(aside: they should've framed this around "Ninja Rap" for freshness' sake)


I’m the first global hip-hop artist in the world. I don’t care who you put before me or after me, I’m the first. I put rap music in front of people’s ears who never considered or even heard of it. I hit Saudi Arabia, bro. I’ve played Iran. I’ve played in front of the Taliban and Hezbollah, and they’d sing “Ice Ice Baby.” They don’t hold the American thing against you. They look at you like, “This is Vanilla Ice.” And they treat you like royalty.

You have to understand that I grew up with poetry. When I was in the seventh grade trying to get the chicks, instead of writing love notes to these little girls, I was writing love poems. And it worked really well. I had no idea that that poetry was going to lead to my career. But the passion never left. It just kept escalating.

My mom was really good at it, too. She had these one-liners. I’m a big one-liner guy: “Drop that zero, get with the hero.” “If there’s a problem, yo, I’ll solve it.” I could run for president, bro. “Let’s make America the ’90s again.”

I got involved in “Beat Street” and “Electric Boogaloo,” the “Breakin’” movies. I was a breakdancer. I would make 40 bucks a day at the mall, spinning on my head with some cardboard and a giant jambox. Chase the girls around, eat some pizza, have some change left over.

I went to high school in Dallas, and I would spend all my summers in Miami. The whole Miami booty shake thing that everybody remembers from the late ’80s really didn’t exist yet. There was no models, Kardashians, Versaces, not even 2 LIVE CREW. Nobody here in Miami influenced me whatsoever.

Hip-hop was way bigger in Dallas than it was Miami in the ’80s. I thought all white people were listening to the same music across the country, and nobody was. I was the only one. I had an older brother — he was listening to Aerosmith, Foghat, Mötley Crüe. I hated that. It didn’t make me want to breakdance. Rap just fit me better than O.J.’s glove. It really did. Scott La Rock, KRS-One, Mantronix.

I grew up with D.O.C. — Fila Fresh Crew was his first rap act that nobody even knows about, and that was in Dallas. He had a big hit back in the day, “Whirlwind Pyramid.” Everybody knows he wrote all the lyrics for everybody on “The Chronic.” KNON Radio, a pirate station, that was big. Dr. Rock, Big Al. Just straight from their attic. It was so freakin’ hip-hop and so culturized.

We had a place called City Lights, where I went with my brother’s fake ID. I entered into the talent contest because I’m a battle rapper, I freestyle. I feel like I’m the best. I don’t give a damn who you are — EMINEM, ICE CUBE, Ice-T.

We would also go to a place called Handy Dan’s, in the back of a hardware store where we would have keg parties. You could park behind it and the cops couldn’t find you. We would have these rap battles against other schools. I had to show up and blow up, you know?

Back then we didn’t have any kind of FruityLoops or Pro Tools or computers at all. There wasn’t even a smartphone. It cost money to go into a studio. I have a lot of self-discipline, and a lot of competitive drive from motocross, because I’ve been racing since I was 8. I went out and made my money on the motocross track, 1,500 bucks a week. I found a guy in Houston who made ecstasy pills for $2 apiece in his bathtub, which was legal back then, by the way, and I sold them for 20 bucks. Instead of blowing it on my car, now I’m blowing it on the studio, hoping this works out.

I blew it up, man. I went on the Stop the Violence tour with Ice-T, Stetsasonic, EPMD, Sir Mix-a-Lot. They were rap gods at the time. I was the opening act for the opening act for the opening act for the opening act for the opener. I was there so frickin’ early, the other acts were still in their hotel.

I had a 10-minute set, me and my breakdancing crew. I had a few songs — “Ice Ice Baby,” “Play That Funky Music,” a song that was never released called “My Car Goes Boom.” I never got so much love in my whole life. I guess word gets out that there’s this white kid that’s just crushin’ it out there, so people start coming earlier to the shows. It got so much attention it went to the headliner act, Ice-T. I saw him sitting there on a road case watching me. He was the first one to tell the other acts, “You’ve got to come see this white boy. He’s dancing his ass off.” And the next night there was Chuck D sitting on the road case with Ice-T.

Chuck D actually discovered me. My first record deal had come from Ichiban Records out of Atlanta. I was on there with Curtis Mayfield. The album was called “Hooked,” which is the same songs as “To the Extreme,” just remixed. Then Chuck D called Def Jam. We had it all lined up. I was on my way to New York, ready to sign, all dreams about to come true. And I get a phone call from my manager, and he says, “Don’t sign with Def Jam.”

He came in and he explained to me this guy named Charles Koppelman from EMI Records wants to meet me. It’s the craziest thing that could happen to any musician. I did “Ice Ice Baby” and then three years go by with the blink of an eye. It took on a life of its own.

You can’t pick your audience; they pick you, bro. And I got picked. Whether you like it or you hate it, you’re not going to stop it. They used me as a product on the shelf. All kinds of funny, laughable things like “In Living Color,” “Saturday Night Live,” “Arsenio Hall Show.” It was just a big wave of entertainment. And if you didn’t recognize it or use it, then your ratings were low. Vanilla Ice was the ratings, and that was it. The most controversial artist on the planet.

The adversity that I’ve had to face is probably more than any rapper in the history of the world. I’ve always been offended by anybody calling me a “white rapper.” You’re racist if you say that. Music shouldn’t have a color. Do you call Jimi Hendrix the Black rocker? My song was No. 1 before anybody knew what color I was. I was influenced by hip-hop. You can’t name any genre or any kind of person or ethnic background that is not influenced by it.

Don’t forget, a lot of these big rappers today were influenced by Vanilla Ice, OK? Nipsey Hussle admits it. You’ve got Kobe Bryant out there winning a talent contest when he was in high school dancing to “Ice Ice Baby,” doing the exact dance moves I did. The influence and the impact is undeniable. It’s possibly the biggest impact to ever hit music in music’s history next to Elvis or the Beatles.

Bonus
VANILLA ICE ON MC HAMMER


Related Artists
UNCLE LUKE
PITBULL
EMINEM
PAUL WALL


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"This is the streets, and I am the trap." � Jay Bilas
http://www.popmatters.com/pm/archive/contributor/517
Hip Hop Handbook: http://tinyurl.com/ll4kzz