Vanilla Ice

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Vanilla Ice

Background information
Birth name Robert Matthew Van Winkle
Born October 31, 1968 (age 38)
Flag of United States Miami Lakes, Florida
Origin Flag of United States Tyler, Texas, USA
Genre(s) Rap, Pop, Rock
Occupation(s) Rapper
Years active 1988–present
Label(s) SBK
Website VanillaIce.com

Robert Matthew Van Winkle (born October 31, 1968), better known as Vanilla Ice, is a Grammy Award nominated, American Music Award winning American rapper, known mostly for the single "Ice Ice Baby," which topped the charts in the early 1990s.

He found major mainstream success and was one of the few successful white rappers in the early 1990s. He has sold 20 million records worldwide.

Contents

[edit] Biography

[edit] Early life and career

Robert Matthew Van Winkle was born in Miami Lakes, Florida to Camilla Beth Dickerson, a music teacher and classical pianist, and Dallas, Texas-born William Basil Van Winkle.[1] Van Winkle's first foray into the music industry is the little-known rap album Hooked, released in 1989 on an independent label. It sold about 48,000 copies, making it a rarity and something of a collector's item among fans.

[edit] Mainstream success and failure (1990-1993)

His next album: To the Extreme, released in 1990, contained mostly the same songs as Hooked. The album featured his best-known single, "Ice Ice Baby", a rap song about his MC skills, the Miami scene, and a gun-fight on A1A/Beachfront Avenue. Van Winkle's manager and financier, Tommy Quon, chose a limited release for the single, and no vinyl release for the album, so that fans bought the more expensive CD instead. As a consequence, To The Extreme became the first #1 album in the US without a vinyl counterpart release. It went on to sell over 11 million copies. Van Winkle toured during 1990 with Alanis Morissette as his opening act. In 1991, "Ice Ice Baby" was the first hip-hop single to top the charts.[2]

Van Winkle's success also brought problems. "Ice Ice Baby" sampled the 1981 Queen and David Bowie collaboration "Under Pressure" without permission. Van Winkle was sued by a California undergraduate chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha, the first African-American fraternity, claiming he was using words and moves similar to the fraternity's step-show routines. He was also sued by Wild Cherry frontman Rob Parissi, for not crediting him as the writer of Ice's cover of the disco classic, "Play That Funky Music."

His fall from popularity was just as rapid as his rise to fame, due primarily to disclosures that damaged his credibility: he had come from a relatively affluent background, not from a turbulent, high-crime area as he had claimed.[2] His claims that he had attended a predominantly black high school in Miami, Florida and had led a crime-riddled life were revealed to be false, and had been manufactured to lend his image street credibility. This first occurred when student-reporters at Miami Palmetto Senior High School, a suburban and mostly white high school in Miami, attempted to locate him in the local district records, in the process of which they determined Ice's real name. He had actually attended R. L. Turner High School in Carrollton, Texas, a suburb of Dallas, Texas. His flamboyant stage outfits and over-stylized grooming also eventually led to great ridicule. Van Winkle could not shake the perception that he embodied the white mainstream's commercial appropriation and watering down of traditionally Black music, and the backlash from the hip hop community all but turned him into a pariah.

Van Winkle has been mocked in other rappers' lyrics, most notably by the later (and more successful) white rap artist Eminem, but perhaps the most famous contemporary critique was 3rd Bass' song "Pop Goes the Weasel". Its music video featured punk rock singer Henry Rollins, dressed like Van Winkle, being beaten up by the members of the group. The African-American sketch comedy In Living Color also mocked Vanilla Ice with a sketch where the rapper was portrayed (by Jim Carrey) as a bumbling phoney, the backup chorus singing "He's so white-white baby!".[citation needed] Both Chris Rock's character Nat X from Saturday Night Live and rapper Ice-T in an interview with Rolling Stone wondered if the street that Ice claimed to hail from was in fact Sesame Street.[3][4]

Re-hashing his songs for a third time, Van Winkle's next album was a live version of To The Extreme titled Extremely Live. Though Extremely Live was certified gold, Ice's fame had faded significantly by the time it was released in 1991, and sales of the album never approached those of its predecessor.

Also in 1991, Van Winkle made Cool as Ice, often colloquially referred to on blogs and online reviews as "The Vanilla Ice Movie." The film was essentially a remake of Rebel Without a Cause updated for the 1990s, starring Van Winkle as "Johnny," a biker gang member loosely modeled on the Vanilla Ice character. Johnny falls in love with a preppy girl he meets while riding through a small town. The soundtrack featured several new Vanilla Ice tracks, including a duet with Naomi Campbell. The film was both a commercial and critical failure. For his performance, Van Winkle won the "Worst New Star" award at the 1991 Golden Raspberry Awards. The film slipped into obscurity with only a limited VHS release. However, in the early 2000s, it enjoyed a new status as a cult film, thanks in part to the recent trend of nostalgia crazes and the film's intermittent appearance on bad movie review sites.

