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The Mostly True Story of Vanilla Ice

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Re: The Mostly True Story of Vanilla Ice

#51

Post by sizzle »

poisonarena wrote: post #38
1propionyl wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> "'Gucci Gucci' is completely traumatizing. When that song comes on, it makes my ears feel like they're bleeding," Zolot said, explaining that the track itself has had a big negative impact on her. "Like, it makes me feel like I'm gonna die. It gives me a panic attack hearing that song." > Part of it has been the pressure of trying to make another hit "as big as 'Gucci Gucci'" in subsequent years. However, the bigge…

I think you are missing the idea of what I was just trying to say about how music producers, especially in the traditional pop realm worked and thought about vocals in a song. And you misinterpreting my words and giving them meaning in a way they dont. Aside from my meaning, she has worked with many producers besides me, as well as managers and A/R people. I know for a fact how much fun she was having in 2010-2012 or…

Have you produced any other major tracks for rappers? Where can I hear more of your stuff dude?? Thanks for sharing your perspective on HN. I'm more of an old school head listening to Nas and MF DOOM, but mumble rap has grown on me somehow...

Re: The Mostly True Story of Vanilla Ice

#52

Post by sizzle »

poisonarena wrote: post #24

I read this and enjoyed it, especially the parallels for me as the music producer who found the first popular white girl rapper: "Kreayshawn" and produced her first few tracks ("Bumpin Bumpin", "Gucci Gucci", etc).. After working with lots of artists over the years I tend to just think of them as instruments in an overall track, and their stories and narrative of the timelines is unreliable at best. I would really ha…

Can you share some interesting behind the scenes stories of anything you've been a part of in the music scene for us HN fans :)

Re: The Mostly True Story of Vanilla Ice

#53

Post by rikroots »

olivermarks wrote: post #43

'The question of selling out is so obsolete that Travis Scott—who never met a beat, ad-lib, or nickname that he couldn’t steal—can do a nihilistically shameless cross-promotional deal with McDonald’s. And rather than catch flak for partnering with a soulless corporate behemoth, millions of teenagers treat his pseudo Happy Meal like the holy grail'. Great article, Ice could have been the show bizzy Elvis of Hip Hop wi…

Comparing anyone to Mr Glitter comes with some less-than-savoury baggage. Instead, here's a link to an article describing the second careers of ten other famous musicians - https://www.considerable.com/work/second-careers/famous-musi...

Re: The Mostly True Story of Vanilla Ice

#54

Post by agumonkey »

joering2 wrote: post #16
dkarl wrote: post #3

My brother-in-law, who has Down Syndrome, went to see him in Radio City Music Hall a couple of years ago. What? Vanilla Ice is performing in 2019? He gets no media exposure and scores no points with the critics by going out and performing his cheesy early hits for a few thousand fans, so at the time I assumed he needed the money. We dropped my brother-and-law off and next thing you know, there's a video on Facebook w…

If you think he's a great musician, then know he is even better builder! For many years he had 2 companies in Miami flipping mansions, he even had his own show on TV. Some episodes show extreme complicated (engineering wise) rebuilt of houses and its always fun to watch before and after. Rob is definitely a man of many talents.

oh what a surprising collision of world :)

Re: The Mostly True Story of Vanilla Ice

#55

Post by gadders »

My only live experience of Vanilla Ice was when he did a Christmas Pantomime in Chatham in Kent. He played Captain Hook. [1]. It was actually a lot of fun. All through the show they teased Ice Ice Baby ("Captain - the pirates are overheating. They need some rice, rice baby" etc etc).

He eventually performed his hit at the end. He definitely looked like he was enjoying himself and didn't take himself too seriously.

He also used to be in a tv show on cable channel called Men and Motors, reviewing the in-car entertainment in young people's cars with Jordan (a glamour model/reality tv star). It was called Ice with Jordan [2]

I really feel I could do a page of footnotes here for non-Brits explaining what a pantomime is in the UK, equivalent US towns to Chatham, who Jordan is etc etc.

[1] https://www.kentonline.co.uk/medway/news/rapper-vanilla-ice-...

[2] https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJXJH_flgKWg_VhVHpDLu...

