Articals

VANILLA FUDGED

by Bob Mack
Vanilla Ice is the first rapper in history to have a No. 1 hit ("Ice Ice Baby") and probably the first big rapper to be caught with falsified street credentials. Perhaps to establish the credibility that rappers-especially white ones-need, Ice claimed to have gone to the same Miami high school as 2 Live Crew's Luther Campbell. He also said he had grown up in the ghetto, that his mother taught music at a university in Miami, and that he had been a three-time national motocross champion for Team Honda. It turns out different. Ice, 22, whose real name is Robert Van Winkle, grew up and went to high school (see 1984 yearbook photo, above left) in an affluent Dallas suburb, and Honda's never heard of him. After finding no evidence that his mother taught music in Miami, a Dallas Morning News reporter asked him what his mom really did. "None of your (expletive) business," Ice/Van Winkle replied. Moreover, he didn't credit his hit's bass line, sampled from the 1981 Queen-David Bowie collaboration, "Under Pressure."

ICE CAPADES

by Benjamin Svetkey
Murrow's interview with Kennedy. Rather's interview with Bush. And now another seminal moment in broadcast journalism: Arsenio Hall's interview with Vanilla Ice. Clad in a metallic, superhero-style jumpsuit, the controversial white rapper recently sat for a chat on The Arsenio Hall Show-and helped create nine of the most onerous minutes in television talk show history.
Ice took the offensive from the start, unexpectedly calling black rapper Flavor Flav (of Public Enemy) from behind the curtains for an on-camera hug. "Why (did) you (bring) him out?" snapped Hall after Flav had left. "To show that you have black supporters?" From there on, the two traded huffs as their audience hooted. "I've never said anything bad about M.C. Hammer," Ice insisted at one point. "That's not true!" Hall interrupted. "I have an audiotape!"
Ice (a.k.a. Robert Van Winkle) is grooming himself for the silver screen (in the forthcoming Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2: The Secret of Ooze-no joke), and his Arsenio imbroglio may have been an attempt to repair his tattered image. In recent months, the 23-year-old chart topper has been caught fibbing about his background, has been the object of scorn and ridicule from other rap stars, and has had portions of his quarrelsome acceptance speech-" Those that try to hold the Iceman down can kiss my white a--"-bleeped at the American Music Awards. But the fracas may have been an effort at image building for Hall, as well. The host is said to be smarting from criticism of his gushy interviewing style, and his Ice chopping may have been a stab at a more probing journalistic technique. If so, it backfired badly: Hall's usually adoring studio audience actually booed him-twice.

TOUGHING IT OUT

HE WAS A ROUGH STREET PUNK; NOW HE'S HUSTLED HIS WAY TO THE TOP OF THE CHARTS. BUT VANILLA ICE STILL CAN'T STAY OUT OF TROUBLE.

by Linda Sanders

"I told everybody I used to be a terrible kid, that I used to steal cars, I've been stabbed five times, stuff I'm not proud of, stuff I wished never woulda got out, you know, 'cause I'm supposed to be a a a role model around here! I told them, and everybody tried to make it look like I was lying so I could get accepted by a rap audience or something like that! So now this stuff about a warrant for my arrest comes out, and I mean, what kinda news is this? People say I lied and stuff like this! Well, it's a crock of s---!"
Vanilla Ice, who's lying in bed in an Alexandria, La., hotel room with a 100-degree-plus temperature and a couple of gallons of Theraflu in his system, is one miffed rapper. For months the press has been howling that rap's first white solo star fabricated a tough, streetwise background for himself just to gain credibility in the rap community, and that the Iceman-whose debut album, To the Extreme, has sold 10.5 million units and made him the hottest new face in pop music-is really just a suburban middle-class twinkie from Dallas named Robby Van Winkle, which actually is his name. Suddenly, the day before this interview, another story broke-that Dallas police had issued a warrant for his arrest in connection with an unpaid fine dating back to an assault conviction in 1988, when he maced a kid in the eyes and beat him over the head in a parking lot. This combination has to set some kind of media record. Ice makes headlines for being a punk after first making headlines for not really being a punk.
It's odd testimony to the power of his persona that, even as he's curled up under the covers all adorable and pathetic and ill-a condition helped along by a brutal concert schedule on this Southern leg of his first solo tour-you can see exactly why vast numbers of otherwise reasonable people might hate Vanilla Ice's guts: Tall-well, long, anyway-and model handsome, with surprisingly delicate features and a masked expression that could easily be interpreted as simple sullen arrogance, he looks like the snotty, middle-class white kid he's accused of being. But looks alone can't account for Ice's gift for rubbing people the wrong way; his mouth helps. At the American Music Awards ceremony in January, he accepted his Favorite New Artist award by telling his critics they could "kiss my white butt." He's made self-aggrandizing comparisons between himself and rapper M.C. Hammer, the man who gave him a big break by inviting him to be the opening act on Hammer's fall tour. (Ice insists there never was any feud: "We've always been friends, straight through. It's just that journalists like to stir s--- up.")
The night after the American Music Awards, Ice demonstrated that he isn't always the out-of-control thug he often seems, when Arsenio Hall asked about his past and about the Hammer remarks with such naked contempt that even his own audience was shocked into booing him. Ice scored points then by staying cool. And how are the two of them getting along now?
"I have no comment to say about Arsenio Hall," Ice says stiffly. "All my fans are "
Real mad.
"Even his fans are mad at him."
Do you think he was trying to go to bat for Hammer?
"He was trying to go to bat for Hammer because of stuff he'd read, because he's Hammer's friend and he doesn't like me. I don't know why. He was just trying to break me, you know? But ain't nobody gonna stop this train."
Maybe not, but you can't say nobody's tried. Ice's troubles began virtually moments after To the Extreme (the fastest-selling album out of the box since ; Prince's Purple Rain in 1984) went to No. 1 in early November, and the press began finding omissions, exaggerations, and discrepancies in his life story. He claimed a rough upbringing in a racially mixed neighborhood in Miami, for starters, while leaving it to reporters to discover he'd gone on to high school in a middle-class suburb of Dallas. And, telling a tale that might be titled "Ice's Epiphany," he claimed he was once stabbed five times in a knife fight, lost half the blood in his body, woke up in the hospital, found God, reformed, and became the positive role model he is today, while not seeming able to remember whether it happened in Coral Gables or Coconut Grove, Fla., or somewhere in Dallas. He now claims that Richardson, Tex., was the scene of the great event. But while it's reasonable to believe that something like this happened to him along the way-he did, after all, drop his drawers on Rick Dees' TV show to flash what could have been knife scars-there have been a few too many inconsistent flourishes in his story (the best being that he once said it was a member of a devil-worshiping posse that stabbed him) to swallow it whole.
Ice has admitted he "bent the truth" in some of his early statements, but only to protect his family's privacy. And for all his embellishments, it's not as if he's been nailed for fabricating his entire history, as many people seem to think. Nobody disputes that he was born in Miami and raised there in racially mixed areas, or, as his mother, Beth Mino, has confirmed, that "he was definitely in a lot of trouble." Mino-who cared for Ice and his older half brother by herself for most of Ice's early years-was a pianist and music teacher. But when you ask Ice if she made him study piano, he says, "She never made me do anything. Nobody was ever able to make me do anything."
He attended his much-touted suburban high school for just two years before dropping out; the only evidence that he was anything like well-heeled is that he drove a white IROC Camaro Z28, hardly amazing in a country where adolescent males regularly manage to furnish themselves with a hot car even if it's the only thing they own. He hung out, meanwhile, with black friends in South Dallas, one of whom, according to his manager, Tommy Quon, brought him in 1987 to Quon's now-defunct black club called City Lights, where he won a talent show. Ice "had this rich-kid look, for sure," says Quon, "but when I talked to him I thought he was street, not just because all his friends were black and ( the way he moved, but because he had a street attitude." Ice opened at City Lights and elsewhere for stars like Hammer and Paula Abdul. Yet last summer, when SBK Records signed him, he was still working as a lot attendant for a car dealership managed by his Ecuadoran stepdad.
Even so, one critic called Vanilla Ice a "suburban" rap imitator who "takes his privilege for granted"-as though calling him privileged might not be as big a misrepresentation as anything he himself has managed. The portrait seems especially wrong when you talk to him: He comes off as a 23-year-old edition of your basic alienated kid, still belligerent, still insolent, a guy who, as he says, "don't need to talk to nobody" about his problems. He approaches his career with deadly seriousness (everything matters to him, big-time) and he has the seemingly compulsive propensity for exaggeration often found among wayward types who grew up with big ambitions and limited prospects. Vanilla Ice didn't just go to a lot of different schools, he "went to more different schools than anybody." His mother isn't just cool, she's "the coolest person on earth." Everything about him, from the words of his raps to the car he drives-an Acura NSX, "the fastest sports car on earth"-is the most, the best, "to the extreme." This, you figure, is one of the ways he gets himself in trouble.
You might expect Ice to romanticize street gangs, but when he's asked what kind of gang he was in, he displays anything but cockiness in his answer. In fact, he conveys no sense of outlaw romance at all.
"I was in one of the thuggy, nasty gangs that beat up people for no reason. It was terrible, very terrible," he says. "For money or somethin', you know, or because no, I can't say that well, in other words I used to beat people up because they were (he gives the slightest broken-wrist gesture) different, you know what I'm saying? And I hate it! I hate the way I used to be, and if I could go back and change it I would. I feel so terrible now inside because I beat those people up, hurtin' these people for no reason "
He lies back with his eyes closed. But he's soon back to bombast, explaining that's he's about the most competitive guy you'll ever meet. Maybe this is the moment to ask how he feels about a piece of bad news: His album is about to drop from No. 1 to No. 2.
"I didn't know that," Ice says, looking up with a guarded expression, maybe wondering if this is some kind of satanic journalist joke.
Yes, Mariah Carey will displace you on next week's Billboard chart.
He visibly deflates. "Well, the truth is I'm still outselling her three to one," he brags, but his voice has dropped to a monotone. Even talking about his immediate future doesn't snap him out of it: not his upcoming album, Ice Capades, due in March, with live versions of his hits and new songs sampling music by the Rolling Stones and Steve Miller; not the fact that he's hitting movie theaters this month in the breathlessly awaited Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze; not even that in April he starts filming a project designed for him, Cool as Ice, for Universal.
"It's about a motorcycle gang," he says, perking up a bit.
Slipping a notch on the charts is hardly what you'd call a disaster, but for Ice, you have to wonder if it doesn't provide a glimpse of mortality. He has, after all, been dismissed as a talentless 15-minute wonder, and pegged by many other rappers as someone who's whitewashing black music for popular consumption, simply paving the way for other whites to push the black originators out of the way.
"A lot of rappers do respect me," he objects, bellicosity restoring his spirits. "I've been out on the road with them, done shows with them, and they know where I'm coming from. But the ones that don't know where I'm comin' from, they think I'm some suburban kid tryin' to rap or somethin'. The bottom line is they're jealous 'cause they're not sellin' as many records as me and they think they're better."
His shows-with their black dancers and screaming audience of white teens-do in fact seem to support his image of himself as a color-blind white guy who grew up with an instinct for black music. They come off not as a bad imitation of hard-core rap but as a peculiar new hybrid: half rap and half small-town high school pep rally. But how long will this success last? Is Ice afraid that all the attention, the money, the platinum records, will disappear someday?
"That's up to me," he fiercely responds. "That's a hundred percent up to me!"
You think so? You don't think changing tastes will ?
"I know it for a fact. What causes a person's downfall is when they get tired of it, the hotel rooms, and the shows, and the interviews, and all that. I always set new goals, and that's my new goal, to be here, keep it goin'! The media can try and break me all they want, but the bottom line," he hoarsely insists, "is it's up to me."
, His eyes are now glittering, presumably with fever; time to go. There's no way he's going to get up and do a show tonight, but there's a slim hope that he'll be able to drag himself downstairs for a photo session later with the story's photographer, Jeff Katz.
Next day, back in New York, the phone rings. It's Katz. "I just thought you should know," he says, "that Ice made it to the session. He was sitting in a chair with his head in his hands, so sick he was weaving. Then he just got up, did the session, and he couldn't have been nicer about it. Didn't you tell me this guy is supposed to be trouble?"
He did the show, too.

