Vanilla Ice

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He helped break down barriers between rap and pop yet almost took his own life when his career began to sour, even with $28 million in the bank.</div> <div>      But he was given a second chance and now wants the world to know the real Vanilla Ice.</div> <div>      "I'm having a great time for the first time, actually," said Rob Van Winkle, a.k.a. Vanilla Ice, about his Hard to Swallow tour. </div> <bR> <div>      </div> <div> <B>Ice Ice Baby</b></div> <bR> <div> <B>     </b>In 1991, when Vanilla Ice was 19, his song Ice Ice Baby flew to the top of the charts. But with that song, Vanilla Ice became more than a musician or a hip-hop star - he became an image, an image of a spikey haired, baggy pants wearing, white rapper. </div> <div>      The image thrust upon Mr. Van Winkle wasn't his idea, he said. </div> <div>      "...I (had) never been on a big label before. I kind of went into the whole thing blindfolded and I had to learn as I went along.</div> <div>     "When they (SBK Records) started changing the image I instantly put my foot down and said 'Look, I don't want to do this, this is not the direction I want to go. I do not want to do a slow song just because M.C. Hammer has a slow song on the charts. They were trying to turn me into the white M.C. Hammer."</div> <div>      Although Mr. Van Winkle originally protested the image, he found it hard to turn down the millions of dollars that came with it.</div> <div>      "I thought everything was about the money and I didn't think I was doing anything wrong by making millions of dollars. I think anybody in my shoes at that time probably would have done the same thing." </div> <div>      Mr. Van Winkle said he couldn't foresee the consequences of his decisions - ultimately changing his identity from a rap artist to a pop-novelty act.</div> <div>      "All the audiences I've ever played for before that point was always black and I never expected to play for a white crowd. All of a sudden they take this image, and they make it bigger than the music. They make it cater to a younger crowd, which everybody knows are the ones who buy the records."</div> <div>      The record company achieved its goal. The album topped the charts and sold 17 million copies. "It's a phenomenon. But at the same time I lost my whole black audience and I'm playing huge arenas to 12-year-old white kids with braces. And that's when I realized the consequences of what I did and it was too late to turn it around. The monster had set in and it took a life of its own.</div> <div>      "I just had to ride it, it was a wave and the wave was very uncomfortable for me."</div> <div>      Mr. Van Winkle's true love of being a hip-hop artist was shadowed by the manufactured boy band image. His hardcore lyrics didn't fit into the picture, which included references to cocaine and 12-guage shotguns.</div> <div>      "This is not like N'Sync music or pop music or Backstreet Boys or anything like that. But yet the image still portrayed that I was like one of them.</div> <div>      "And that's where it didn't fit. Here I am, lying to cameras and I'm put in this very uncomfortable position to being a role model. I'm sitting there telling kids 'stay off drugs,' 'stay in school,' and basically, I'm a drop out and I'm on drugs. I was contradicting everything I did and everything I stood for. I just felt  so sick." </div> <bR> <div> <B>The Downward Spiral</b></div> <bR> <div> <B>     </b>In 1994, Vanilla Ice attempted suicide. He said he was sick of being a puppet to the record company and felt he had lost his identity, playing the role of someone he was not.</div> <div>      "Everybody knew who I was. I was very famous very fast and it was very nerve-racking to me. It led met to want to escape reality by using drugs."</div> <div>      He said he grew tired of being a target for criticism.</div> <div>      "The same people who embraced me first were he same people who were...turning on me. They turned on the whole deal. I couldn't face reality and the only way I could escape was using drugs."</div> <div>      Vanilla Ice  turned to a drug called ecstasy to escape his problems. He couldn't stay high all the time, however.</div> <div>      "So I had to face reality and one thing led to another and it got really band and I just kept going downward and I ended up overdosing on some heroine and cocaine. I wrote a suicide note and everything."