Vanilla Ice
Robert Matthew Van Winkle, known professionally as Vanilla Ice, is an American rapper, actor, and television host. Born in Dallas and raised in Miami, he was the first solo white rapper to achieve commercial success, following the 1990 release of his best-known hit "Ice Ice Baby". He is credited with breaking down racial barriers in rap and hip-hop for future white rappers, most notably Eminem.
Ice released his debut album, Hooked, on the independent Ichiban Records before signing a contract with SBK Records, a record label of the EMI Group, which released a reformatted version under the title To the Extreme; it became the fastest-selling hip hop album of all time and "Ice Ice Baby" was the first hip hop single to top the Billboard charts. Followed by the live album Extremely Live, Ice made a cameo appearance on the film Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze where he performed "Ninja Rap", which he co-wrote. He was soon offered and starred in his own film, Cool as Ice, which included the single "Cool as Ice " with Naomi Campbell; the film itself was a box office failure.
His fast rise in popularity was quickly marred by media controversies about his background. Ice later regretted his business arrangements with SBK, who had also published fabricated biographical information without his knowledge. Ice's second studio album, Mind Blowin', featured a major image change but was commercially unsuccessful. Following rap rock performances in the underground scene and playing in a local grunge band, Ice released the dark nu metal album Hard to Swallow, followed by the independently released Bi-Polar and Platinum Underground.
In the 2000s, Ice began appearing on television reality shows including The Surreal Life. In 2010, Ice began hosting The Vanilla Ice Project on DIY Network which ran for nine seasons until 2019. In 2022, he started another home improvement television program, The Vanilla Ice Home Show. He is also involved in motocross racing and real estate.
Early life
Robert Matthew Van Winkle was born in Dallas, Texas, on October 31, 1967. He has never known his biological father; he was given the family name of the man his mother was married to at the time of his birth. When Van Winkle was four, his mother divorced. Afterward, he grew up moving between Dallas and Miami, where his new stepfather worked at a car dealership. Van Winkle was affected by hip hop at an early age, saying "It's a very big passion of mine because I love poetry. I was just heavily influenced by that whole movement and it's molded me into who I am today." Between the ages of 13 and 14, Van Winkle practiced breakdancing, which led to his friends nicknaming him "Vanilla", as he was the only one in the group who was not black. Although he disliked the nickname, it stuck. Shortly afterward, Van Winkle started battle rapping at parties and because of his rhymes, his friends started calling him "MC Vanilla". However, when he became a member of a breakdance troupe, Van Winkle's stage name was "Vanilla Ice" combining his nickname "Vanilla" with one of his breakdance moves, "The Ice". When Ice's stepfather was offered a better job in Carrollton, Texas, he moved back to Texas with his mother. When Ice was not learning to ride motorbikes, he was dancing as a street performer with his breakdancing group, now called The Vanilla Ice Posse. Ice wrote "Ice Ice Baby" at the age of 16, basing its lyrics on a weekend he had with friend and disc jockey D-Shay in South Florida. The lyrics describe Ice and Shay on a drug run that ends in a drive-by shooting while praising Ice's rhyming skills. He attended R. L. Turner High School.Career
Early career (1985–1989)
In 1985, he was focusing all of his energy on motocross, winning three championships. After breaking his ankle during a race, Ice was not interested in racing professionally for some time, using his spare time to perfect his dance moves and creating his own while his ankle was healing. Ice used his beatboxing and breakdancing skills as a street performer with his friends at local malls during this time. One evening he visited City Lights, a South Dallas nightclub, where he was dared to go on stage by his friend Squirrel during an open-mic. He won the crowd over and was asked by City Lights manager John Bush if he wanted to perform regularly, which he accepted. Ice would be joined on stage by his disc jockeys D-Shay and Zero, as well as Earthquake, the local disc jockey at City Lights. The Vanilla Ice Posse or The V.I.P. would also perform with Ice on stage. As a performer for City Lights, Ice opened up for N.W.A, Public Enemy, The D.O.C., Tone Lōc, 2 Live Crew, Paula Abdul, Sinbad and MC Hammer.In January 1987, Ice was stabbed five times during a scuffle outside of City Lights. After spending ten days in the hospital, Ice signed a contract with the owner of City Lights, Tommy Quon, and his management company, Ultrax. Two years later, Ice would open for EPMD, Ice-T, Stetsasonic, and Sir Mix-A-Lot on the Stop the Violence Tour. Quon saw commercial potential in Ice's rapping and dancing skills. Buying studio time with Quon's earnings from City Lights, they recorded songs that had been perfected on stage by Ice and his acquaintances with various producers, including Khayree. The two year production was distributed by an independent record company called Ichiban Records in 1989. "Play That Funky Music" was released as the album's first single, with "Ice Ice Baby" appearing as the B-side. Tommy Quon personally sent out the single to various radio stations around the U.S., but the single was seldom played and when it was, it did not get the reaction Quon was hoping for. When disc jockey Darrell Jaye in Georgia played "Ice Ice Baby" instead of the single's A-side, the song gained a quick fanbase and other radio stations followed suit. Quon financed $8,000 for the production of a music video for "Ice Ice Baby", which received heavy airplay by The Box, increasing public interest in the song.