THE ICEMAN CAMETH

Eight years ago, Vanilla Ice put a white face on rap.

by Joe Neumaier

Even his pseudonym sounded bland. His real name was Rob Van Winkle, but as rap and hip-hop began to attract crossover audiences, Van Winkle woke up to the fact that the time was right for a white rap superstar. So he dubbed himself Vanilla Ice, and on Oct. 20, 1990, his debut album, To the Extreme, cracked the Billboard top 10, jumping to No. 7 from No. 23 and yielding "Ice Ice Baby," whose accessible sound--aided heavily by a riff sampled from Queen's "Under Pressure"-- made it the first rap single to hit No. 1 on the pop chart. Extreme eventually sold more than 7 million copies and stayed at the top for 16 weeks.
With his brand of soft-edged rap, Vanilla Ice aimed to bridge the worlds of the street and the burbs, where white and black teens alike were beginning to embrace urban music. Ironically, To the Extreme's rise to No. 1 ended the reign of another innocuous rapper, M.C. Hammer, whose Please Hammer Don't Hurt 'Em had previously held the top spot.
While Vanilla Ice, then 21, enjoyed commercial success, he was critically derided as a rap poseur; his tales of a hardscrabble youth and Motocross racing background were exaggerated, The Miami Herald reported. He had described himself to The New York Times as "a kid that grew up in the ghetto," involved with "gangs and stuff...I got stabbed five times." On the Motocross circuit, he recounted, "I broke my left ankle three times...and was told there was an 80 percent chance I would never walk again." He claimed to have gone to the same Miami high school as 2 Live Crew's Luther Campbell. In truth, Van Winkle had attended a suburban school in Texas.
In early 1991, his popularity led to the creation of a board game called the Vanilla Ice Electronic Rap Game (which came with its own electronic beat box). But by the fall 1991 premiere of his feature film, Cool as Ice--surely you remember his portrayal of a lovestruck rebel biker?--the heat on Ice had dissipated. His 1994 release, Mind Blowin', was a mega-disaster, failing to break into the top 200.
It seemed that Ice had melted away, a fluky asterisk in rap history. Yet even Vanilla Ice might still have a second act: This month, the singer, now 29 and newly incarnated as a scruffy, goateed brunet, is releasing Hard to Swallow, an album of hardcore hip-hop, on Republic/Universal. Attention Hollywood: Anybody want to make Cool as Ice 2: The Goatee Years?

ICE CAPADES
Vanilla Ice talks about player haters, his pet kangaroo and what he'd do to his mother for a million dollars. - - - - - - - - - - - - By Andrew Vontz