</div> <div>      Surviving his near-death experience, Mr. Van Winkle says "I'm glad I didn't succeed because God has another intention for me in life." </div> <bR> <div> <B>Turning Over a New Leaf</b></div> <bR> <div> <B>     </b>After his suicide attempt, Mr. Van Winkle had a leaf tattooed on his stomach.</div> <div>      " I put the tattoo there to symbolize that I'm turning over a new leaf. I had to eliminate the whole crowd I was running with. They were the people I grew up with, but I haven't talked to them since. I basically ad to start all over. I had to go to the shrink a bit more. Kick the drugs and everything as well. It was very hard; I was very lonely at that time. If it wasn't for my shrink and the antidepressants, I probably would have tried to kill myself again."</div> <div>      "I realized that I needed to make some changes here and they need to be pretty dramatic. So I shut all my phone numbers off and all of a sudden I'm alone, I have no friends now, I couldn't talk to them, couldn't go back."</div> <div>      "And I started all over. I started racing motor-cross again and running into more genuine friends who don't do drugs.</div> <div>     "That, the therapy and time all healed me. I've learned from it and I've grown, so I'm much stronger. I really feel like I've been given a second chance."</div> <bR> <div> <B>Hard to Swallow therapy</b></div> <bR> <div>      Vanilla Ice's latest release from his new label, Republic/Universal, is Hard to Swallow, produced by Ross Robinson, who has worked with Korn, Limp Bizkit and the Deftones.</div> <div>      "It's not radio-friendly and I did this one so people wouldn't label it a comeback record. I figured anything I did, people probably would, so I really had to set a pace with this to let them know I'm not trying to go back to pop. I'm not trying to cater to the younger crowd and try to sell 17 million records. </div> <div>      "What I'm trying to do is keep it real. I'm letting people know who the new me is. No image, no polished made-up gimmick image or anything, just real. It's not about fancy clothes or how you wear your hair or baggy pants or if you can dance, it's about the music. And that's why I released Hard to Swallow.</div> <bR> <div> <B>The Real Vanilla Ice</b></div> <bR> <div>      "I'm doing what I want to do musically, which is the heavy stuff. I really love it, " he said. "I  don't even listen to any pop or pop stations. I barely listen to R&B and rap stations."</div> <div>      "I've always had a little bit of a rock influence. That's why I did the Dvid Bowie thing with Ice Ice Baby and the Play that Funky Music with Wild Cherry. I did stuff with the Rolling Stones, Satisfactions, and stuff like that.</div> <div>      He says he prefers playing with a live band. "The energy of a live band is so much more intense than just a drum machine."</div> <div>      The new audience of Vanilla Ice is not the same 12-year olds with braces. Instead, it seems to be a diverse crowd of body piercing, tattoos and moshing.</div> <div>      His new sound can be labeled as "skate rock," "molton hip hop" and "fusion music." The new sound is a mixture of heavy metal with punk rock and hip hop. He also says it is on the aggressive side and the lyrics are a bit angry.</div> <div>      </div> <div> <B>The Future</b></div> <bR> <div>      Vanilla Ice is finishing up a new album, Bomb the System, referring to the music industry and how it is all about the money, not the music. </div> <div>      The album should be released between September and October with guest appearances from the Wu Tang Clan, Public Enemy, Slipknot, Sick of it All, Lenny Kravitz and more.</div> <div>      "It's not as angry as Hard to Swallow, I guess I let a lot of demons out of me, but it's still heavy and it's still got that energy, that drive to it."</div> <bR> <div> <B>Final Words</b></div> <bR> <div>     "One thing I'd like everyone to know about me is here's a kid who came in and broke down tons of barriers, knocked down walls. I want to be respected for putting hip hop in people's ears that have never listened to it. Back in the day, I did that. Whether positive or negative, what a huge impact I had.</div> <div>     And I guess the main thing I want people to know is to see what I've been through and see how I've paved the way for people like Eminem... and Kid Rock and Limp Bizkit. Any white MC period."</div> <bR> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>