On Sept. 13, 1988, Ice-T dropped his sophomore album Power.

Produced by Ice-T and Afrika Islam, the 13-track album peaked at #35 on the Billboard 200 and further cemented Ice-T's place as an in-your-face storyteller, following his 1987 debut, Rhyme Pays. The album cover for Power was a statement in itself, featuring a woman in a bikini (his then-girlfriend Darlene Ortiz) holding a sawed-off shotgun.

“People forget – especially when they see my solo picture – underneath our three poses it says ‘Power,’” Ortiz told HipHopDx about the cover in 2016. “People forget that’s what it was representing. I’m very proud."

Led by the single "I'm Your Pusher," Ice-T delivers an anti-drug message and one of his signature songs over a Curtis Mayfield sample. The song is especially significant, as it was released as crack was snaking its way into Black communities, destroying everything it touched. The video features cameos by DJ Red Alert and Big Daddy Kane, and Ice-T rhymes, "The dope I'm selling you don't smoke / You feel out in the dance floor on my world tour / I'm selling dope in each and every record store."

The album's other single, "High Rollers," was a warning shot to hustlers. "Yeah the high rollers, street hustlers/Fast money, fast life/But you don't care, 'til you end up with a bullet in your head, boy/People of the city, stop foolin' yourself/Crime rules the streets, who the hell else," he raps.

Released during the uptick of street albums coming out of L.A., namely by N.W.A., Power is an important album in establishing the west coast's early 90s rap sound.