Ice Ice Baby

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"Ice Ice Baby"

Single by Vanilla Ice
from the album To The Extreme
Released	1990
Format	12", CD
Genre	Rap
Length	4:31
Label	SBK Records

"Ice Ice Baby" is rapper Vanilla Ice's most famous and popular song, released from his second album To The Extreme. The song samples Queen and David Bowie's "Under Pressure". "Ice Ice Baby" was the second rap single ever to hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100, after Blondie's 1981 single "Rapture." The song was nominated for a Grammy for Best Rap Solo Performance in 1991 but lost to MC Hammer's "U Can't Touch This". The single, released by SBK Records, sold 15 million copies.

Vanilla Ice drew controversy by claiming that he owed no royalties for sampling "Under Pressure", citing one minor alteration to the bass line. Although no lawsuit was ever filed, the rapper supposedly settled out of court, and songwriting credits were made to members of Queen and to Bowie. This song also brought troubles for him years later, when convicted felon and famous CEO of Deathrow Records Suge Knight claimed his friend had written the lyrics to the song, and allegedly dangled him by the ankles over the balcony to get royalties from the song.^{[citation needed]} Vanilla Ice has verified and denied this claim many times, first telling of it, then telling a toned-down version which involved him talking to Suge Knight calmly.^{[citation needed]} He later said he has no regrets of the incident, because he claims it helped fund Snoop Dogg and 2pac.^{[citation needed]}

Despite the song's success, Eminem has accused the song of almost turning him off rap music altogether, although this may or may not have been a ploy to defuse the many comparisons between the two artists.

The video for the song made an appearance on Beavis and Butthead, being one of the few that the duo didn't verbally criticize. When the video started, the two simply looked at each other in horror and turned off the television.

"Ice Ice Baby" also appears in various incarnations on Vanilla Ice's later albums. "The Wrath," which the fourth track on 1994's Mind Blowin', is pays subtle homage to the aforementioned superhit. The chorus changes "ice ice baby" to "ice ice, man" and also used female moans in an "uh uh, baby" effect. In 1998, the song was remade/re-imagined, this time as "Too Cold." This version was significantly more true to the original lyrically (though one verse is omitted). The music, on the other hand, was consistent with the Nu-Metal/Rapcore form of the entire Hard to Swallow album. Commonly attributed influences of the album include to early works by Korn and Limp Bizkit. Finally, in 2005, Vanilla Ice re-recorded the song for a third time on Platinum Underground. This version was the most accurate remake. The tempo is increased, but the lyrics, the music, and the beat of the original is for the most part intact.

This song was parodied by Mark Jonathan Davis in a song called "Rice Rice Baby", often misattributed to Weird Al Yankovic.

In 2001, the song was remixed by the German eurotrance act Re-Animator and released as a 4-track single Ice Ice Baby 2001 by Noise Maker label. The remake used original vocal by Vanilla Ice. Italian trance superstar Gigi D'Agostino worked on one of the remixes, and his version entered dance charts across the European continent.

It has been remade by Crazy Frog on its second album entitled Crazy Frog Presents More Crazy Hits which was released in June 2006. Richard Cheese and Lounge Against the Machine also covered this smooth Lounge sound song in their 2006 album, "Silent Nightclub". Also in 2006, German singer Sha released JaJa, her debut single and a cover version of the song with new German lyrics. "Ice Ice Baby" is heard on several commercials advertising The Santa Clause 3.

Preceded by "Black Cat" by Janet Jackson	Billboard Hot 100 number one single November 3, 1990	Succeeded by "Love Takes Time" by Mariah Carey
Preceded by "Unchained Melody" by The Righteous Brothers	UK number-one single November 25, 1990 for 4 weeks	Succeeded by "Saviour's Day" by Cliff Richard