Vanilla Ice is an American rapper. Born Robert Mathew Van Winkle, Vanilla Ice is most well known from his single “Ice Ice Baby“, which topped the Billboard charts upon its release in 1990.
Vanilla Ice was born in South Dallas, but often moved between Texas and South Florida during his youth. Vanilla Ice had a troubled upbringing: he never knew his father, and had various stepfathers by the time he reached high school. Vanilla Ice was interested in breakdancing and battle rapping during his school days, and it was from these hobbies that he procured his stage name. Vanilla Ice dropped out of high school and embarked on his career as an artist at the age of 16, when he wrote “Ice Ice Baby”, a self-promoting song about a botched drug deal with his friend from high school.
Though the hit was not successful upon its release, “Ice Ice Baby” soon gained nationwide popularity when a local disc jockey played the wrong side of his cover of “Play That Funky Music” at a club. Vanilla Ice then signed with SBK Records, who capitalized on Ice’s appearance breakdance skill to create a more commercialized persona for the rapper.
While under SBK Records Vanilla Ice re-released his debut album, Hooked, which included “Ice Ice Baby”, under the new name To the Extreme. To the Extreme quickly became the fastest selling hip-hop album of all time due to its worldwide popularity that stemmed from Ice’s appearance having opened up the genre of hip-hop to new audiences. Following To the Extreme, Vanilla Ice released his second major album, Extremely Live, a compilation of live performances, though it received mostly negative reviews.
From the years 1993 to 1994 Vanilla Ice took a break from music to focus on motocross, a favorite childhood hobby. During this time Vanilla Ice fell out of the public spotlight, and tried to regain his popularity with the release of another album, Mind Blowin’, which was not well received either.
Vanilla Ice attributes these bumps in his career to the rebranding that SBK Records imposed on him. In 1994, Vanilla Ice survived a suicide attempt. Vanilla Ice has since changed the direction of his music, and though not as popular, his later albums have developed a large underground fan base.
List of Vanilla Ice albums:
- Hooked (1989)
- To the Extreme (1990)
- Extremely Live (1991)
- Ice Capades (1992) (never released)
- Mind Blowin’ (1994)
- Pickin’ Skabz (1996) (never released)
- Hard to Swallow (1998)
- Bi-Polar (2001)
- Hot Sex (2003)
- Platinum Underground (2005)
- Vanilla Ice Is Back! (2008)
- W.T.F. (Wisdom, Tenacity And Focus) (2011)
- Untitled Psychopathic Album (2014)