(warning: Contain harsh languge)
Jan. 3, 2002 | After Vanilla Ice sold 7 million copies of his debut album in 1990, the white rapper formerly known as Robert Van Winkle quickly found himself a cultural whipping boy. In an era of steeled hip-hop produced by serious, hardened outfits like Public Enemy and NWA, Vanilla Ice wore ridiculous glitter pants, opened for MC Hammer and even falsely claimed that he had been stabbed five times in gang fights. People were playa hatin' Vanilla before the phrase even existed.
Only two things matter in the rap game: street cred and money. Vanilla Ice had none of the former. But even a run-in with Death Row records impresario Suge Knight that Ice says cost him $180 million couldn't stop him from holding onto his money. He managed to stay flush even when he could no longer sell the public on his soft-serve rhymes, bleach-blond pompadour and Liberace get-ups. In 1998, Ice stepped into the nu metal arena and released "Hard to Swallow." He is currently touring in support of "Bi-Polar," an album with eight nu metal tracks and 16 rap tracks that mark his return to rhymes.
Ice is now married with two children. He believes that Jesus Christ is his personal savior. Despite his multiple attempts to recreate himself as a real musician and crack his cold-as-ice rep, he's still a punchline, especially in the hip-hop world.
A perplexed generation that can't get "Ice Ice Baby" out of its head demands answers. I recently talked with Ice about his new gig as a nu metal frontman, the "Ice Ice Baby" era, his pet kangaroo Bucky and those wack haircuts he used to have.
You remember the haircuts, don't you?
First things first. On your new album, "Bi-Polar," you're billed as V-Ice. What's up with the name change?
No, get that straight. It's still Vanilla Ice. I guess they just put it short on the record and people are asking me that question and it's funny because there's no name change. I'm proud of it and I'm not trying to run from anything or hide from anything. You think of Prince who changed his name, it's like, who gives a fuck? He didn't change his name. He made it a symbol. He didn't even have a name.
How did you come to be called Vanilla Ice in the first place?
Back when I was 13 or 14 I used to spin on my head on cardboard and break dance, and I had a bunch of black friends and they just labeled me Vanilla Ice. Actually, I didn't like it, so they just called me it more. It just stuck with me like a nickname.
So let's talk about "Bi-Polar." Why a nu metal album and a rap album on the same disc?
My main focus is on the rock stuff just because of everything I've been through. Music is about reflection. I get more energy from it. But I still love hip-hop and I did it to show people I'm still true to hip-hop. A lot of people today are influenced by both. They might listen to Nirvana and Pearl Jam but still listen to Wu Tang and Busta Rhymes. I did it to show people I know where my roots are and I haven't left it behind, so for you guys, here's some hip-hop. But my main focus is the band.
What made you decide that being a nu metal frontman was for you?
There wasn't much thought behind it. It was the intensity of the lyrics I was writing. There was absolutely no way I was going to go scream over some break beat or some fucking computer to match the intensity that I'm wantin' to deliver. There was no way it was going to get done without the band. I'm enjoyin' myself now for the first time ever. It's hard to understand that, you sell 17 million records it sounds like it's great and gravy and shit, but I didn't enjoy it too much, man. Anyone who hates on Vanilla Ice would have done the same fucking thing, so they can't hate on me. They told me, we want you to wear these baggy pants because the young kids like it because the young kids like it and it's all glittery and polished and everything, and I said, "Fuck no, I'm not wearin' this gay-ass shit," and they said, "Well here's a million dollars, man, will you do it?" And I said, "Fuck yes." And anybody would have done the same thing if they were given the same chance. I'd lick my mother's asshole for a million dollars.
As you say in "Hip Hop Rules," "I went 17 platinum/amazing." How high are you going to take it this time around?
I don't set any goals for myself. I always expect the unexpected, man. I'm still getting beyond that stigma and shit. I've faced my adversities and I'm catering to the ones who appreciate what I'm doing, and there are a shitload of them out there. I have a very loyal fan base, similar to Insane Clown Posse's fan base, a lot of young kids 15 to 19, body-piercing tattooed kids who are very aware of "Ice Ice Baby" and the whole player hatin' thing or whatever and they're very into what I'm doing now. And I'm very appreciative of that. I'm not like a Korn or Limp Bizkit who comes out hardcore and goes mainstream. I'm like the guy who went backwards. I started off mainstream and now I'm into the hardcore shit. It's not about the money or anything for me. I just enjoy making my music and to have people appreciate it is my award.
How much do you bench?
Bench-press?
Yeah.
Fuck dude, I haven't bench-pressed since high school.
Fair enough. So you produced both the metal and rap cuts on "Bi-Polar" and played many instruments. What was that experience like?
It's awesome. You think of all these fabricated bands and shit, for instance Madonna, where somebody else writes their music and makes the beats and writes the lyrics and packages the whole thing and they're sitting up there in front of a crowd, and there's no way possible you could tell me that it's as gratifying as if you did all the shit yourself. It's much more gratifying. I play the drums, I play the guitar, I play the bass, I play keyboards and all that shit and just to do it and produce it, it's you. It's more real. It's not some fabricated bullshit. I'm not going to lie. It'll never sell 17 million or nothin' like that and I'm not tryin' to. I'm just tryin' to cater to those who appreciate what I'm doing.
The nu metal side of your new album is called "Skabz." With a "Z." Are you talking about dermal blood encrustations or people who cross the lines during union strikes? Or what exactly does that refer to?
You know, like if you got dragged down the street like fuckin' some hate crime or somethin' and you didn't die? Like I said earlier, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. So basically I'm picking my scabs.
People might be surprised to know that you've got a set of golden pipes. Where did you develop that sweet-ass voice?
Fuck, dude, it just comes from my emotion, man. Ross Robinson, workin' with him on my last record, he showed me a way to capture an emotional moment on tape, whatever comes out, just be rollin'. First take, that's the realest one.
Now that you're a family man how is touring different?
I still hang out and do my shit, I just don't fuck around. You've done it so long and so many times, I guess the thrill's gone. I love playin' the music, and that's the party to me. The whole time I'm on stage, I'm just havin' the best time of my life, man. That's what it's all about for me.
On this album you work with Chuck D and LA tha Darkman from the Wu Tang Clan. How did you get guys who would have clowned you 10 years ago to rhyme on this album?
Just respect, man. If you listen to the lyrics, lyrically I've held my own. It's not like Hammer or Tone Loc where they don't have lyrical content. If you released "Ice Ice Baby" today, it would fit in today's lyrical respect among peers, you know what I'm sayin'? I think that if they would have clowned it back in the day, it would've only been because it was a movement and they jumped on the bandwagon, not out of seriousness. Everybody knows I hold my own. My lyrics aren't, "Pump it up, go! Go!" At least I'm sayin' somethin'.
Your press release says that you've found a personal connection to God. Your song "Molton" concludes with you singing "I am a holy soldier!" over and over. What does that mean?
That I'm a soldier, man, that I believe in Jesus Christ as my personal savior. But I'm not really religious. I just believe that there's a higher power and that we're not evolved or whatever. We didn't just come from the sand. Of course you can tell by the record with all the fucks and everything that I just believe that my character speaks for itself in the eyes of God and words and anger and all that shit is just part of life. I think there's more people going to heaven than they think. Bible Belt people try to make everybody feel like they're going to hell and I don't believe that. I think God has pity on us. We're only victims of today's society. Our generation didn't invent this whole society, we're just conformed to it. So you can't punish us for that. I think everybody's going to heaven unless you're really fucking up and doing something you're conscious of and you don't do anything to correct it.
Your contemporaries from the late '80s rap game like MC Hammer are infamous for going bankrupt. How did you manage to hold on to the bling bling?
Investments, bro. Don't play the stock market unless you know what you're doing, and real estate, you can't lose. Two quick words of wisdom to anybody out there who wants to hold onto their money.
Rappers like to floss. What's the most lavish thing you've dropped money on?
I used to floss like crazy. I had a $650,000 Porsche, two million-dollar yachts and mansions everywhere and every other fucking material thing you could imagine. And the people it attracted was a bunch of fake, leach, rock star leach, stripper-chick wannabes, and it was just a fuckin' ... none of them is your friend. They're around you because of who you are, not what you are. So I learned a valuable lesson. I learned every fuckin' thing the hard way.
Everyone who has seen your "Behind the Music" knows that you had a run-in with Suge Knight back in the day. Do you guys still have beef?
There's no animosity. If anything he's probably happy about it. He got $180 million from me in the beginning and started Death Row Records. I look at it in a positive way because I tried to commit suicide in '94 when I had $20 million in the bank, and this is before that even, so why am I going to care about what he took from me. Without the money he got from me, the money wouldn't have been as great to fund the Chronic record, Tupac, Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg ... all that shit came from what Suge got from me to start Death Row.
You like to ride ninja motorcycles. Did you ever consider becoming one? No, man, I just love motocross. My passion for motocross goes back 20 years.
Right. But if you did become a ninja, what kind of ninja do you think you'd be?
A teenage mutant ninja is what I'd be. "Go ninja ..."
How was it working with Michael Gross, aka Mr. Keaton from "Family Ties," in "Cool as Ice"?
Michael Gross? Oh you remember that, huh?
I rented it this weekend for, like, the fifth time. Fucking love it. I love that scene where you're in the house, the big romance, fall-in-love scene. But what was Michael Gross like?
He was cool, man. When you're actin' and shit, it helps to have someone good on the other side deliver the lines to you. It makes you deliver your shit better. He's great.
Did Tina Yothers ever come around the set?
Tina Yothers?
Yeah, from "Family Ties."
Oh, that's right. No, there was a bunch of people around, but not her.
You were a pretty serious jet ski and motocross racer. Have you ever thought about racing a monster truck?
[Laughs] No, but I sure would. I'd jump one in a minute.
If you did, what would you call your monster truck?
I'd call it the Mud Munster. Yeah. I have a song called "Mud Munster" on my new record.
Have you ever used the line "Drop that zero and get with the hero" in real life?
Just jokingly. It's a great one-liner isn't it? It's funny as fuck. People remember that shit.
Ice Cube wrote the screenplay for the new "Friday" flick. Do you have any plans to get behind the camera and pursue film?
I just did a cameo appearance in a movie called "The New Guy." They always seem to use my songs. There's some movie out now and they're using my song in the trailer ... "Ice Ice Baby?"
Yeah. I get a few roles thrown my way, but we turn down more than we do. It's more about music for me. If the right role comes along, I'll take it, but I'm not going to just jump on anything that comes my way.
You popularized a few catchphrases with "To the Extreme" that were really perplexing. Why did you start saying "yup yup" and "word to your mother"? What do they mean?
They're just phrases I said along my whole entire high school period and friends you hang out with and shit. Your music is about your reflection, bro. Shit that you say and do is going to come out and people picked up on it. There wasn't a whole bunch of thinkin' behind it.
Do you still throw those phrases around today?
Jokingly. Yeah, every now and then. I kind of crack on my old self. I understand the whole thing. People know that I understand it, so it's OK. Everything's cool with me. I'm copacetic.
On the back of the "Bi-Polar" album cover, there's a picture of you making a hand gesture where you look like you're grabbing an invisible ball with both hands. Does that mean anything?
No.
Because you used to have a hand signal for VIP [Vanilla Ice Posse] right? Yeah, you hold the two middle fingers up.
Do you have any dogs?
No. I've got a kangaroo.
What's its name?
Bucky. It's cool as fuck. They don't kick like people say and shit. They're really nice.
That's cool. But as a general rule of thumb, how many attack dogs do you think a rapper should have?
[Laughs] I think you should have none. You don't have to fill any fuckin' stereotype image.
True. Your unique hairstyles used to be a hallmark of your style. Looking back, what do you think about those cuts now?
Too high-maintenance.
Was the Boz, Brian Bosworth, an inspiration at all in terms of hairstyles?
I didn't even know who he was until he started making the movies.
Do you still cut your own hair?
It's low-maintenance now. I like not having to deal with it. Just wake up and fuckin' whatever.
A lot of celebrities have a cause these days. Sally Struthers has those starving kids. Bob Dole has erectile problems. What's your cause?
My cause is my own kids. That's my priority.
When you were kicking around titles for the album that became "Bi-Polar," did "Ice capades" ever come up as a possible title?
No. That's a little too friendly for me.
When you hear "Ice Ice Baby" on the radio these days, what do you do?
Fuckin' turn it up. It feels great. That's a great song. It's timeless. It holds a space in history and you can't take it away. You just own that piece of time. Everybody loves that song. I don't know anybody who doesn't.

Date: 6/7/02
Interviewers: Jay and Eric

So is it Rob or Vanilla?

Rob Van Winkle/Vanilla Ice � It�s Rob.

So in the early 90�s you were a rap icon, what led you into the hard rock scene?

Rob � Personal experiences. Music is about reflection and I�m just reflecting my life and everything it�s been and there�s no way I�m going to be able to stress what I want and mean over a break beat, you know, it�s too emotional and it�s too intense, so you have to have the intensity of the band, it�s like a symphony, you know, you have to build on the intense parts, and so it just wasn�t going to happen, to come extreme over some hip hop record, so to exercise my demons I had to have the band. Learned that from Ross Robinson.

Have you found that the hard rock fans aren�t taking you seriously because of your past?

Rob � It�s not about anybody taking me seriously, I�m catering to the ones that appreciate what I�m doing, and the ones that can�t get over the stigma, fuck em, because I�m not going to really believe on the planet man, and I didn�t change my name for a reason, (interruption from club manager yelling at opening bands to not put stickers on the wall)the reason I didn�t change my name or anything is because of that, I use it as a challenge and it kind of fuels me. Humility is my company, and it�s what drives me to get to where I am today, and when I look out and see a whole new generation diggin what I�m doing now, it�s very credible, very open, and very received by the rock crowd. Playing a show next week with Papa Roach and Saliva and I�ve played shows with Limp Bizkit, Korn, all of them, you know, so I�ve got all kinds of, you know they love me out there, I do the Juggalos, I do the ICP thing, I�m getting a good reception man for sure, everywhere I go.

How have the fans reacted so far to �Bi-Polar� as opposed to your first rock album �Hard To Swallow?�

Rob � Same thing basically, same crowd, I mean it would be more of, the question would be more of how they would react to �Hard To Swallow� as opposed to �To The Extreme,� now that�s a big difference there. I think people are hip and aware since the VH1 special as to what I am doing now pretty much, it�s not for everybody�s ears, it�s not the most mainstream, commercial, radio friendly bullshit, you know, I�m not out to make that, I�m not trying to make a come back you know, it�s not it for me, my thing for me is I�ve made enough money to be able to do whatever the fuck I want to do, and that�s exactly what I�m doing, I�m doing the type of music I want to do, that best explains and expresses everything I�m doing musically, because that is what music is all about, it�s expression, it�s what I want to express and how I want to express it, and that�s exactly what I am doing.

You kind of answered this one, you did �Bi-Polar� half rock, half hip hop, now we understand the concept, but why did you decide to do the album that way? Half and half?

