Where Are They Now?: Vanilla Ice

This story discusses suicide. If you or someone you know is having thoughts of suicide, contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255).

All right stop / Collaborate and listen / Ice is back with a brand new invention.

It’s 1990 and Robert Van Winkle has become the biggest thing in hip-hop overnight. Equipped with his zig-zag haircut and masterful breakdancing moves, under the moniker of Vanilla Ice, Van Winkle’s single “Ice Ice Baby” soared to the top of multiple charts in the U.S. and internationally.

First released as a b-side to his cover of the 1976 Wild Cherry hit “Play That Funky Music,” and on his self-released 1989 album Hooked, “Ice Ice Baby” was a Van Winkle original, which he co-wrote with Mario Johnson.

Early Beatboxing and Breakdancing

Born on October 31, 1967, in Dallas, Texas, Van Winkle started breakdancing when he was in his teens. The only white kid in the group, Van Winkle earned the nickname “Vanilla,” and it stuck. After competing in battle raps, his name evolved into MC Vanilla, then changed once more to Vanilla Ice when he joined a breakdance troupe.

Becoming a regular performer at the Dallas nightclub City Lights, Van Winkle opened up for everyone from Paula Abdul, MC Hammer, and 2 Live Crew, among other artists. Impressed more by his dance moves, at one point, Public Enemy‘s Chuck D even wanted to sign the young rapper. Later working with manager Tommy Quon, Ice recorded his 1990 debut, To the Extreme.

The album became the fastest-selling hip-hop album of all time, selling 15 million albums worldwide thanks to the success of “Ice Ice Baby,” which was also later credited to David Bowie and Queen.

Queen and David Bowie

The core rhythm and beat of “Ice Ice Baby” were based on John Deacon’s iconic bass line of the 1981 Queen and Bowie classic “Under Pressure,” which was sampled in the track but used without license or consent. Bowie, nor Queen was initially credited with writing the song, which left Ice in hot water early on. In 1990, Van Winkle was threatened with copyright infringement for sampling the song, but the matter was settled out of court.

Cool as Ice

Van Winkle wrote “Ice Ice Baby” when he was 16, basing it on a weekend drug run in Miami that ends in a drive-by shooting. Upon its release, “Ice Ice Baby,” became the first rap song to top the Billboard Hot 100 and helped push the crossover of the genre into the mainstream.

Vanilla Ice merchandise was everywhere. Books and comics, Vanilla Ice dolls, a board game—and even a toy boombox. Van Winkle even made cameos in the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles film sequel, The Secret of the Ooze, in 1991 and in the 1992 Sex coffee table book by Madonna, who he also briefly dated. He even starred as himself in a romantic comedy, Cool as Ice, which hit theaters in 1991.

The 1990s: Cold as Ice

Following the success and fast fame of “Ice Ice Baby,” the 1990s were fraught with arrests, drug abuse, and more erratic waves for Van Winkle.

By 1993, Ice took a break after extensive touring and started exploring motocross racing and jet skiing. Retreating even more from the spotlight by 1994, he still released his second album, Mind Blowin‘, which didn’t chart.

During this time, Van Winkle was also struggling with drug abuse and even attempted suicide from heroin on July 4, 1994, but was saved by friends. After the event, Ice wanted to change his life and took a break from music, focusing on getting sober and sports. Soon after, he was competing in jet ski racing and was ranked No. 6 as the world’s fastest sit-down racer.

In between getting into real estate and renovating homes by the mid-’90s, Ice briefly joined a grunge band and began dipping back into music slowly with guest appearances, and eventually released his third album, Hard to Swallow, in 1998.

The 1990s didn’t end without more shenanigans. Asked to appear on different MTV shows— even
“retiring” the “Ice Ice Baby” video by smashing its master tape (and the show set) with a baseball bat during one special.

2000s and Television

By 2000 Van Winkle was making more appearances and collaborating with a number of different artists, including Insane Clown Posse (ICP), and released his fourth album Bi-Polar in 2001.

Throughout the ’00s, he continued appearing on various music television shows from celebrity boxing with Different Strokes star Todd Bridges and wrestling in ICP’s Juggalo Championship Wrestling competition to appearing on The Surreal Life reality series in 2004, and the many spin-offs of the show that followed before releasing his fifth album Platinum Underground in 2005.

2010s – Present

In 2009, Van Winkle began filming The Vanilla Ice Project, a home renovation show for the DIY Network, and even jumped into some acting roles, including starring in the 2011 Adam Sandler and Andy Samberg comedy That’s My Boy and released his sixth album, and most recent album, W.T.F. (Wisdom, Tenacity and Focus) that same year.

Ice joined New Kids on the Block and Boyz II Men on tour in 2013 and continued starring in film and television, including a run on Dancing with the Stars in 2016. That year, he was also headlining the I Love the ’90s tour along with All 4 One, Color Me Badd, Tone Loc, Rob Base, and Young MC, among other acts from the decade.

As of 2020, a Vanilla Ice biopic, titled To the Extreme, was reportedly in the works with Dave Franco starring as Van Winkle.

Still pulling in audiences of all ages, Ice also has more than one million followers on TikTok and continues to draw Gen Xers through Gen Zers alike, which he believes is due to the popularity of the “infectious” ’90s.

“The ’90s was the last of the great decades because, after that, computers killed the world,” said Van Winkle in a 2022 interview. “We were excited about things like floppy disks. Now there are so many channels that divide everybody and try to control your thoughts. In the ’90s they reported the news. It wasn’t this side or that side. I have fans on every side of everything, and I try to embrace it all.”

Photo by Paul Natkin/Getty Images