[edit] Rebranded image (1994-1998)

Van Winkle returned to music in 1994 with Mind Blowin'. His image had been changed to a dreadlocked, marijuana-obsessed, tattooed gangsta, insisting that his former sound and image had been pressed on him by his record company. Shifting public tastes in music and fashion, the perception that he had shifted his image to suit current trends, as well as the fallout from negative press in the interim between albums, all contributed to the commercial failure of the album. On July 4, 1994, Van Winkle attempted to commit suicide and made another attempt later that same year, citing drug abuse and anxiety surrounding his flagging career.

During this period, Van Winkle claimed in a television interview that he had been threatened and assaulted by Marion "Suge" Knight, founder and CEO of Death Row Records, for royalties demanded by a former associate who claimed that he had, in fact, written "Ice Ice Baby." According to Van Winkle, Knight dangled him by his ankles over a hotel balcony until he agreed to sign over the royalties from the track. Knight denied the allegation.Van Winkle later confirmed that the incident never took place, that he only signed over royalties to Knight.[5] This alleged incident was parodied in the 2005 movie Be Cool, in which Vince Vaughn's character, Roger — a street-talking, white record producer loosely based on Vanilla Ice, was dangled from a building by Sin LaSalle's entourage (LaSalle himself, played by Cedric the Entertainer, is partially based on Suge Knight). Another parody appeared in a 2006 episode of Entourage where Johnny Drama is held in the same fashion.

It wasn't until 1996 that Ice made his next appearance (credited as "Rob Van Winkle)," on the song "Boom" by suburban Philadelphia comedy rock group The Bloodhound Gang. The track's deep bass groove and Van Winkle's uncharacteristic tough guy flow on the first verse led to a quasi-ironic underground revival in popularity, and the first new Vanilla Ice CD in four years.

In 1998, Hard to Swallow found Ice in a musically similar idiom to the track from the Bloodhound Gang, using a contemporarily popular nu metal sound his press kit referred to as "skate rock" that could be described as musically similar to early Limp Bizkit or Korn. Van Winkle once again revised his image, and was now a tow-headed, pierced and tattooed headbanger. The disc also included a revamped version of "Ice Ice Baby," renamed "Too Cold," and reimaged as a stomping heavy metal anthem. (Also performing on the album were Doug Ardito of Puddle of Mudd, DJ Swamp of Beck, Shannon Larkin, Sonny Mayo, and Wes Borland of Limp Bizkit, among others.)

[edit] Career (1999-2001)

His fame and notoriety have increased with a number of notable television appearances. In 1999, Van Winkle appeared on an MTV special called MTV's 25 Lame in which MTV retired some of its worst videos. Van Winkle accepted an invitation to appear and destroy the tape of "Ice Ice Baby" live on air. After chatting with the hosts (Janeane Garofalo, Chris Kattan, Denis Leary, and Jon Stewart), he took the bat and destroyed the tape as well as the set. The show quickly transitioned to a commercial. During the mayhem, Van Winkle managed to cut Kattan's foot.[citation needed]

In 2000, he co-hosted the car tuning program Ice with Jordan on the UK Men & Motors channel, alongside glamour model Jordan; the title was also a pun on ICE (in-car entertainment).

In 2001, he released Bipolar, which contained new metal material and more contemporary hip-hop songs. It did little to rekindle public interest. On the album Van Winkle collaborated with many artists such as Wu-Tang Clan affiliate La The Darkman, Chuck D from Public Enemy, and Insane Clown Posse (which earned him the following of Insane Clown Posse's famously dedicated fan base known as Juggalos). Van Winkle also briefly appeared in the JCW, the Insane Clown Posse's wrestling federation, to replace Shaggy 2 Dope when he was injured.

[edit] Reality TV star (2002-present)

In 2002, Van Winkle was a participant in the reality show Celebrity Boxing. Actor Todd Bridges defeated Van Winkle by knocking him down several times during the event. Moreover, in 2004, Van Winkle starred in the second season of The Surreal Life on VH1. On the show, he sang karaoke to "Ice Ice Baby" at a bar with Trishelle Cannatella and Traci Bingham. In the same year, he appeared on British television in the first season of the reality TV show The Farm on Five in which he came in second place. He was also cast in the film The Helix...Loaded, a parody of The Matrix.

In June 2005, Van Winkle won the second round of NBC's hit TV show Hit Me Baby One More Time, performing "Ice Ice Baby" and covering Destiny's Child's hit "Survivor". He also appeared on a VH1 special entitled "Remaking Vanilla Ice", which featured the revamped Van Winkle preparing for the release of his new album Platinum Underground. Ice also appeared on the series Damage Control on MTV2 to promote the album.

