Victor Ray Wilson (February 20, 1959 – April 30, 1996), better known as Beatmaster V, was an American musician and drummer of

metal A metal (from Greek μέταλλον ''métallon'', "mine, quarry, metal") is a material that, when freshly prepared, polished, or fractured, shows a lustrous appearance, and conducts electricity and heat relatively well. Metals are typicall ...

band

Body Count A body count is the total number of people killed in a particular event. In combat, a body count is often based on the number of confirmed kills, but occasionally only an estimate. Often used in reference to military combat, the term can also r ...

Early life

Wilson grew up in South Central, Los Angeles, and attended

Crenshaw High School Crenshaw High School is a four-year public secondary school in the Los Angeles Unified School District, located on 11th Avenue in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. The school first opened in 1968 and currently enrolls aroun ...

with Ice-T and

Ernie C Ernie Cunnigan (born June 10, 1959), better known by his stage name Ernie C, is an American musician best known as the guitarist of rap metal band Body Count. Early life Cunnigan grew up in Compton, California and attended Crenshaw High School ...

. As a musician he participated in music wherever he could, including church music with his local church. In his community and church, as a youth, Beatmaster V practiced drums and other instruments. He excelled in his musical ability at an early age. By the time he was 11 years old he played with the blues musician

Lou Rawls Louis Allen Rawls (December 1, 1933 – January 6, 2006) was an American record producer, singer, composer and actor. Rawls released more than 60 albums, sold more than 40 million records, and had numerous charting singles, most notably his s ...

, as a drummer. He continued on and took drum classes, and built more musical skill playing with various musicians like Ernie C.

Music career

Along with guitarist Ernie C, vocalist Ice-T, bassist Mooseman and rhythm guitarist D-Roc, Wilson formed the heavy metal band Body Count during the recording of Ice-T's fourth hip hop album, ''

O.G. Original Gangster ''O.G. Original Gangster'' is the fourth studio album by American rapper Ice-T, released May 14, 1991 by Sire Records. Recording took place from July 1990 to January 1991 in Los Angeles, California. Its production was handled by seven producers: ...

''. Musically, later, after their many days of rehearsing and performing, Beatmaster V and Ernie C. ended up in the same L.A. band, Body Count. The band was founded by Ice T. & the other bandmates. After initially presenting the Body Count band sounds in L.A. clubs and venues Body Count went on to perform in the original

Lollapalooza Lollapalooza (Lolla) is an annual American four-day music festival held in Grant Park in Chicago. It originally started as a touring event in 1991 but several years later made Chicago the permanent location for the annual music festival. Musi ...

), & many other events and places across America & around the world.

Death

Wilson died of

leukemia Leukemia ( also spelled leukaemia and pronounced ) is a group of blood cancers that usually begin in the bone marrow and result in high numbers of abnormal blood cells. These blood cells are not fully developed and are called ''blasts'' or ' ...

in 1996. Jonathon James, a family member, played with Bodycount as a backup drummer on the album '' Violent Demise: The Last Days'' in place of Wilson.

References

1959 births 1996 deaths Musicians from Los Angeles African-American drummers African-American rock musicians Place of death missing Place of birth missing American heavy metal drummers Body Count (band) members Deaths from leukemia American rock drummers 20th-century American drummers American male drummers Deaths from cancer in the United States Crenshaw High School alumni 20th-century American male musicians {{US-rock-drummer-stub