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See the latest episode of Where You At, Baby? with Vanilla Ice, this Sunday at 8:30pm ET on MuchMoreMusic!

Of all our trips so far, this is the one I was the most surprised by. Vanilla Ice (Rob) was nothing like I expected… truth be told I had actually interviewed him once before at the SXSW festival in Austin. I remember him being a little on edge and not totally digging it when I asked, “do you feel when you are starting over with new music, that because of your past sometimes people won’t really give you a fair chance?” He answered it but seemed annoyed so I guess my lasting impression was that he was perhaps overly sensitive about the past. Not the case at all.

It was really interesting to talk with him about the Ice Ice Baby years and why shit went down the way it did. It was never the music he was ashamed of or regretted (well most of it anyway), but more how he was forced into the image that not only made him famous.. also made it all fade so quickly. He is the first to admit that when he said no to something, the record company would offer him more money to do it and he would THEN accept. And really what 17-year-old kid wouldn’t?

What is happening now (and what I predict we will see more of) is giving credit where credit is due and we’ll see him getting recognition for his contribution to hip-hop. Rob was one of the first (if not THE first) to bring sampling to the mainstream… they didn’t do it correctly and got sued for not buying the rights for Ice Ice Baby, but as he told me it had never been done before so there was no template on how to release a song like that. Through his mistakes he created that template for today. Any hip-hop artist, who now has a hit with a sampled track on it, can thank for Vanilla Ice for hitting the mainstream with that idea first. And seriously, if Chuck D respects Vanilla Ice for his talent and contribution … then I think we can too.

The last day of the trip to West Palm Beach was pretty crazy. First the crew went to see the movie “Step Brothers” with Rob, his wife Laura and pal Wes… there is a Vanilla Ice theme to this movie so it was weird to be sitting next to him when his song stars to play. Then we went to dinner at one of his favorite restaurants and he paid. I know he’s loaded and everything, but totally not necessary and very cool. During dinner he tells me the story of writing Ice Ice baby when he was 15, and how he found the old Queen/Bowie album. I asked him if he had every told that story on camera before and when he said no we drove BACK to his house, fired up the camera and got him to tell this amazing story… check it out on the extra features of the website.
Another interesting story you won’t see in this week’s show is that he wanted to and tried to burn all those old glittery Ice Ice Baby outfits but his manager Tommy managed to get hold of them and hide them away - they are safe somewhere. That story is compliments of Wes.

I saw Vanilla Ice play at Memorial Stadium in St. John’s with opening act Nice and Smooth when I was in grade 6… now I can say I made fart jokes with him and his kids while we ate Dunkin Donuts and Frosted Flakes… not bad work if you can get it.

Word to your mother,
=matt

Posted on Friday, September 12th, 2008 at 12:50 pm by Matt Wells and is filed under We <3 TV.

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