Van Winkle released Platinum Underground in August 2005 containing some new material, songs from Bi-polar, and some remakes of his older works, the album received mixed reviews and limited sales. Along with the album's release, Van Winkle performed with Insane Clown Posse at Hallowicked 2005. He also held a series of European concerts in November and December of the same year.

Controversy broke out on the G4 Forums website on September 19, 2005 when, in the heat of the co-hosting auditions, Attack of the Show! claimed on their website that they had discovered a new, permanent cohost who wasn't going to be required to audition.[citation needed] They claimed that "You’ve seen him in music videos, in his own film, and on reality TV. He’s ice cold, goes to the extreme, and really knows how to play that funky music. And we’ve got him signed exclusively to AOTS." ("Ice Cold" and "Play That Funky Music" were both tracks on Vanilla Ice's 1990 album To the Extreme). Adding to the prank, Ice personally appeared on the show on September 20, 2005 as the "new permanent co-host." After co-hosting a brief segment, Ice publicized his new album and left. Kevin Pereira put an end to the prank with the announcement, "Unfortunately, Vanilla Ice is not our new co-host."

Ice also starred in The Surreal Life: Fame Games, which began airing in 2007 on VH1. This show pitted stars from various seasons of The Surreal Life against each other in competitions. Ice won many individual competitions, as well as winning several competitions for his team. At a concert at Virginia Tech, Ice claimed he beats up Ron Jeremy on the show, but "still has love for him." In 2007, the two appeared on The Tyra Banks Show and claimed they were once again friends.[6]

Ice announced at a concert in Fort Worth, TX that he is still putting out an album with The Insane Clown Posse, but is in the final stages of finishing up a contract to sign with Swishahouse Records. Ice, being from Dallas, said he liked Paul Wall’s style, who is from Houston. Ice said the album is unnamed, but will “Have a Dirty South taste, with a twist of Vanilla”. Ice was also asked about the signing. “It’s great man, going to work with Paul Wall and the House, you know? I’m down to work with anybody who shows me respect man, It’s all about the music”. Ice said the album won’t be mainstream, but will have that “feel” to it. Ice ended by saying his next album, entitled 31 Flavors, will be out in the winter of 2007 and will feature previously recorded but unreleased tracks, such as “Godfather” with Lenny Kravitz and “Iced Out Juggalo” with ICP.

[edit] Personal life

Van Winkle was arrested by police in Davie, Florida in January 2001 for assaulting his wife. According to the criminal complaint, they got into an argument as they drove on Interstate 595, with Ice allegedly pulling the hair from his wife's head. He pleaded guilty to charges of disorderly conduct in April 2001 and was sentenced to probation and ordered to attend family therapy sessions.[7][8]

He briefly attracted the attention of the media when his pet wallaroo, Bucky, and pet goat, Pancho, escaped from his Port St. Lucie, Florida home in November 2004. After wandering around local streets for over a week, the animals were caught, and returned to Ice. He had to pay a $220 fine for expired pet tags, and an undisclosed fine for the escape of the animals.[9]

He currently lives in Wellington, Florida with his wife, Laura, and their two daughters, Dusti Raine and Keelee Breeze.

In an interview with Playboy Online, Winkle stated that he refers to his penis as "Big Daddy", as a tribute to the rapper Big Daddy Kane.[10]

[edit] Trivia

This article contains a trivia section.
Content in this section should be integrated into other appropriate areas of the article or removed, and the trivia section removed.

[edit] Discography

[edit] Partial filmography

[edit] Footnotes

  1. ^ William Addams Reitwiesner. Ancestry of Robert Matthew Van Winkle. Retrieved on March 20, 2007.
  2. ^ a b Brian Braiker (Newsweek) (January 27, 2007). Keeping It Real?. Retrieved on March 24, 2007.
  3. ^ Nelson George (01-23-2005). Saturday Night Live Transcripts. Retrieved on February 8, 2007.
  4. ^ SNL. Rhymin' and Stealin'. Retrieved on February 8, 2007.
  5. ^ Washington Post (February 17, 2006). Catching Up With...Vanilla Ice. Retrieved on March 20, 2007.
  6. ^ Delia (2-07-2007). Tyra Show Recap. Retrieved on March 15, 2007.
  7. ^ The Smoking Gun (January 2001). TSG Mug Shot: Vanilla Ice. Retrieved on February 20, 2007.
  8. ^ The Smoking Gun (January 2001). TSG Criminal Complaint: Vanilla Ice. Retrieved on February 20, 2007.
  9. ^ ABC (wpbf.com) (November 19, 2004). Word to Your Wallaroo: Vanilla Ice Fined. Retrieved on February 14, 2007.
  10. ^ Playboy. Vanilla Ice Interview. Retrieved on February 8, 2007.
  11. ^ http://www.commonwealthclub.org/archive/05/05-05chuckd-speech2.html Commonwealthclub.org

[edit] External links

[edit] Videos

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