Rob � One thing with this record is that it was a musical adventure, working with so many different artists, and we capture a vibe out there, so every song is different, you know we walk in the studio with Wu-Tang Clan and we�ll go in there and smoke out and we get all thinking about rhymes, and you know hip hop is more about what you�re saying, so it�s more lyrical skills, where as the rock stuff we did with Slipknot is more intense, more energy, it�s a more energy more emotional thing, you know what I�m saying? One is a story line, one is emotional, so it�s whatever you�re tapping into, everything musically is a mood, like if I am going to the motorcross track, I�m listening to System of a Down all the time or something that is going to energize me, but if I am in a romantic mood or something, I�m not going to listen to System of a Down, I�m gonna throw some Marvin Gaye and shit on, right? It�s all about a mood, and if I want to think, I might just throw some classical on so I can get into some deep thinking, so this record is very versitale, and each song is a different vibe that we caught in the studio with the different artists and stuff, from S.O.D. to Slipknot to we have, who else is on the record? Fuck we have everybody, Insane Clown Posse, we got Wu Tang Clan, Public Enemy, S.O.D. Billy Milano, so it�s a lot of different vibes on the record.

No you just touched on this, but what was it like working with so many people on the album like Wu Tang and Chuck D?

Rob � It was awesome man, I mean I�ve known Chuck since way back in the day, I used to be their opening act back in like the late 80�s, before anyone knew Vanilla Ice I was opening up for Ice Tea. You know a lot of people don�t give me credit for it, but I�ve paid more dues then 90% of hip hop artist out there, plus I�m more influenced hip hop wise then any of them, so it�s funny, but you know it�s just amazing how the industry can polish something up and take it and make something else out of it other then what it was, and make it work and sell 17 million records, and anybody that hates on Vanilla Ice is a joke because if they were given the same opportunity, everybody knows, million dollars a day, they would have done the same thing, they would have wore the pants, they would have done the hair due, you know the women, the money, the charts, you think you�re doing everything right, I was only 16 years old and it was a couple years later the thing kind of took on a life of it�s own and I kind of realized �wow, there�s a consequence to pay for all of this,� and that was kind of the cheese factor, they kind of threw me into a mouse trap with some cheese there, which kind of discredited my real talent, well now I am just about the real talent, I�m not really about an image or gimmick or anything phony or artificial that�s made up from the record companies, so that�s why I�m doing what I�m doing now, kind of an ambassador for the whole industry, �fuck the industry movement.�

Do you see yourself dipping back into the hip hop scene, or is rock really what you want to do?

Rob � I love hip hop, it�s my roots, you know? I�m just so grateful I can do the rock thing because you know, I was doing it before the Limp Bizkits, and everything, I�m not following any trend or anything stupid or gay like that. If I wanted to sell a lot of records I�d make another pop record, I�d go polish my image up, and I�d you know, cater myself to that whole fucking dumbass thing, and that�s not what I want to do, so I�m doing what I want to do, and you know, I�m just grateful for the people who do appreciate it, and that�s the ones I�m catering to.

Right on. So what do you think of the whole �rap rock� movement with bands like Limp Bizkit and Linkin Park leading the way?

Rob � I think it�s great man, I mean music has different influences and it�s obvious with the new generation that�s coming around, they�ve been influenced by the hip hop as well as the rock, and that�s why you have the fusion music, and a lot of people don�t even know what to call it, some people call it skaterock, adidasrock, or hardcore, or whatever you want to call it, it really has no label, I mean if label it something, it�s just labeled fusion music, you know, which is a bunch of different forms of music that influenced some individual that tied them all in together and made it work, that�s it, I mean there is no boundaries or rules or laws in what you can and can�t do in music, you can do whatever the fuck you want, and just because it hasn�t been done and you�re doing it, doesn�t mean it can�t be done.

You�re a big boxing fan, who�s going to win the Lennox Lewis, Mike Tyson fight?

Rob � Oh Lewis is, third round knock out.

OK, who would win a fight between Beavis and Butthead and the South Park kids?

Rob � (laughs) I gotta ask my drummer, he�s got a big ol tattoo of Beavis and Butthead on his chest looking at each other, that�s a good question. Beavis and Butthead and who?

The South Park kids.

Rob- Oh man, that is funny, Beavis and Butthead get their ass kicked everywhere, I�d have to say the South Park kids.

Eric pulls out bottle of the new Vanilla Coke.

Ok, so what is up with this?

Rob � Yeah what is up with that? Where�s my royalties? Where did you get that? (everyone laughs)

It�s Coke�s new thing, it�s at all the stores, you can have it.

Rob � I�ve never even heard of it. (more laughing)

You getting any endorsements?

Rob � (smiles) Shit, I might now. (everyone laughs)

Alright, where were we?

Rob � That�s fucking cool man, I gotta find out what�s up with that.

So we�ve heard there is some situation with you and Eminem, what�s up with that?

Rob � Eh, it�s just people creating a situation that really doesn�t exist, I don�t know the guy, he doesn�t know me. I think it�s flattering, and I think it�s awesome that if you look at the whole thing in reality sense, I know that he�s inferior to me because his whole life as a rapper, I mean following me, any white rapper is going to have to hear �oh, you think you�re Vanilla Ice,� you know what I mean? (Everyone laughs) So I am sure he�s heard that, which is funny because he mentions me in every record that he�s ever made, every album, somewhere in there�s a mention, not so much a diss, kind of just a mention, I guess, I don�t know, he feels inferior to me, and he feels like, cause I�ve never met the guy on a personal level, and it�s obvious that I�ve left a huge impact on his life where he�s got to mention me, you know? But I think it�s great, I give him credit, I think he�s talented, I think you know he�s a killer rapper, you know I don�t compare myself to him because he�s another white rapper, I compare myself to any other rapper period, I don�t colorize hip hop, it�s stupid, but for people are doing that are just looking through the eyes of a racial standpoint, and it really shouldn�t be looked at that way, you�re looking at two musicians that are in a broad brand of hip hop, so you don�t need to compare us two, compare every hip hop artist if you�re going to do that, because that�s just stupid, it�s not about a color, it�s about hip hop, music.

Absolutely. So how did you get into the whole Florida motorcross scene?

Rob � Not just Florida man, just motorcross in general, period, nationwide, I�m good friends with Jeremy McGrath, Jeff (editors note: sorry for my ignorance, but I can�t make out the name, so insert a good biker named Jeff�s last name here), I grew up with those guys, I�ve raced for like over 18 years man, they come down and hang out. I�m real big in the motorcross community, I mean aside from the Vanilla Ice thing, I�ve got, like all the motorcrossers are my friends, I go to a lot of the races, and I do the freestyle exhibitions and stuff with the ramps. I almost made the X-Games man, I just missed it by two spots.

That�s killer!

Rob � Yeah, yeah, I�ve been practicing on some good moves.

So who would you say some of your hard rock influences are?

Rob � I would say more of Slayer, Pantera and the heavy, heavy, heavy stuff that people can�t understand why a hip hop artist would be into it, and it�s purely for what I get out of it, the energy man, it�s unbelievable, I mean if I go down to the motorcross track I throw on that new System of a Down (starts singing) �Pull the tapeworm out of your ass!� and I�m just sitting there and I get out of my truck and I�m just like AHHHH! And get on the track and I still got that and it holds with me, and it�s fucking killer man, the energy that you can get out of that shit, but if I play it for, it�s not chick music, you put it on for a chick and they hear Slayer (insert random Slayer-like growls) you know it�s like �what the fuck is this shit, turn this shit down,� it�s horrible to them (Everyone laughs), they can�t understand it, but I guess it�s just a full on emotional energy thing that you get out of it. If you don�t get it, like the full thing, then you ain�t going to like the music, it�s going to be very obnoxious, loud, overkill to you �I can�t hear a word their saying,� you know?

Yeah, all the ex-girlfriends say that! (Editors note: Jay never seems to have this problem)

Rob � Yeah, go put on some R Kelly for them, they�ll be like (in girly voice) �oh I love this!� Throw on some Brittany Spears, �oh this is great!�

He just got arrested today I guess.

Rob � Yeah man, he�s fucked. He�s fucked in a big way. Poor guy.

What would your dream tour be? For where you are right now with your music.

Rob � Dream tour, I don�t know, I mean I�m happy doing what I�m doing, I mean, I�ve been offered Ozzfest, I�ve been offered stuff like, it�s kind of a joke, like the Family Values tour and stuff, and that was actually going to happen, but they offered us like $2,500 a show, and I couldn�t even pay for my band and stuff like that, so and instead of using tour support to fill in that void and go out and do that, we decided to go out and do our own and use the tour support for something else like a video or you know, other things that are better, it�s all about how you want to structure it all, it�s all a chess game man. But my dream tour would be obviously playing with the bands I love, you know I�d love to play with System of a Down, and I�m not so sure it might happen, I mean I�ve played with half the people out there anyway, you know, I�ve had half the musicians, I had two bass players and two guitar players at the same time on stage with me on my last tour, �Hard To Swallow,� two of my bass players, one of them is the bass player for Puddle of Mudd, the other one is the bass player for Weezer, my other guy is in Danzig now, I mean everybody that�s played for me like go on to other things, you know I it�s amazing, it�s great, and they�re all in these huge bands, very talented people, you know I�ve got a very talented drummer and guys here you know, they�re really good guys. My dream tour is just to play for as many people who appreciate what I am doing man.

What do you do to keep busy on the road?

Rob � Just fucking, man, we�re always busy, because we travel, you know we�re on the bus, we travel in between, and we don�t have much time to do anything else to be honest with you man, we do the sound check, which usually takes a couple hours, we have to load in, takes an hour, then we go back and rest and come back and do the show which is another hour and a half and then hang out afterwards and then go out and do it again the next day. I wish I had some time man, I�m really athletic, I like to do shit, I�d bring my motorcross bike out here but there just ain�t no time man, no time.

What keeps you motivated on the days you�re sick and just don�t feel like playing?

