American rapper Vanilla Ice (real name Robert Matthew Van Winkle) released a dozen albums, but he managed to achieve real success with only one track. We are talking about the insanely popular composition Ice Ice Baby in the nineties, based on the bass guitar part from the song Under Pressure by Queen and David Bowie.
The story of the creation of the song Ice Ice Baby
The authors were originally considered only Vanilla Ice and DJ Earthquake. Robert told how the idea to use a sample from a world famous hit came about:
My style of work is to look through old records that my brother has. He listened to rock and roll and stuff like that. I listened to funk and hip-hop because rock wasn’t my era anymore. But when you have a brother like that… I just mixed both [жанра], and he had a copy of Under Pressure. It was cool to bring these sounds to hip-hop.
Smash Hits
Meaning of Ice Ice Baby
According to Vanilla Ice, he wrote the lyrics in half an hour, and the lyrics are based on real events:
The song tells you a story. This is me, with the roof down on my five-liter Mustang, driving down A1A Beachfront Avenue. It’s a weekend I lived that turned into an amazing song. She is out of time. I still love singing it and it never gets old.
Entertainment Weekly, 2016
Release and achievements
In July 1990, the song was released on the back of the Play That Funky Music single. The main song on the disc was not successful, but “Ice Ice Baby” was much more liked by the public. At first, David Morales began to actively spin it, and then other DJs picked up the track.
Ice Ice Baby reached the top of the Billboard Hot 100, becoming the first ever hip-hop song to top the chart. In addition, she topped the charts in Australia, Belgium, the UK, New Zealand, as well as several other countries.
Video of Ice Ice Baby by Vanilla Ice
The video was filmed for eight thousand dollars on the roof of a warehouse in Dallas.
Interesting Facts
- It is said that Brian May heard Ice Ice Baby at a disco in Germany, approached the DJ for clarification and found out that the song was a hit in the US.
- Vanilla Ice and DJ Earthquake arbitrarily used a sample from Under Pressure and clearly had no intention of paying royalties. But when the song became a hit, they had to negotiate with the copyright holders so that the case did not go to court.
- Ice Ice Baby is ranked fifth on VH1 and Blender’s Top 50 Worst Songs of All Time.
Ice Ice Baby Lyrics by Vanilla Ice
Yo, VIP, let’s kick it!
ice ice baby
ice ice baby
All right stop
Collaborate and listen
Ice is back with my brand new invention
Something grabs a hold of me tightly
Then I flow that a harpoon daily and nightly
Will it ever stop?
Yo, I don’t know
Turn off the lights and I’ll glow
To the extreme I rock a mic like a vandal
Light up a stage and wax a chump like a candle
Dance
Bum rush the speaker that booms
I’m killin’ your brain like a poisonous mushroom
Deadly, when I play a dope melody
Anything less that the best is a felony
Love it or leave it
You better gain way
You better hit bull’s eye
The kid don’t play
If there was a problem
Yo, I’ll solve it
Check out the hook while my DJ revolves it
Ice ice baby Vanilla x4
Now that the party is jumping
With the bass kicked in, the fingers are pumpin’
Quick to the point, to the point no fake
I’m cooking MC’s like a pound of bacon
Burning them if they’re not quick and nimble
I go crazy when I hear a cymbal
And a hi hat with a souped up tempo
I’m on a roll and it’s time to go solo
Rollin in my 5.0
With my ragtop down so my hair can blow
The girlies on standby
Waving just to say hi
Did you stop?
No, I just drove by
Kept on pursuing to the next stop
I busted a left and I’m heading to the next block
That block was dead
Yo so I continued to a1a Beachfront Ave
Girls were hot wearing less than bikinis
Rock man lovers driving Lamborghini
Jealous ’cause I’m out getting mine
Shay with a gauge and Vanilla with a nine
Ready for the chumps on the wall
The chumps are acting ill because they’re so full of eight balls
Gunshots ranged out like a bell
I grabbed my nine
All I heard were shells
Fallin’ on the concrete real fast
Jumped in my car, slammed on the gas
Bumper to bumper the avenue’s packed
I’m tryin’ to get away before the jackers jack
Police on the scene
You know what I mean
They passed me up, confronted all the dope fiends
If there was a problem
Yo, I’ll solve it
Check out the hook while my DJ revolves it
Ice ice baby Vanilla x4
Take heed, ’cause I’m a lyrical poet
Miami’s on the scene just in case you didn’t know it
My town that created all the bass sound
Enough to shake and kick holes in the ground
‘Cause my style’s like a chemical spill
Feasible rhymes that you can see and feel
Conducted and formed
This is a hell of a concept
We make it hype and you want to step with this
Shay plays on the fade, slice it like a ninja
Cut like a razor blade so fast
Other DJ’s say, “damn”
If my rhyme was a drug
I’d sell it by the gram
Keep my composure when it’s time to get loose
Magnetized by the mic while I kick my juice
If there was a problem
Yo, I’ll solve it!
Check out the hook while my DJ revolves it
Ice ice baby Vanilla x4
Yo man, let’s get out of here
Word to your mother
Ice ice baby, too cold x4
Song quote
If you released Ice Ice Baby today, its lyrics would command the respect of your current colleagues … My lyrics are not just: “Come on, pump it up! Let’s!” At least I’m saying something.
Vanilla Ice, Salon.com
I felt like I didn’t want to rap anymore. I was so angry because he really pissed me off.
Eminem (on first impressions of the song), Nick Hasted
The White Negro. The Dark Story of Eminem
