Artist:Vanilla Ice
Song:Ice Ice Baby
Album:To the Extreme
Other than The Beastie Boys, Robert "Vanilla Ice" Van Winkle was the very first successful white rapper. The 1990 single Ice Ice Baby topped the charts. It would turn out to be his only memorable hit. Van Winkle was born Oct. 31, 1967 in Dallas but he grew up in Miami where his stepfather worked at a car dealership. He got into breakdancing as a teen and was nicknamed Vanilla because he was the only white guy. He started his own breakdancing group The Vanilla Ice Posse. That's when he wrote Ice Ice Baby which is supposed to be about drugs and a drive by shooting. Van Winkle moved back to Texas with his stepfather. He started racing motocross but after he broke his ankle during a race, he decided to stop doing it. He started performing again and signed with producer Tommy Quon. Quon released the single Play That Funky Music with Ice Ice Baby on the B side. DJs preferred Ice Ice Baby and turned the record over. Eventually Van Winkle signed with Capitol's SBK label and the wider distribution turned Ice Ice Baby into a number one hit. Of course the song is based on Under Pressure by Queen & David Bowie. That sample is probably too recognizable for me. The bottom line is that hook sold the song. Van Winkle wasn't even paying royalties. He eventually bought Under Pressure because it was cheaper than paying royalties. Van Winkle produced Ice Ice Baby with Floyd "Earthquake" Brown. This seems to be Brown's only significant credit. Among his other activities, Van Winkle was in a relationship with Madonna. And He made the film Cool As Ice which bombed spectacularly. To the Extreme is available as a budget CD. Van Winkle's second album for SBK did poorly. He also had drug abuse problems. Realizing that his rap career was over, Van Winkle got his real estate license and learned home renovation which eventually turned into the successful TV series The Vanilla Ice Project. He continued to record occasionally. His most recent album was in 2011. The home renovation show is probably his most successful recent project. But there was a time when Robert Van Winkle was the hottest thing in music. Here's the video for Ice Ice Baby by Vanilla Ice.
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