Rob � Oh shit, that�s rare, but fuck, I just know that the shows got to go on man, I mean I�ve been up there and vomited, I�ve had like a stomach flu or something, I�ve been sick as fuck man, just get up there and after every song, I�d walk over to the side behind the drums and just throw up, yeah, it was pretty bad, and I did the whole show man, it was unbelievable, that was the worst one ever, but I did it. Yeah, show goes on man, so most of the time we feel good man, it�s not like Ozzy where three shows a week is too much man, (in best Ozzy impression) �Sharon!! You�re killing me darling, three shows, I can�t handle it.� You know, we like to play every night man, we don�t care, we�re into it for the music, that�s what we�re out here for, and we enjoy playing every day, it�s great.

How would you sell your recent album �Bi-Polar� to someone who hasn�t really heard your newer stuff?

Rob � You know basically you have to lend it an ear to appreciate it, and like I said it�s so versatile that one song might not do it for you, you�re not going to understand the whole album based on the first couple of songs, that�s for sure, you�re going to have to listen to it through, and a lot of people won�t give it the time of day for that, so once they do give it the time of day, they�ll get over the stigma, if they come to the show, the skeptics will come and they will leave and they will say, and they will not be a skeptic anymore, and they will tell ten people that they know, and it happens man, we build an army out here and the best way to do it is to show people, you know word of mouth is cool, but there�s no better experience then to show people what you�re made of and let them see that and let them judge for themselves from there instead of what people say and whatever.

And last comments?

Rob � I don�t know man, I�m just a survivor dude. You know if anything you can learn off of my career is that not only am I a survivor and humility is my company, but you know, face your adversities, and don�t run from them, and you can overcome anything, any obstacles, as long as you believe in yourself, that�s it.

I never thought I�d see the day where I interviewed Vanilla Ice. Rob is a killer dude, and he is right. Go see a show and your opinion will be changed. We ALL know back in the day we were all about the �Ice Ice Baby� and shit, so like he said, get over the stigma, open your mind, and give him another chance. I have nothing but respect for Rob after this interview. Thanks for reading

Review of Bi-Polar
After all the BULLSHIT Vanilla Ice put up with all these nosy critics and fucked up rumors that isolated the pop/rapper from the world and waking up after a suicide overdose he had that could have ended his life...Vanilla Ice returned to the studio with a NEW sound and released "hard to swallow" in 98 wasnt thier best but V ICE turned the tables and made this CD entitled BIPOLAR!! The first eight tracks were the METAL side of V Ice and i am pretty impressed with his fuckin work i enjoyed Nothing Is Real Exhale(note small diss to Marshal Mathers) featuring the guy SOD i think....then u got Primal Side and Hate and the death metal like growls in Mudd Munster track10 to 18 is called Bomb The System.......with its calm start with "Hip Hop Rules" "Dirty South" and "OKS the rest will be explained here so sit tight you fuckin bitches!! Hot Sex:excellent song about sex explained in detail Unbreakable:La Darkman spills rhymes with V Ice Detonator is a fresh track i dont know who this rapper is Elvis Killed Kennedy:with Chuck D nice track and drum beats and hey!!! and hey!!! Insane Killas: with Insane Clown Posse and once again Darkman Darkman's raps here were really bad ass!!! Tha Weed Song: perfect song to get high im tellin ya!!! and the last one was ok Phone messages from Ross Robinson,Vampiro and some other rappers and the quote from the Cape Fear on White Trash was really funny too!! La Darkman(i said his name wrong) is a member from Wu Tang if you didnt know Best V ICE cd!!!!!!!

V-Ice Bi-Polar (Liquid Records) By Paula Felps
Back before Vanilla Ice became a Behind the Music cliche, he rode to the top of the charts with "Ice Ice Baby" and a bass line stolen from the David Bowie/Queen song, "Under Pressure." Now, more than a decade after he hit the top and began his inevitable and mercifully rapid decline, the Dallas-raised performer is trying to re-establish himself as an edgy, metal-driven rapper. And if the new name -- "V-Ice" -- makes you giggle, just wait 'til you hear the c.d. The disc is divided into two parts. The first, "Skabz," has eight tracks and is decidedly metal. "Tha System" comprises the remaining 16 tracks (don't worry, some are less than a minute long) and shows Ice returning to his white-boy rap roots. He makes his intentions painfully clear in "Hip Hop Rules," as he explains, "I love rap, I paved the way for Eminem / Needless to say, I rap back today / Ya'll forgot about me like ya'll forgot about Dre." Jeez. He calls in some markers and gets some guest vocals from Chuck D, Insane Clown Posse, and Wu Tang Clan's La Tha Darkman, but even an A-list of guest artists with a defibrillator couldn't save this album. It's difficult to say whom V-Ice is catering to this time around. His material feels dated and juvenile, like some sort of musical time capsule that should have remained sealed. Presumably, his following from the early '90s has grown up and moved on. Unfortunately, V-Ice has failed to do the same.

Vanilla Ice... by Marco
Vanilla Ice�s premiere was only 12 years ago, with the infamous debut hit, "Ice Ice Baby." The album, "To The Extreme," was largely unsuccessful due to the complete lack of any other well-developed or popular songs. After he lost his initial popularity blast from "Ice Ice Baby," Vanilla Ice had a brief revival with "Ninja Rap" and its performance in the feature film, "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II." Unfortunately for him, Vanilla Ice became a joke to most music fans for the rest of the 1990s. He was stereotyped into the early-90s "bad old rap" trend with the likes of M.C. Hammer, Kriss Kross, and Snow. Even the more serious and classy old rap bands, such as Arrested Development, were regarded with more respect. Naturally, I jumped at the opportunity to go to a Vanilla Ice concert for $15 in a small club. I didn�t like him in 1990 and I certainly wouldn�t like him in 2002, but my friends and I went for the sheer comic value. It was worth the $15 just so I could tell people, "I saw Vanilla Ice." In fact, we were only about 10 meters from the stage, wondering in amazement how much that ticket would have cost in 1990. There were two opening bands. I would be lying if I said that they had talent. The first, Fed Up, was a typical "bad opening band," relying entirely on screaming to some basic hard-metal guitars. The bassist only used his lowest string, rarely even changing notes. Rest assured that he wouldn�t be difficult to replace. Every song of theirs sounded exactly the same. They were dressed in one-piece blue cloth suits bearing their logo ("F.U." - almost funny, almost badass), which projected a wonderful "gas station employee" image. A large "F.U." flag was also placed on stage, held up by a flimsy PVC pipe frame. They tossed some CDs out to the audience, and I saw at least five that simply hit the ground and stayed there. It�s pretty sad that people wouldn�t even take their CD for free after hearing their show (although I can�t say that I blame them). The only applause this band received was when they announced, "This will be our last song." The second opening band was greeted with a hostile audience, due largely to the poor performance of the first and the crowd�s hunger for Vanilla Ice (seriously). They were far less awful than Fed Up, but unfortunately they were not distinct enough for me to remember their name (they didn�t hang a flag from PVC or wear gas station uniforms). They had slightly more talent than Fed Up, and could probably be a one-hit wonder after many years of constant practice. They performed a shorter set than Fed Up (to everyone�s great pleasure) and seemed a bit more realistic about themselves - they knew that they were opening for Vanilla Ice, 12 years after he became popular, in a $15 concert with less than 400 people attending. Then Vanilla Ice, or "V-Ice" as he wants to be called now, began his set. The floor filled up with "fans" (I use this term loosely, because we were not fans, but we were at the show. I imagine that we were not the only people who came as a joke.). His music is very hard rock-metal now, and it really didn�t sound like it would stand out against any popular hard metal bands. He sprayed water all over the crowd and himself (as it was getting fairly warm), tossing the empty bottles into the crowd like a badass. He went through six bottles in two songs. Whenever a photographer would approach the stage, Vanilla Ice would blatantly pose until after the shot was taken. We left after four songs. We saw what we wanted to see. (No, he did not play "Ice Ice Baby".) Vanilla Ice is doomed to failure in his current effort of reviving his career. Only the most dedicated fans would pay more than $15 to see him, and I doubt he�ll sell many CDs. His biggest problem is that he is taking himself seriously - he still thinks that he�s a hardcore badass, when really he�s a complete joke to almost every music fan. Even the venue employees were chuckling at him. If he really wanted to start a new career with a new type of music, he really should have abandoned the Vanilla Ice name, which will forever remind people that he was an old, bad rapper.

Vanilla Ice - �Unbreakable� CD-5 Ultravox Records
Vanilla Ice 2001 style. and this is not the old 1991 Vanilla Ice; let�s call him V*ICE, for here he is joined with some special guests called ICP on the tune. Controversial, yes, and a surprising great rap with a Ninja flair and hardcore psycho hip-hop. Glad there is a radio edit here, for you would never hear the explicit language which V*ICE is ditching on his tip. Sort of a Wu-Tang Clan or Ninja-horrorcore blend of rapping. Actually, this is one of the best new hip-hop tunes which the world has heard in quite some time, and if you think you are going to get �Ice Ice Baby� or �Play That Funky Music,� you are not. V*ICE continues to bring his unbreakable comeback, and will be here to stay. V*ICE with ICP is awesome.

An Interview with Vanilla Ice
by Julie Seabaugh
February 2003
What twenty-something wouldn't piss their pants at the chance to have a conversation with THE musical icon of 1990, Mr. Vanilla Ice? Since selling 17 million copies of To The Extreme, he has released three largely-ignored albums and essentially dropped off the musical radar. I sat down with the man born Robert Matthew Van Winkle in Lawrence, Kan., after his sold-out show at Abe & Jake's Landing (and after he'd toked it up in an alley with his homies). He discussed his tattoos, religious beliefs, Eminem and keepin' it real, yo. And although he didn't bum rush the speaker that boomed, he did kill my brain like a poisonous mushroom.

Julie: So what are you going by now? Vanilla Ice, V-Ice, Ice�what's your current name?