Mainstream success (1990–1992)
On the basis of Ice's good looks and dance moves, Public Enemy tried to convince their producer, Hank Shocklee, to sign Ice to Def Jam, but Ice later signed a contract with SBK Records in 1990. During MC Hammer's Please Hammer Don't Hurt 'Em World Tour, Ice served as an opening act. SBK remixed and re-recorded Hooked under the title To the Extreme. The reissue contained new artwork and music. According to Ice, SBK paid him to adopt a more commercial, conventional appearance. This led Ice to later regret his business agreements with SBK.To the Extreme became the fastest selling hip hop album of all time, spending sixteen weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and selling eleven million copies. SBK Record executive Monte Lipman stated that he received calls from radio stations reporting over 200 phone calls requesting "Ice Ice Baby". SBK wanted Ice on the road as soon as possible. MC Hammer, an old acquaintance from his club days, had Ice on as an opening act on his tour. Reviews of To the Extreme were mixed. Entertainment Weekly reviewer Mim Udovitch gave the album a B, citing "Ice Ice Baby", "Play That Funky Music", "Dancin'" and "It's a Party" as the album's highlights. Robert Christgau gave the album a C− rating, writing that Ice's "suave sexism, fashionably male supremacist rather than dangerously obscene, is no worse than his suave beats". Criticizing the technique and style of Vanilla Ice, Allrovi reviewer Steve Huey wrote:
Media image
In late 1990, Ice began an eight-month relationship with Madonna, and appeared in photographs for her book, Sex. In the height of Ice's popularity, SBK licensed a 12" doll which was made by THQ. In January 1991, he was the musical guest on Saturday Night Live. Ice branched out into the film industry with an appearance in the film Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze, which he later called "one of the coolest experiences" of his career. Ice was very secretive about his personal life, with the intention of protecting his family. When a Dallas Morning News reporter asked Ice what his mother's profession was, he replied, "None of your fucking business." In an attempt to rectify this, his former label wrote a fake biography in his name and tried to pass it off as his official life story without his knowledge. While on tour in 1991, Ice found out that SBK had instigated the publication of the biography which detailed false biographical information, including claims that he had attended school with Luther Campbell, and exaggerating his living conditions in Miami, which Ice later had to debunk by himself.Suge Knight incident
Following the success of "Ice Ice Baby", record producer Suge Knight and two bodyguards arrived at The Palm in West Hollywood, where Ice was eating. After shoving Ice's bodyguards aside, Knight and his own bodyguards sat down in front of Ice, staring at him before finally asking "How you doin'?" Similar incidents were repeated on several occasions. Eventually, Knight showed up at Ice's hotel suite on the fifteenth floor of the Bel Age Hotel, accompanied by a member of the Los Angeles Raiders football team. According to Ice, Knight took him out on the balcony by himself, and implied that he would throw him off the balcony unless he signed the publishing rights to the song over to Knight; Knight used Ice's money to help fund Death Row Records.Live album, ''Cool as Ice'', and tours
Ice's second major release was the live album Extremely Live, released in March 1991. The album was a live recording during Vanilla Ice's performance in Miami during his To The Extreme World Tour. Premiering new songs like "Rollin' in My 5.0", "Road To My Riches" and "Satisfaction", the album peaked at No. 30 on the Billboard 200, but it received mainly negative reviews. Entertainment Weekly reviewer David Browne called it "one of the most ridiculous albums ever released", comparing it to The Best of Marcel Marceau, an album which consisted of two sides of silence opened by brief applause. According to Browne, Extremely Live "affords you the chance to hear inane stage patter and unaccompanied drumming, during which, one assumes, Ice and his posse are onstage dancing." Monte Lipman later stated that SBK only released the live disc to make more money from Ice's fame. In April 1991, Ice began to film the SBK produced Cool as Ice, in which he played a leading role.Cool as Ice opened on October 18, 1991, in 393 theaters in the United States, grossing $638,000, ranking at No. 14 among the week's new releases. Reviews of the film were negative. Film website Rotten Tomatoes, which compiles reviews from a wide range of critics, gives the film a score of 8%. Ice received a Golden Raspberry Award for Worst New Star. SBK stated that they overexposed Ice and Ice decided to stop taking their business advice, as well as distancing himself from the image that SBK was trying to create for him. In late 1991, Ice appeared in the Circus of the Stars and Sideshow, driving his motorcycle through a wall of fire. While his fame in the United States had severely dropped, Ice continued touring in 1992, playing in South America, Europe, Australia and Asia, and premiering new songs like "Get Loose", "The Wrath", "Now & Forever", "Where the Dogs At? ", "Minutes of Power" and "Iceman Party". After a performance in Acapulco, the city honored Ice with a medal that represented "all the respect and admiration to music and to as an artist from the Mexican people". Ice also served as a spokesperson for Nike and Coca-Cola throughout 1991 and 1992.