

No, it's not Ice-T.

Yes, you see him quite clearly in the videos.

He went by the name Freedom Williams.

Though whether the man in the video is the man on the record may require further research, considering C+C's history.

― Dan Selzer (Dan Selzer), Friday, 5 November 2004 09:04 (twenty-one years ago)

Didn't Freedom Williams put out his own album near the end of his fifteen minutes?

It was possibly only a dream/nightmare.

― Johnny Fever (johnny fever), Friday, 5 November 2004 10:07 (twenty-one years ago)

Nope, not a dream.

AMG says it came out in 1993 and was titled, originally enough, Freedom.

― Johnny Fever (johnny fever), Friday, 5 November 2004 10:11 (twenty-one years ago)

I've seen it in bargain bins and rememeber seeing the video for the single a few times. Can't remember anything about it.

― edward o (edwardo), Friday, 5 November 2004 10:13 (twenty-one years ago)

Were he and Ice-T ever seen in the same room then?

― M Carty (mj_c), Friday, 5 November 2004 10:24 (twenty-one years ago)

Years later Freedom guest starred in an episode of The Red Shoe Diaries. I seem to recall his career nosedived after he was outed, but I may be remembering that wrong.

― Jeremy (Jeremy), Friday, 5 November 2004 11:06 (twenty-one years ago)

"Homosexual MCs recieve five mics in bizarro world."

― El-P (AaronHz), Friday, 5 November 2004 12:13 (twenty-one years ago)

Haha, dammit except after c (&c).

― From a Land of Grass Without Mirrors (AaronHz), Friday, 5 November 2004 12:32 (twenty-one years ago)

Ha ha, Freedom Williams. I had totally forgotten, that's great.

― 57 7th (calstars), Saturday, 6 November 2004 03:57 (twenty-one years ago)

i like the idea it was ice t. i like the idea of hardcore rappers moonlighting on "pop" tunes. i always laugh at the idea of mariah feat ODB. then i realise they're BOTH nuts.

― bulbs (bulbs), Saturday, 6 November 2004 07:52 (twenty-one years ago)

"mom i need $5 to buy the new mariah carey featuring OLD DIRTY BASTARD single"

― bulbs (bulbs), Saturday, 6 November 2004 07:53 (twenty-one years ago)

"One for Sorrow" Steps feat Scarface

― bulbs (bulbs), Saturday, 6 November 2004 07:56 (twenty-one years ago)

eleven years pass...

https://thump.vice.com/en_us/article/cc-music-factory-everybody-dance-now-copyright-battle-freedom-williams

According to Colorado-based intellectual property lawyer Shirin Chahal, Williams was able to claim C&C Music Factory's trademark rights because he had toured with the name in the late 90s and early 2000s. "If Williams was touring nationally and his music under the C&C Music Factory name was getting national-wide play—radio, clubs, wherever—he would have a great position that he established common law trademark rights," Chahal explains.

― PappaWheelie V, Thursday, 6 October 2016 19:51 (nine years ago)

The dude is my ex's uncle. It was always so surreal seeing Freedom Williams commenting on her Facebook posts.

― The Butthole, The Whole Butthole, and Nothing But The Butthole (Old Lunch), Thursday, 6 October 2016 20:02 (nine years ago)

the old-guard rapper's lack of delight and evolution as real people on facebook is something I've experienced up close and personal these past few years

but you probably do have access to every one of 'Dome's flyers, published w/ time stamps showing which brand he marketed himself and when

― PappaWheelie V, Thursday, 6 October 2016 20:09 (nine years ago)

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