Ice: Really, it's all been the same, and it doesn't even matter because it's not about the name. In fact, fuck the name, who cares? It's not about the name. It's about the music. It's that easy. But yeah, Vanilla Ice. I ain't changing my name, I'm not running from anything, I'm not hiding from anything, you know? I face my adversities, I don't run from them, so, you know, I'm just very grateful that there's a lot of people that appreciate what I'm doing, and I'm gonna cater to them, so that's about it.
Julie: Your CD Mind Blowin' is hip-hop oriented. Hard To Swallow is metal-rap. We have both of them on Bi-Polar. What do you think you're going to be into next?

Ice: You know, always expect the unexpected with me because anything could come in my life and change it at that�at a given moment. So I just take it day-by-day, and everything I do in the studio is real, so whenever I'm there, I catch a vibe, you know? Like if I'm with Wu-Tang, or whatever, like we did the song, "The Weed Song" on the record, it was like, you know, we got stoned, and we wrote about it, and it was great. You know? So it's just catchin' a vibe, so you never know. If it's whoever I'm going to work with, or what's going to happen.

Julie: Are you more partial to either of those, hip-hop or the rap-metal?

Ice: No, not really. I mean, to me, it's all the same, because it's just, you know, one is more intense because the band needs to be used because of the issues I'm really talking about. It's kind of like a symphony, like an orchestra, you know? Like, a lot of lyrics I wrote about on Hard To Swallow were very personal lyrics, you know, it was, like a very therapeutical record. I spilled my guts, and there was no way I was gonna do that over, like, a hip-hop track, 'cause it ain't happy shit, it ain't happy dance tracks, you know what I mean? So we had to have the band's intensity to build, you know, on basically a reflection of what my life is and what it's been. Julie: And you think it's important for artists to explore other genres? Ice: Shit, man! It's wide open. You can do whatever the fuck you wanna do, anytime you wanna do it. Who the hell made up the rules anyway? There is no rules.

Julie: In your acknowledgements for Bi-Polar you were talking about some seemingly unlikely people. You had Nirvana, REM, Sugar Ray�would you elaborate on any of those acknowledgements?Maybe you don't notice it, but it was a rather clever line if you really analyze it:

Ice: What are you talkin' about now?

Julie: Have you worked with REM, or has their music helped you out along the way, or was there any personal kind of�

Ice: Yeah. And I've met them and everything, so�so it's everybody that I uh�you know, acquaintances and stuff, so�they're just great people. So�

Julie: Now what about Nirvana?

Ice: Without a doubt, Nirvana started grunge. They brought the whole Seattle movement in, and they�they�they took it with them. Nirvana invented it, which means they are the ones that anybody looks at for bringing it to that level, so that's basically an invention, you know, from there to there is a big step�I love Nirvana, by the way, and they�that is the shit. And I, just, was with Kurt, like, you know, probably six weeks before, man.

Julie: No kidding?

Ice: Yeah. Actually, it was�a few months before. In Dallas.
Julie: On your "Hip-Hop Rules" song, you say you paved the way for Eminem; on "Exhale" you call him a fake. Would you care to elaborate?
Ice: It's all entertainment. It's all entertainment, really. I'm not hatin' on him, at all, to be honest with you, you know. Um�it's just a joke that everybody compares him to me because they're only looking at a color of the skin, and not really the fact that, you know, it's, uh, it's just, you know, just two hip-hop artists, you know? But uh, Fred Durst came on and said it all when he said, uh, on MTV he says: "If it wasn't for Vanilla Ice, none of us white boys would be here today." Kid Rock�it's all of them. But you know, I don't know about that. It's�it's just funny, because people have been telling me white rappers, you know, for a long time, and I think they should be more exposed, you know? Because there's some more out there. A lot of them. I know some white boys that can flow like a motherfucker, know what I mean? So, I'm just glad that I was the one that kind of opened that door. But not just for white rappers, but I'm talking about for rap music in general. Because, you know, you're at a DMX show or a Wu-Tang show today, and it's 85% white kids. That�s all, you know, basically a reflection of what my record�the impact my record had. Bringing hip-hop to people's ears who really never considered listening to it.

Julie: In �94 you survived a drug overdose. Now you�ve started over with a wife, kids, and a relationship with God. How do you justify �The Weed Song� and �Insane Killahs�?

Ice: Yeah. I mean, with God? [Laughs] You really wanna know?

Julie: Yeah.

Ice: I'm gonna blow your fuckin' mind now.

Julie: Blow it.

Ice: God, to me, is an alien. That's why I got this on my back. It says "Believe." An alien? Well, that's the whole thing, man. So, I'm not religious, I'm not into any of that stuff. I just believe that humans are all aliens, so words and all this little stuff, even these clothes we're wearin', everything is all just a reflection of man, you know, basically, having restrictions and making you grow in a certain way and proper and act a certain way, but we're really all primal fuckin' animals, man. From another planet. [Stoned laugh] Yeah, for sure. I mean, it's really simple, though, if you really wanna think about it, look at the facts. Fact number 1: This is it, really simple. There was dinosaurs on this planet, it's proven, and they were here for 460 million years, and during that period there was not one human known fragment, not even a Neanderthal man, no known fragments, not anything, humans, during the whole four HUNDRED and sixty million years of the earth's existence. Of the dinosaurs.
[Silence...]

Julie: [Hesitantly] Yeah�

Ice: So where the fuck did we come from? Shiiiit�I could go on for days about that shit. I'll have all these Bible Belt people after me and shit, and that's really not what I�I'm not a preacher for my beliefs. I don't try to�you know, say, you should believe in what I speculated and put together, you know? But I just, you know, look at a few little simple facts and just, you know, kind of put my own little story to it.

Julie: You've been in a handful of movies. Do you ever think about getting into serious acting? An Ice Cube kind of thing?

Ice: I don't know. You never know what's going to happen, like I said. I always take it day-by-day, and you know, wherever I end up, I end up. I try not to predict what�s going to happen in the future, because every time I've done that, I've been 100% wrong. [Laughs] Every time. So, that's why I say, always expect the unexpected. Because anything can happen, you know. Anybody�you can meet somebody you've never met today or tomorrow and your whole life could change, you know? Your whole life could change. All your plans, just completely�you know�to the right way, when you thought they were going left. Julie: And how do you feel about Cool As Ice being certified as one of VH-1's Cult Classics alongside greats like The Rocky Horror Picture Show and Grease? Ice: I think it's funny�[Stoned laugh]�I think it's funny. It's cool though.
Julie: If you don't mind talking about your "Behind the Music" episode, the third most-watched episode ever, last time I heard. Why do you think it's so huge?

Ice: I hate to correct people, because I don't even give a shit, but it's number one now. But I don't give a damn. [Laughs] Yeah. It's so cool. It's so cool, man, that people give a shit. You know, I see where the positive and negative, you know, whether what happened to me in '94, suicide, the law and all that shit, no matter what, I look back on it, you know, and I'm like WOW! What an impact, you know? I own, like, this piece of real estate in time, you know? The Beatles own a time. The Jacksons a time, Hendrix, Kurt Cobain, all these people own a space in time, and I got my space in time. It will be there after I'm dead, you know? Nobody can take it from me. It's like, it's pretty cool. It's a huge impact. I don't think it�ll ever get done�ever happen again, you know?

Julie: Do you think you were presented accurately? Does anything need to be cleared up?

Ice: On VH-1? Oh, they definitely got me wrong. They got me wrong. But I don't wanna correct them, because they did me right overall, you know? The things were very minor that they got wrong, so it was uh�they did me right. They followed me around for, like, six, seven months, man. I got a good response from that, but you know, I can't watch it myself, it's like watching your life flash in front of you.

Julie: Yeah, pretty weird.

Ice: [Makes beeping noises]

Julie: When you were on MTV's "25 Lame" in 1999 and destroyed the "Ice Ice Baby" video and ripped the set to pieces, why didn't you just take out Chris Kattan while you were at it?

Ice: Wooow�[Raps something about "playing on Chris Kattan, man"] Naw. He's funny though, he's funny sometimes.

Julie: Eh.

Ice: "Eh." [Laughs] She said "eh." That isn't even a fucking word, you know, just "eh." How do you spell that?

Julie: E-H.

Ice: Eh. Eh. Eh. That's like, that's like, that's like, that's like we're in the Netherlands. Mmm. Mmm. How do you spell that? What the fuck does that mean? How many times you got "Mmm?" [Laughs] OK.

Julie: OK. You got a leaf tattoo on your stomach after the overdose. [His friend walks in the room]

Ice: Hey, that chick stole my shirt, man! That chick, that chick stole my shirt, man! That chick stole my shirt, man!

Friend: What shirt? What shirt?

Ice: That shirt I had man, that chick just took off�I knew somebody was gonna steal my shit.

Julie: You know you're being taped right now.

Ice: I don't care! Bitch, give me my shit! Wherever you are, I wanna find you, I'm gonna hunt you down, I'm gonna get my fuckin' Suicidal Tendencies shirt back.

Friend: The last time I saw you, you were goin' through the woods. Someone took you through the woods. That's where I was gonna take ya.

Ice: No, no, I went out the back door, so people came out the mountain, dude. They came down the mountain at the railroad tracks. "VANILLA ICE! ICE!" They came down the mountain, crossed the railroad tracks, "Can we take a picture?" Yeah, dude. It's cool, though. It's fine, man. But that chick stole my shit! If I see her again, I'll kick her ass.

Julie: [To friend] Do you want to listen to the rest of our interview?

Ice: Oh, yeah, we're doing an interview. It's cool, he knows everything.

Julie: Speak up if he lies.

Friend: I will, I will.

Ice: I don't lie, there�s no reason to lie.

Friend: I've known him since '94. He don't lie to me. The media wants him to lie about shit so they can talk trash on him.

Ice: [Rapping] You fucking with the clan�Watch what ya say�We kill niggers like the KKK�Shoot you with the SK or AK�Bitch, you gonna die either way! [Laughs] I'm just kiddin' with ya.

Julie: All right. You got your leaf tattoo when you turned over a new leaf in '94. Do any of your other tattoos have as much symbolism?

