Vanilla Ice: Difference between revisions - Wikipedia

'''Robert Matthew Van Winkle''' (born October 31, 1967), known professionally as '''Vanilla Ice''', is an American rapper, actor, and television host. Born in [[South Dallas]], and raised in Texas and [[South Florida]], Ice released his debut album, ''Hooked'', in 1989 on [[Ichiban Records]], before signing a contract with [[SBK Records]], a [[record label]] of the [[EMI Group]], which released a reformatted version of the album in 1990 under the title ''[[To the Extreme]]''; which became the fastest-selling hip hop album of all time<ref>{{cite book|last1=Forman|first1=Murray|title=The 'hood Comes First: Race, Space, and Place in Rap and Hip-hop|year=2002|publisher=Wesleyan University Press|isbn=0-8195-6397-8|page=[https://archive.org/details/hoodcomesfirstra00form/page/61 61]|chapter='Welcome to the City'|chapter-url-access=registration|chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/hoodcomesfirstra00form/page/61}}</ref> and contained Ice's best-known hits: "[[Ice Ice Baby]]" and a cover of "[[Play That Funky Music]]". "Ice Ice Baby" was the first hip hop single to top the ''[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]'' [[Billboard charts|charts]] and has been credited with helping to diversify hip hop by introducing it to a mainstream audience.

Although he was successful, Ice later regretted his business arrangements with SBK, which had paid him to adopt a more commercial appearance to appeal to a mass audience and published fabricated biographical information without his knowledge. Soundtrack appearances and a live album, ''[[Extremely Live]]'', continued the success, but a second mainstream studio album, ''[[Mind Blowin']]'', featured an image change which saw a massive drop in popularity for Ice, and his subsequent albums, ''[[Hard to Swallow]]'', ''[[Bi-Polar (Vanilla Ice album)|Bi-Polar]]'' and ''[[Platinum Underground]]'', failed to chart or receive much radio airplay. In 2009, Ice began hosting ''[[The Vanilla Ice Project]]'' on [[DIY Network]].