Vanilla Ice: The Worst Rapper Ever?

Poor Vanilla Ice. The guy had a smash hit, made millions of dollars, won awards, and is now one of the most reviled rappers of all time. He has become the symbol for rap's sold out, corporate side, an image of all that can go wrong with the music genre when radio execs in stuffy suits decide what rap should be. And poor Vanilla Ice is still out there trying to make music, get on TV, find success and respect. Good luck, right?

But it used to not be like that for Vanilla Ice. Once upon a time in the late 1980s, he was just a struggling rap artist like everyone else. And he actually had a pretty big cult following, a black following mind you, in Dallas when he first starting becoming a regional phenom. He had a group of rapping buds, DJ Earthquake the big name among them, who would rap and dance in local clubs. He even released the first Vanilla Ice album around this time in 1989, called "Hooked," with the Ichiban Record label. He even opened for Public Enemy.

The first Vanilla Ice song from the album was the single "Play That Funky Music." It did not do well. But then the story goes that some DJ in Georgia tried the other Vanilla Ice song on the B side to that single, and then the future got very bright indeed for Vanilla. That other song was "Ice Ice Baby."

A Flash in a Pan

If you listen to the Vanilla Ice lyrics in the song, you might not get blown away by his rhyming talent or by his storytelling, but there was something about that catchy beat sampled from the David Bowie and Queen song "Under Pressure" that won audiences over. In a big way. How big? It became the first rap song ever to go number one on the Billboard charts.

The album that was released after the song got huge, called "To the Extreme," was followed by a tour. The album would sell more than 11 million copies and would knock another often scorned (but previously loved rapper) MC Hammer.

But with fame always comes problems, right? First, he got sued for using the Under Pressure loop. Then he got threatened with action from a frat for stealing their logo "ice ice baby." The funk bad that did the original version of "Play That Funky Music" also sued. He also started getting some bad press for his new flashy pop style and his fake cred, including a story about how he had a fake biography come out about him as well as the total panning of his movie, "Cool as Ice."

Done

By the time his live album "Extremely Live" came out in 1991, he was already done. Faded out. Discredited. By the time his next album came out in 1994, the Vanilla Ice record "Mind Blowin," he had completely redid himself. Now he rapped about pot and acted like he was part of the Death Row West Coast G-funk style.

Since then, the occasional Vanilla Ice record has come out, like the 2001 "Bi Polar" and the 2005 "Platinum Underground," and he has participated in other people's albums, wrestled, been in a reality TV show or two, worked a bar. Give him credit. For what? The guy doesn't go away quietly.

From Vanilla Ice to Hip Hop Music