Ice: As much symbolism? No, the only symbol is a 1937 Cadillac emblem. Because I love Cadillacs. I have a 1964 Cadillac El Dorado convertible, fully restored, old Cadillac. Well, then I got my daughters' names and shit, so there's all kinds of shit, ADD-positive, Jynx, this is my cat that died, it was actually a lynx. It was a tiger. 85-pound cat. I got a kangaroo now.

Julie: Tell us about the kangaroo.

Ice: Eminem's a dork.

Julie: That's gonna be the headline.

Ice: Nooo�I'm not player hating on Eminem, man.

Julie: Well, tell us about your kangaroo.

Ice: Um, what about him? He hops. He hops really fast.

Julie: Where'd you get him, what's his name, what�s he eat?

Ice: He hops�bing-bing-bing-bing-bing-bing-bing! His name is Bucky.

Julie: Bucky? That�s good.

Ice: Yeah. Buckaroo. And he doesn�t have a pouch because he's a boy, ok? Girls only have a pouch.

Julie: Oh, I didn�t know that. Cool.

Ice: He jumps in a pouch. You know, if you hold it out, he'll jump in it, like a little bag. He's cute.

Julie: How do you go about getting a kangaroo?

Ice: Uh�this lady breeds them, sells them out in Florida. I got him at an animal auction. You have to get a permit.

Julie: Do you get recognized on the street often?

Ice: Yep.

Julie: How do you react to that?

Ice: It's cool. Hey, shake their hand, make somebody's day, and you feel great about it anyways. It's cool. I'm not like�I don't have a stick up my ass, you know? Fuckin'�I live a rock star lifestyle, though, but I'm not like, you know, Kid Rock played that whole shit way out. You know, I don't walk around like, rock star, you know? I'm cool. I don't need bodyguards, I don't need a lot of, you know, attention and all this shit, I just say hello man, how you guys doing? Cool. Good to meet you.

Friend: And he's getting to the point where it's attorneys and lawyers. We�re not just talkin' about these young kids. They know him. Attorneys and lawyers know him. People that have some age know him, you know? Lawyers and doctors, people that have real careers�

Julie: Speaking of age, how old are you?

Ice: Uh, 21 today. [Laughs]

Julie: Oh yeah? You�re younger than me.

Ice: Fuck. [Laughs]

Julie: So you're not going tell?

Ice: I'm 30. So�yeah. [I found out later that Mr. Ice is in fact 33.]
Julie: Thinking back to To The Extreme, judging it by your musical standards of today, do you still think it deserves to be the Number One rap album of all time?

Ice: To The Extreme? Hey, I was 16.

Julie: You think it deserved everything it got?

Ice: Fuck yes it does. I deserve everything that's happened to me.

Friend: He opened up doors that no one else in this music industry could have opened up. Nobody else. Nobody.

Ice: It�uh�felt good. It felt good. Felt good! You know, you can't�it's a funny question to ask me, because that's a question you really should put on my fans, you know what I mean? I am only as good as my fans think I am. So�tonight was a pretty good reflection of that, right?

Julie: Is that normal for that many people to show up at your shows?

Ice: Over 500 [performances] since October of '98. And a lot of people don�t even know about it because I flipped the script so heavily with the heavy music, you know, I'd play a lot of rock tours and shit. So it wasn't really mainstream, commercial, pop music, like what I did. And I'll never be able to live up to 17 million, and I'm not trying to. I'm not trying to, you know? I'm not trying to make a COMEBACK record or any of that shit. I'm on to doing something different and new. It's a new musical adventure for me, so�Music's about expression, right? I should be able to express myself. Like, the real myself, right? Like the real yourself, not no artificial bullshit. I'm sorry, but the fucking boy bands, you know�

Julie: Who do you admire as a musical hero?

Ice: Musical hero? Good question. Roger Troutman. He died recently, actually. He put out�Roger Troutman of Zapp�also Parliament-Funkadelic, Rick James, uh, Gap Band, uh�you know�I love all the P-Funk stuff. That's what I grew up on, that's the real shit. Ohio players, man�See, I didn�t grow up on Ted Nugent, and Led Zeppellin, and Aerosmith. But I know of them. I know of them. I know of them. Aerosmith is awesome. They�re fucking awesome. Don�t get me wrong. I�m just sayin', the stuff that influenced me was a different type of music. And then what probably influenced me more than anything was Egyptian Lover. Egypt! Egypt! Do you guys know that? When break dancing first came out, man? Wooo! I used to pull out my cardboard and spin on my head. I'd make 30, 40 bucks a day at the mall.

Julie: You made money doing that?

Ice: Hell yeah. My knees and elbows was bloody from it. Just did it everyday, you know? Just bloody knuckles, spinning on concrete and shit, on the carpet, just bust out right there.

Julie: At the end of The System, you have a bunch of random phone calls�

Ice: Oh yeah, it's called Bomb The System, and my record company pulled the "Bomb" off because they released it right at September 11.

Julie: You let them take it off?

Ice: No, I didn't let them do shit. They did the whole fucking cover and everything. I was pissed. But I'm not worried about all that shit. It's about the music. The music's there, I did the music, OK?

Julie: I was wondering about the significance of all the phone messages you have on Bomb Tthe System, the second half of Bi-Polar.

Ice: They were just�friends calling. They were really stupid. But fucking hilarious. [Random talking about phone messages, including one about aliens] I believe we are all aliens. I mean, this whole ecosystem revolves around us, you know, I mean�we have no body markings, we're all different, right? Look at species of animals, like cats. Look at a true Siberian lynx cat from 100 to 200, 300 years ago. He looks exactly the same. The colors are the same, the markings are the same, they have the little pointy ears�nothing's different. They haven't changed. We have a different species of humans that is extinct. It's called Neanderthal man. You have a cat, you have a puma, a tiger, a lion, they have like 50 different species of cats, right? Well, humans used to have another species. It's called Neanderthal man. And you got the homo sapiens. There's actually three. Three, and they all descended from Africa. First human bone fragments. It's funny because they're called the Ice Man. You remember the�the oldest human bone fragments were found in a glacier. That's why they call him the Ice Man.

Julie: An old relic.

Ice: Yeah. That ain't awesome. Um�yes, and they found that shit, and that was only like 40,000 years old, maybe at the most, not much. [Makes slashing noises]

Julie: How has fatherhood changed your life?

Ice: For the better.

[Silence...]

Julie: Can you be more specific?

Ice: I live life not for myself. I have a reason, a purpose. Suicide is out of the question now. I had a weekend that lasted 6 months.

Julie: Ever think about writing a tell-all book?

Ice: Yes. Actually, I am gonna make a book. Yeah, one day. Not right now because the journey ain't over. All you have is memories. You know that? All you're gonna have is memories. You might as well collect all of them while you can.

Yo, man, let's get out of here. Word to your mother.

Vanilla Ice
by: Alphonso Mayfield
I pose one QUESTION: If Vanilla Ice�s didn�t exist would the industry have to create him? Think about! He opened the market up, if it wasn�t from him there would be no Eminem. I know you�re laughing and that�s cool.
You see comrades this story isn�t necessarily about Ice (well if you think about it) what happened to him happens everyday to tens of thousand of other would be artists. The Ice, movies commercials, even the friggin dolls were a precursor to what the industry would force hip hop to become. So while you cant go forward without looking back this biography marks a critical chapter in Hip Hop.

Slightly removed from the old school foundation of artists like Crush Groove, the Juice Crew, Public Enemy and Krs One yet (according to him) an integral contributor to the vanguard class of contemporary artists like Dre, Pac and Snoop (hey don�t you want to know what really happened with him and Suge). So come along and find out why Ice is not only still relevant but also why the industry made him relevant in the first place. Think about it: If Ice didn�t exist the industry would have had to create him anyway��.eventually. Alphonso Mayfield: Is this your first time here in Jackson?

Vanilla Ice: No, I think I�ve been to Jackson before. I�ve been to too many different places that I really don�t remember.

AM: Tell me about the new album. What some of your expectations and everything?
VI: The name of the album is 'Bipolar'. It�s got two sides of me on there, you know. A lot of people thought that because of my last record, that I just left hip hop behind and that I just went to all rock because my previous CD was just rock. I did a double CD on this record. It took me a whole year to make this thing and basically I just split it up. One CD is all rock and the other one is all hip-hop, but I packaged them together. And basically on the hip-hop one, I worked with the Wu Tang Clan, Insane Clown Posse, and ole school Public Enemy. On the rock record, I worked with Slipknot, and Soul Fly and Ross Robinson from Korn and Limp Bizkit. And it was a musical adventure for me. I like to do something different on every record I do, you know. Cause the same old bullshit to me gets boring. And basically, the reason why I did the rock shit was because my whole life was put into it. Your music is a reflection of what your life is about. Since the VH1 special, people got a little glimpse of it. But the real personal side comes out in your diary, which is your music. I basically went into the studio and every song that we would make, was basically catching a vibe. If I was with Slipknot, and then we would catch a vibe altogether. Then that song would come out that way. Whatever that day was. I got a song on there called, �The Weed Song�. So we would go in there that day smoked out and high and got crazy and made a weed song. Wu-Tang came in and it was all strictly an East Coast type skills represent type thing, lyrically. It was a lot of fun. That�s why I say musical adventure.

AM: How�s this album different that your last couple of albums? I know that many transitions took place. You did the hip hop thing and then rock. And now you�re doing both sides. What happened with these transitions? Why did you do rock? Why are you doing both now?

VI: Cause the stuff I was writing about was so intense, that I had to have the band to match the intensity that I was delivering. There was no way it was going to get done over a break beat or a fucking drum machine; you know what I�m saying? You got the symphony that builds on a movie. You think of a movie like �Jaws� and you hear that DA- DUN, DA-DUN. You take that out of the movie and it ain�t near its art. It ain�t near as scary. I wrote with Ross Robinson and he taught me something. It was capturing this rare, raw, emotional moments on tape. I actually cried on a song that I had called, �Scars'. I was actually in tears as I was in the booth recording. I figured this is some real ass shit. This is what music is all about. You tap into an emotional side and reflect off that. After the record came out, after I toured, I was getting people constantly coming up to me. It was much more personal. The connection with the fans was personal because they would come up to me in tears themselves going, 'Man, I feel you. I know what you've been through and to see that you've made it through that gives me hope.' And I'm like, 'Man what are you talking about?' 'Scars', the song 'Scars' on 'Hard to Swallow'. I'm thinking, damn, this is some real shit. In other words, I left an impression on them. It's much more personal that, 'Ice, Ice Baby' back in the day, which is just dance track.