Re: The Mostly True Story of Vanilla Ice

#56

Post by gadders »

loso wrote: post #32

This article is good but you can tell it was written by someone who was really young when Vanilla Ice came out. The pushback from the hip hop community was equal parts the lies and the really bad music. He tried to compare Ice to 3rd Base who were respected MCs at the time. Yeah MC Serch is known as a bit of a goofball now but back then he was respected rapper. Vanilla Ice was making songs like Ninja Rap at the same…

I think there was still debate back then over whether white people should/could rap. One way for MC Serch and others to get credibility was to say "I'm not like that other white rapper."

Re: The Mostly True Story of Vanilla Ice

#57

Post by mwcampbell »

onionisafruit wrote: post #39
mwcampbell wrote: post #31

I was 10 when "Ice Ice Baby" came out, and thinking back to that time reminded me of an old memory I haven't recalled for a long time. One time someone played a cassette of To The Extreme from the beginning (I forget the setting; maybe I was hanging out with a friend from school), and I remember hearing an ascending sequence of tones (probably sine waves), each one an octave higher than the previous, before the first…

What you heard is probably the xdr test tone. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XDR_(audio)

Yeah, I think that's it. I guess it wasn't strictly octaves after all. Hey, I was 10 or 11 when I heard it. My guess at the time was that the tones were a tuning reference for anyone who wanted to play along with the tape. I now realize they would have been really bad for that.

How common was it for cassettes released by major labels to have those test tones? I should clarify that at home we mostly listened to religious albums; many were released on small labels, but some were distributed by A&M. So maybe the test tones were more common in mainstream music than I realized.

Re: The Mostly True Story of Vanilla Ice

#58

Post by itsoktocry »

mwcampbell wrote: post #57
onionisafruit wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What you heard is probably the xdr test tone. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XDR_(audio)

Yeah, I think that's it. I guess it wasn't strictly octaves after all. Hey, I was 10 or 11 when I heard it. My guess at the time was that the tones were a tuning reference for anyone who wanted to play along with the tape. I now realize they would have been really bad for that. How common was it for cassettes released by major labels to have those test tones? I should clarify that at home we mostly listened to religi…

>How common was it for cassettes released by major labels to have those test tones?

Anecdotal: I think it was common. I knew what you were asking about as soon as I read your comment. I used to add it my own mixtapes as a kid.

Re: The Mostly True Story of Vanilla Ice

#59

Post by poisonarena »

sizzle wrote: post #51
poisonarena wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you are missing the idea of what I was just trying to say about how music producers, especially in the traditional pop realm worked and thought about vocals in a song. And you misinterpreting my words and giving them meaning in a way they dont. Aside from my meaning, she has worked with many producers besides me, as well as managers and A/R people. I know for a fact how much fun she was having in 2010-2012 or…

Have you produced any other major tracks for rappers? Where can I hear more of your stuff dude?? Thanks for sharing your perspective on HN. I'm more of an old school head listening to Nas and MF DOOM, but mumble rap has grown on me somehow...

I actually hate those songs I made for her, I made songs for lesser known artists, and lots of remixes. I used the name Adeptus and DK Domino.. I did lots of soundtracks for television shows and films and a few porns actually haha.. I like mostly old school bboy/freestyle music

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGimKOsZx2R4pByZjfiZXcg/vid...

I have this youtube channel I update every few years but mostly I am not very active

Re: The Mostly True Story of Vanilla Ice

#60

Post by whoknew1122 »

howlgarnish wrote: post #25
davidw wrote: post #23

That's a long article - anyone want to take a stab at tl;dr?

Vanilla had just as much if not more street cred than other white rappers, but due to bad timing and worse marketing he got skewered as "fake" and that nuked his career.

Another interesting subtext, which goes throughout the piece, is the perception and place of southern hip hop. Especially during that time. Had he come out after No Limit, Cash Money, Outkast, Goodie Mob, UGK, 3-6 Mafia, etc. he might've had a chance.

But once it came out that dude was from Dallas, there was not much to do. He was in an genre that placed prime importance on (perceived) authenticity.

No one respected: 1.) White rappers 2.) The south generally

At the time, from the south, there was the Geto Boys... and the Geto Boys. That was it. And Geto Boys are from Houston's 5th ward. Not some suburb in Dallas.

The author of the article made a very prescient point on how Eminem was tightly leashed to Dre when he came out. Eminem was packed as 'This white rapper who has a a good cadence and flow, and did you hear Dre co-signged? Dre, Dre, Dre. Yeah, his lyrics are kinda corny. But Dre features on the second song of his first big album. Dre, Dre, Dre.'

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