- Darlene Ortiz is a Mexican vixen who is referred to as the first hip hop vixen
- She was in a 17-year relationship with American rapper Ice T from her teenage years
- Ortiz released a ‘tell it all’ book years after the end of her relationship with Ice T where she spilled all about their relationship.
Darlene Ortiz became a sensation as an iconic image at a very early age in her life. This came to be when she posed for the cover of Ice T’s ‘Rhyme Pays’ and ‘Power’ albums. She is known as the girlfriend and one of the baby mamas of the famous American rapper, Ice T.
Tracy Lauren Marrow, popularly known as Ice T got mesmerized by the beauty he met and instantaneously got drawn to her. In no time, Darlene Ortiz became a huge source of inspiration to the rapper.
The ‘Syndicate Queen’ as she came to be called was very close to the rapper with whom she had a romantic relationship for almost two decades. Apart from being his lover, she grew to have her own interests and professional pursuits. Nonetheless, she also managed to still be involved in her husband’s businesses.
Brief Insights On How Darlene Ortiz Grew Up
Darlene Ortiz was born on 26 February 1967 and is Mexican. She grew up with her parents at different times of her life and although her mother got child support for her, she wasn’t close to her.
According to interviews with the Mexican, she stated that she had older sisters who ran away from home. At different ages, her sisters all ran away from their mother who wasn’t an easy person to live with.
Ortiz was the youngest of her siblings and so had to live with her mother Rose for longer than her other siblings. However, she also experienced what it felt like to live with her father who was way cooler than her mother.
Mr. Pete Ortiz, Darlene’s father was her closest pal and confidant. He used to rope his youngest daughter into his activities like biking as he was a biker. Although he had no plans of making her a tomboy, Ortiz taught his daughter a lot. She learned to ride bikes and go hunting and fishing with him.
Speaking of how cool her dad was, she stated that he was in support of all she did. When she began to date her boyfriend as a teen, he did not chastise her. Ortiz was only concerned about her wellbeing. Other decisions she took while in her relationship, he did not scold her for. On the contrary, Mr. Ortiz was quite supportive of his daughter and her plans.
Growing up as an underage teenager, Darlene began to do things behind her mother’s back. She would sneak out for parties as she loved to dance. However, she never got wayward as she believed it would affect her dreams.
Apart from her father, the Mexican was also close to her grandparents. She mentioned her grandmother and grandfather during an interview. Ice T’s former girlfriend respected her grannies a lot and revered their opinions on situations.
The 57 year old has over the years lost her parents and is now without the support of her beloved father. Sometimes she had to fight back tears when talking about him because of how close she was close to her father and paternal relatives.
Some Information about Darlene Ortiz You Would Love to Know
1. Darlene Ortiz Met Rapper Ice T When she was 17 Years
A huge lover of dance and having fun, Darlene was in the 1980s that she found herself in a place that would change her life forever. She met Tracy in 1984 at Radiotron which is located in Los Angeles.
At the legendary venue, Ice T was the MC of the house and there was reportedly filming of Breakin’ going on there. When the MC caught a glimpse of the Mexican fun lover, he was instantly taken by her and sought to make his move.
Ice T began his conversation with the then 17-year-old with compliments which made Darlene feel special and unique. At the time, she wasn’t exposed to men outside her age bracket and so his flirting was new to her.
Marrow however did not make it seem like he was interested in a relationship with her from the get-go. Instead, he stated that he wanted her to be part of his ongoing project and be on the cover of his album. This offer Darlene agreed to and was even excited about.
Moving on, they began to date and it wasn’t until two years after that Ice T put out the album which featured her on the cover as promised. It is important to note at this point that the girlfriend of the rapper was a whole 10 years younger than he was.
The age difference between them did not deter their love as they were together for 17 years. She got to learn a lot of things from him and he was sort of a father figure to her although she still had her father then.
On Tracy’s end, Darlene Ortiz was his ‘ride of die’. Ortiz was his muse and was one who concerned herself with his business. She helped him handle a lot and even won the title of ‘Syndicate Queen’ as she was part of the Syndicate Empire.
2. Darlene Ortiz is the First Hip Hop Vixen
With her photo up on the cover of Ice T’s albums, she has been referred to as the first hip-hop vixen. At the time the gangsta rapper put out his first project featuring her on the cover, there was nothing like that in the Hip Hop scene.
With this, Darlene got very popular, especially with the way she appeared on the cover. The ex-girlfriend of Tracy Marrow was barely clad wearing just a swimsuit. This image, according to some people back then including hip hop heads, was very appealing.
Soon after this, a couple of other rap artists began to adopt the idea and use women to decorate the covers of their albums. Ortiz was also featured in some rap videos especially those of her then-boyfriend.
3. She has a Son with Ice T
Through the 17 years Darlene shared with rapper Ice T, she had a son with him. Ice Tracy Marrow Jr. Darlene’s son was born November 23, 1991, 7 years into her relationship with Ice. Ortiz was 24 when she got pregnant and had her son when she was 25 years old. She had always wanted kids of her own so she could be a better mother than her own mother.
To prove this, she wasn’t shy to change certain things about herself as she noticed her son wasn’t comfortable with them. Something she had to tone down on was her dressing style.
Ice Tracy Jr. is the rapper’s first son and has grown to be an independent man who works to surpass his father’s heights. He is an entrepreneur who sells business names. Additionally, Ice Jr. flies planes, plays poker and golf, and from his Instagram bio, he seems to have gotten into hip hop as well as he calls himself a ‘Trap Nigga’.
Tracy Jr. is purportedly the only son of the vixen as she remained single for a couple of years after her relationship with the rapper ended. She confessed that Ice T raised the bar so high, that it became difficult for her to date someone below par and so she remained single for a long while.
However, Ice moved on and got into another relationship. He is presently married to a woman known as Coco Austin with whom he has a daughter. His daughter with his wife, Coco T named Chanel Nicole Marrow was born in 2015. Ice T also has a daughter from his first relationship.
The rapper had a daughter with his high school sweetheart known as Adrienne while they were still teenagers. The name of his daughter with Adrienne is LeTesha Marrow and they raised her through their high school. LeTesha was born on March 20, 1976.
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4. Darlene is More Than a Celebrity Ex-girlfriend
In addition to being a lover of hip hop and an iconic figure in the genre of music, she also loved to keep fit. When she had her son, she decided to become healthier and help other mothers and women too.
Tracy Jr.’s mother loved managing her life as a mother and a fitness coach. Darlene ran a couple of fitness classes and was happy doing so. She stated that she loved taking her son to school, his baseball, and golf practices, and also juggling her career as a fitness guru.
Additionally, she worked as a radio personality and a songwriter. According to some sources, Darlene worked as a radio personality when she met the father of her son.
5. She Wrote a Book about her Relationship with her Ex-boyfriend
Darlene Ortiz and Ice T still have a good relationship going on. She however admitted that she wished their relationship was better than it was, in an interview. Though their son is about 31 years as of 2022, they still have him joining them together.
In addition to this, Darlene and her ex-boyfriend shared a long and beautiful relationship that cannot be easily forgotten. However, Ortiz saw a need to write a book about her life, childhood, and what it felt like to fall in love with a hip-hop gangsta. She admitted that though Tracy worked as a part-time pimp at the time of their meeting, he acted differently with her.
Darlene Ortiz represented all these in her book ‘Definition of Down: My Life with Ice T & the Birth of Hip Hop’. The book is a memoir as much as a ‘tell it all’ as Ortiz spilled all there was about her childhood, relationship with the rapper, their businesses together, and eventual breakup.
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