AM: So musically where are you at right now?

VI: Musically, right now, I'm showing people that I'm still true to my roots, which is hip hop. You know a lot of people don�t give me the respect that I feel like I really deserve. I was there on the Stop the Violence Tour. I was there opening up for Ice-T and EPMD. I was there. My shit is embedded. It's noted. You can't take it from me. I own that piece of time. So, a lot of people saw only what happened after that, which was three years later. It was all a black audience for me. And then all of a sudden I was paid millions dollars to change my image. And this whole thing about image, I didn't know anything about image. Image what? I thought it was all about the music. Then this whole thing about image came in. Cause around that time, you had 'New Kids on the Block'. And you just had 'New Edition'. They basically learned that the kids buy all the records. So if you cater to them, then you'll sell more records. So they created this image around me that really didn't fit my music. I was like, I don't want to do this, this is gay, I don't want to fucking do this shit. Fuck this. And they were like here's a million dollars, will you do this? I was like goddamn, give me the clothes, I'll put it on. I went out and did it. I saw the consequences. But I could never expect selling 17 million albums, either. And all I saw was money coming in like crazy. Fucking concerts selling out like crazy. My record climbing the charts like crazy. So I was like hey, they must know what they are doing.

AM: Let me ask you a question, despite that, if you took the record sells out and everything else, do you regret doing it?

VI: Absolutely.

AM: Why?

VI: The consequences of it all. The consequences were that I basically being ripped of my talent. I was being turned into a novelty act that really wasn't me. I was sitting playing shows to fourteen year olds with braces in huge arenas. These parents were coming to me saying that their kids love me. I was thinking, ''don't you listen to the lyrics?" I didn't plan on being a role model. All parents saw were the dance moves, the glittery clothes, and a good-looking white boy with this image. The record company created the image, but I controlled the music. If you listen to 'Ice, Ice Baby', I'm talking about guns and cocaine. Why is a fourteen year old listening to this? For the first time, the image out shadowed the music.

AM: Looking at hip hop now, compared to hip hop then when you and Hammer were at your zenith who are hip hop artists, were considered pop, how has it changed?

VI: I contributed more to hip-hop than people ever know. They are just now coming to find out about Suge Knight from the Death Row shit. I contributed. Without my money, without my record, without my success, there wouldn't have been a chronic record like that. There wouldn't have been Tupac, Biggie Smalls, all that shit that was on Death Row. That was funded by the money that came from me and nobody ever associated me with gangsta rap cause I ain't no gangsta rapper. Hip-hop back in the beginning was aimed towards a black audience. I didn't think hip-hop would go to a white mainstream crowd. I didn't think that I'd be the one to introduce it to the white mainstream crowd. But here I am and there I was. And that's what happened. When you go to a Redman, Mystikal, Wu-Tang, of DMX concert, it's 85% white. According to Soundscan, 85% of the people who buy their records are white.

AM: If anyone knows anything about music, they would know that Soundscan only monitors records that are sold in the malls and franchised music stores. They don't include the mom and pop stores that sell records predominately in black neighborhoods.

VI: before my record, they didn't have any of that following. I'm the one who brought that shit to the mainstream. I'm the one who made the first pop-rap record that made it big like that. Then MC Hammer right there in the same set, right? You gotta give us credit for that. I don't think the rap record would be selling as much as they do today if we didn't bring it in there.

AM: So kind of what you are saying is, and I actually agree with you a lot when you say this, that you got used to get the medium to a certain point, to open up the market enough, then they discarded you.

VI: Yep.

AM: One of the things that I realize is, was a lot of stuff that you guys were doing then, with the movies, commercials, even dolls and shit, back then you got heavily ridiculed for it. Now you have, something else I want to talk to you about was the thing with Eminem and everything, but now you've got Eminem doing dolls, Eminem doing movies, same type of thing. And it�s accepted now. You see what I'm saying? So I know that for you being at the front of that that it has to eat you up inside.

VI: It really doesn't. You know why? Because I'm on to what I'm doing now and I put the past in the past. And I leave it in the past. Cause ain't nothing I can do to change it. And I've learned to live with it. So basically, I face my adversities and I don't run from them. And by doing that I'm able to um, put a smile on my face and look back at positive and negative, what ever happened in my life. It's history. I can't change it. And WOW what a fucking impact! You can't take it from me, no matter what.

AM: Now you said that you don't need the money. And as far as I know, you are one of the few rappers who came in at that time, sold a lot of records and you're still straight financially. So why are you doing this? You're here in Jackson, Mississippi. You're actually not even Jackson, you're in Byram, Mississippi. You're out here in the middle of the fucking country, performing. Why?

VI: Because I reach everybody. My whole thing is that, I know the impact that I laid on the world. And basically, that I have fans in every crack, crevice, and corner. So, I can go anywhere and play a show, anywhere. In country towns, in country bars, anyplace. Some of my shows are huge, are big. Still today, ten thousand, twelve thousand seaters I play. All Spring Break you'll see me playing Charley's, down in South Padre, I'll play Panama Beach, I've played Daytona for the past five or six years, man. And it's huge shows. That's what I live for, man. You'll see me tonight. I'm going to have a blast tonight. Don't matter where I'm at. There's no shame in my game. I just enjoy reaching out to my fans and letting them embrace me with out no phony gimmick or image made up from the record company. And I'm so grateful that I can be playing shows. I saw Snoop Dogg about two months ago. And he was in an 800 capacity, he was in Louisiana somewhere, and it was only maybe 150 people there. Snoop! He's more current than me. I figured he would have sold-out shows. Same thing I saw with other people too. Rappers really can't sell tickets unless they get a big group of them together. I'm doing good, ten years after 'Ice, Ice Baby'.
AM: Something else, I mentioned Eminem earlier. How did that whole thing get started? What was the thing with you and Eminem? I know you supposedly recorded a response diss song to him.

VI: I have no hate towards Eminem whatsoever. I will battle him any day of the week. I don't care. I came from that era. People won't give me credit because of the stigma that's attached to my name. Which is why I'm not changing my name. Because music ain't about a name. Music is about music. It's not about an image, it ain't about anything. But as far as Enimem goes, I don't know Eminem. He doesn't know me. We have never met. What's funny to me, what's flattering to me is that on every record he's mentioning me. It's obvious that I left such an impact on him, in his life that he's got to mention me. He must feel inferior to me that he's got to mention me on every record.
AM: Well do you think that, knowing you're a white rapper, that he's trying to fight the stereotype that comes along with being a whiter rapper?
VI: Absolutely he is, him and Kid Rock and everything after me. Fred Durst, all of them. They have to live through that, you know? The impact I left on this planet is bigger than anything they will ever do. Eminem will never sell 17 million records off one record. It will never happen. I don't think that anyone in rap music will ever do that again. It was a phenomenon.
AM: Now you've mentioned Suge Knight earlier. You mentioned your financial contribution to Death Row. Two Stories have been told, one NBC Dateline and the one on VH1 Behind the Music. Ice cut the shit man what realy happened?
VI: Basically, I don't mind talking about it, but I'm not going to put a target on my forehead. I'm not going to put a target on my kids and jeopardize my life for something that happened twelve years ago. You damn right my story is going to change. Cause I'm not going to come and say some shit. I've got death threats after that thing in NBC Primetime. And didn't want to go on there and say anything about that. In fact I was happy when everything died down. Years went by and I didn't hear nothing about no Suge Knight. This guy named Vic Walters comes up to me and he says he knows all about the whole Suge Knight thing. So I asked him what did he know. I wanted to see just how he knew and what was true. He had shit all fucked up. He had the craziest story that I've ever heard of. That Suge hung me off a balcony by my ankles. Not true didn't happen! All kinds of bullshit. Basically I was on the balcony talking to him (Suge) and they tape that and then all of a sudden he's hanging me over the balcony. That part is bullshit. I got the picture he didn't have to hang me. Shit, he's about 8 feet tall and when I go to check into my room they're already in there. Shit it was him and six other people in there. Basically to make a long story short, Suge has basically been exposed now. I'm not gonna go around bad mouthing Suge. He's out. On top of that, I'm not bitter. He took over four million dollars from me. Like I said, I ain't bitter. I look at it in a positive way. Number one, I ended up with way more money than I thought I would. Number two, I contributed to three of the baddest rappers, best albums in hip-hop of all time: Chronic, Tupac and Snoop Dogg. They were on Death Row, and I contributed to that. I was the one who funded the initial beginning of Death Row. I'm not the only one. It was Easy-E, Suge Knight, you had Hammer, Arsenio Hall, Eddie Murphy, all kinds of people. Four million dollars to fund some of the best rappers in hip hop, some of the best albums of all time.

AM: What do you think of the way music is now?

VI: I don't have anything against boy bands or anything, but *Nsync, Brittany Spears, Backstreet Boys, and Madonna even, is what I would call artificial music. These artists don't write their own songs. They are kind of like Milli Vanilli, except they are the voices used to sing. But hey, kids need music to listen to also. But ten years ago, the *Nsyncs were the actual bands, the groups with authentic music. For example Nirvana, the Beatles, and Jimi Hendrix. Now record companies have gotten to the point in which they can't find authentic groups so they go to Disney and have them makeup a band. It's almost like a boot camp.

AM: If you wanted to tell anyone about Vanilla Ice, the new album and you can sum it up in one sentence, what would you say?

VI: I'm a survivor. And my album demonstrates that I face my adversities, that I don't run away from things, and that I am true to roots; I'm bipolar.

Artical Page # 2

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