Vanilla Ice
Vanilla Ice
Robert Matthew Van Winkle, known by his stage name, Vanilla Ice, is an American rapper, actor and television host. Born in South Dallas, and raised in Texas and South Florida, Ice released his debut album, Hooked, in 1989 on Ichiban Records, before signing a contract with SBK Records, a record label of the EMI Group which released a reformatted version of the album under the title To the Extreme. Ice's 1990 single "Ice Ice Baby" was the first hip hop...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionRapper
Date of Birth31 October 1967
CityDallas, TX
CountryUnited States of America
It's about enjoying your life. If you have no family, no friends to enjoy it with, it don't matter how much you have, how much success you have, how much fame you have, how much money you have, it doesn't matter.
My prediction is that y'all gonna hate on the style we create, straight 2008.
I had a pretty modest upbringing; it was no pleasure cruise. I don't think I would be as happy today if I hadn't been through that. It was tough; I made some bad choices myself.
I know this will blow your mind, but most people would probably never ever get it, but I listen to classical music when nobody else is around. It calms me down and I can get into this, like, deep thinking mode, you know, because there's really no lyrics to it, so you're not following something that - that you're listening to a story.
With radio limitations as far as length of songs and content, sometimes if you are being conscious of that then that effects the outcome of a song.
One thing I didn't understand in life was that I had $100,000,000 in the bank and I couldn't buy happiness. I had everything: mansions, yachts, Ferraris, Lamborghinis, but I was depressed. I didn't know where I fitted in. But then I found family and friends and I learned the value of life.
Nobody knew the direction of the album until the very end. It was really amazing because we had no idea what we were going to come up with.
People don't understand it's really a hard thing, because I was here in the early '90s and... basically I was gone from over here. I've been doing my thing over in the States, but it's more underground than pop-ish, mainstream-ish, radio-friendly stuff, it's more underground. People have no clue what the hell Vanilla Ice has been up to.
I was playing a record company whore back in the days, a puppet. Everything was staged. I wasn't really designed to be this novelty act; I was turned into one. When I first came out, I was opening for Ice-T, EPMD, and Public Enemy. All of my audience was black.
For three years, between 16 and 19, I was the opening-act-for-the-opening-act-for-the-opening-act, you know? And then I was on tour with Ice-T, Stetsasonic, EPMD, Sir Mix-a-Lot - legends - and went on to sell 160 million records. It still baffles me.
If you grew up in my generation, you're going to be influenced by Run DMC, the Beastie Boys and also listen to Metallica - it wasn't segregated anymore.
I didn't want the public in my personal life at all - I thought that people might perceive me as too normal, and I'd lose that larger-than-life rock star persona. You've got to protect that!
A lot of people think I was an overnight success, but I was an opening act for three or four years, and then I signed my contract with EMI. Then it kind of blew up overnight.
I bring people on stage with me. It's a good time, and people love to join in on the party. Show me a smile, and I'll show you one back.