Vanilla Ice
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"Robert Matthew Van Winkle", better known by his stage name, "Vanilla Ice", is an American Rapping/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 under the title To the Extreme. Ice's 1990 single "Ice Ice Baby" was the first hip hop single to top the Billboard (magazine)/Billboard Billboard charts/charts.

Although Vanilla Ice was successful, he 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. After surviving a suicide attempt, Ice was inspired to change his musical style and lifestyle. While his later, less mainstream albums failed to chart or receive much radio airplay, Ice has had a loyal underground following. In 2009, Ice began hosting The Vanilla Ice Project on DIY Network. His latest album WTF (album)/WTF – Wisdom, Tenacity & Focus was released in August 2011. Ice is currently signed to Psychopathic Records.

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I really feel like I've been given a second chance and to see so many people coming out to embrace my new sound is a blessing. And a lot of people, after seeing the VH1 special, feel like they get to know me personally because my whole life has been a big misconception about me personally.

My prediction is that y'all gonna hate on the style we create, straight 2008.

I use the music to vent, and a lot of the stuff that I am writing about or was writing about contained a lot of anger and anxiety, stress and depression, so that's how the album came out so dark.

I had millions of dollars, all of the material things that anybody could want, but I just couldn't find happiness. And I would have gave it all back, if I could go back in time and sign that thirty thousand dollar contract with Def Jam, just to have my credibility and to not be the butt end of a lot of jokes.

It wasn't until '94 when I tried to commit suicide that I realized that it wasn't about the money.

Shows have been sold out. It's overwhelming, you know. I had no idea what to expect with this new sound and everything and just to see so many people just come out and embrace it, it's overwhelming.

I was playing a record company whore back in the days, a puppet. Everything was staged. I wasn't really designed to be this novelty act; I was turned into one. When I first came out, I was opening for Ice-T, EPMD, and Public Enemy. All of my audience was black.

I didn't end up going bankrupt... I made some great investments and I held on to my money, which also enables me to have the freedom to do what I want now. But it's not about finances. No matter what, it's about keeping it real.

People don't understand it's really a hard thing, because I was here in the early '90s and... basically I was gone from over here. I've been doing my thing over in the States, but it's more underground than pop-ish, mainstream-ish, radio-friendly stuff, it's more underground. People have no clue what the hell Vanilla Ice has been up to.