SPLIT DECISION

A joint memoir from rapper and actor Ice-T and his former partner in crime.

Ice-T (born Tracy Morrow) has been ahead of the cultural curve his entire career, so it’s hardly surprising that this collaboration takes multiverse storytelling conventions and applies them to nonfiction. The result is much more than a gritty, Sliding Doors–style story. Though he has been in the public eye for decades, Ice-T, whose two-decade-plus portrayal of detective Fin Tutuola on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit made him the longest-running Black actor in TV history, is a relatively private guy. Ice-T opens up about being orphaned at age 12 and being quickly attracted to the trappings of criminal life, where he began working on jewelry store heists with his friend Spike. His love of hip-hop was connected to that life, but once he started drawing attention for his music, he realized he had to make a choice, and he chose music. “I’m going to show you the glamour and fast money that entice cats to want to be players, but also how they end up getting shot, overdosing, doing life in prison,” he writes. “There are no success stories among gangsters and players unless, like me, they manage to get out in time. No one’s invincible. You stay in the game long enough and you will go to prison or get killed.” Spike chose to stay in the game longer, telling himself he would get out after he had saved enough money to comfortably focus on his music. Spike got caught and went to prison, while Ice-T went on to fame and fortune. What makes their fascinating stories so effective is that neither one is told with any judgment or jealousy. They both own their decisions and recognize the consequences, good and bad.

This well-crafted memoir is a bracing reminder of how a few choices can separate success from a troubled life.