Split Decision: Life Stories

by Ice-T, Spike, Douglas Century

Overview

Award-winning actor, rapper, and producer Ice-T unveils a compelling memoir of his early life robbing jewelry stores until he found fame and fortune—while a handful of bad choices sent his former crime partner down an incredibly different path.

Ice-T rose to fame in the late 1980s, earning acclaim for his music before going on to enthrall television audiences as Odafin “Fin” Tutuola in Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. But it could have gone much differently.

In this “poignant and powerful” (Library Journal, starred review) memoir, Ice-T and Spike, his former crime partner—collaborating with New York Times bestselling author Douglas Century—relate the shocking stories of their shared pasts, and how just a handful of decisions led to their incredibly different lives. Both grew up in violent, gang-controlled Los Angeles neighborhoods and worked together to orchestrate a series of jewelry heists.

But while Ice-T was discovered rapping in a club and got his first record deal, Spike was caught for a jewelry robbery and did three years in prison. As his music career began to take off, Ice made the decision to abandon the criminal life; Spike continued to plan increasingly ingenious and risky jewel heists. And in 1992, after one of Spike’s robberies ended tragically, he was sentenced to thirty-five years to life. While he sat behind bars, he watched his former partner rise to fame in music, movies, and television.

“Propulsive” (Publishers Weekly, starred review), timely, and thoughtful, two men with two very different lives reveal how their paths might have very well been reversed if they made different choices. All it took was a split decision.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781982148782
Publisher:	Gallery Books
Publication date:	05/02/2023
Pages:	304
Sales rank:	442,311
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Ice-T is an award-winning rapper, actor, songwriter and producer. He released a string of groundbreaking rap albums in the 1980s and then formed the Grammy Award–winning metal band Body Count with high school friend and guitarist Ernie C. He has appeared in numerous films, including New Jack City, Ricochet, and Trespass. In his role as Detective Tutuola on NBC’s Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Ice holds the distinction of being the longest running male actor on any primetime drama in history. Through his music and lecture tours, Ice-T has become an influential spokesman for America’s youth. Follow him on Twitter @FinalLevel.

Spike, born in Los Angeles in 1962, first met Ice-T in the early 1980s and was an original member of Ice’s Rhyme Syndicate. He currently resides in LA and devotes much of his time to leading outreach programs aimed at at-risk youth.

Douglas Century is the author and coauthor of numerous bestsellers including Under and Alone, Hunting El Chapo, and Takedown: The Fall of the Last Mafia Empire, a finalist for the 2003 Edgar Award in the category of Best Fact Crime. A veteran investigative journalist, Century last collaborated with Ice-T on the acclaimed Ice: A Memoir of Gangster Life—From South Central to Hollywood.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 Don't Hate the Playa 1

Chapter 2 Cold Wind Madness 33

Chapter 3 6 'N the Mornin' 49

Chapter 4 The Syndicate 81

Chapter 5 High Rollers 101

Chapter 6 New Jack Hustler 117

Chapter 7 Body Count 135

Chapter 8 The Fall 155

Chapter 9 Bowels of the Devil 183

Chapter 10 The Weight 205

Chapter 11 My Mother's Son 221

Chapter 12 A Lick for My Life 247

Epilogue Split Decision 269

Acknowledgments 289

Credits 293

Editorial Reviews

★ 04/11/2022

Two paths diverge to beget staggeringly different tales in this potent dual narrative about the cost of living dangerously. With the help of journalist Century, rapper Ice-T and his former, literal partner-in-crime Spike deliver a propulsive chronicle of the choices that shaped their lives, beginning with the smash-and-grab jewelry robberies that brought the two together in L.A. in their early 20s in the early 1980s. “Armed only with baby sledgehammers,” Ice recalls, “we’d... smash the glass, filling bags with the loot and escaping without anyone in the store getting hurt.” But after the violence escalated and a car crash left him nearly dead, Ice stepped away, changed gears, and pursued his rap, and eventual acting, career. While Ice’s star was rising, Spike, blinded by “dollar signs,” chose to “keep speeding in the fast lane” and ended up in prison for a 1992 jewelry store heist that went awry when a member of his crew murdered a customer. As they chart their trajectories through alternating perspectives—with Ice eventually landing a recurring role on Law & Order: SVU and Spike serving 23 years behind bars before helping at-risk youth after his release—what unfolds is less a story of redemption than a raw testament to life’s consequential decisions. This grave and astonishing account will leave fans in awe. (July)

Publishers Weekly

"A propulsive chronicle...This grave and astonishing account will leave fans in awe."—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"Poignant and powerful, this work will resonate with a wide audience."—Library Journal (starred review)

“An astounding and provocative tale....A powerful memoir of diverging lives.”—Booklist

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

"Split Decision is a thrilling read. It’s also a reminder that our choices determine the type of person we can become, but we also have the ability to change. No one deserves a permanent label if they’re willing to put in the work." —Spin Magazine

From the Publisher

★ 04/01/2022

In this two-voice memoir cowritten by Douglas Century (coauthor, Under and Alone), rapper and actor Ice-T and his friend Spike look back on the choices that led them down different paths. Living for the moment, the two robbed Los Angeles jewelry stores. However, Ice-T started to get into the music industry and realized that if he didn't go straight, he would be jeopardizing his future. Meanwhile, Spike, an aspiring musician himself, continued masterminding heists until 1992, when one ended tragically and he was sentenced to 35 years to life in the California detention system. While Ice-T recalls his rise in music, film, and television, Spike discusses his journey to self-discovery and redemption, which eventually led to his parole after more than 20 years in prison. The dual narrative is compelling and reflective. Ice-T and Spike give voice to growing up in Los Angeles in the 1970s and 1980s, amid gang violence, with few ways out of poverty. Although readers know how life turns out for each narrator, they'll still root for both Spike and Ice-T and share in their joys, fears, struggles, and triumphs. VERDICT Poignant and powerful, this work will resonate with a wide audience: rap and Law {}amp; Order fans, young adults, and readers of memoir.—Rebekah J. Buchanan

Library Journal

2022-04-25
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.

Kirkus Reviews