The Mostly True Story of Vanilla Ice • Hacker News Board

Re: The Mostly True Story of Vanilla Ice

#71

Post by eadmund » Mon, Oct 12, 2020, 12:11 AM UTC

vonmoltke wrote: post #36

eadmund wrote: post #12

> It was the winter of 1987-88 in South Dallas, or maybe it was the following summer … Tussles were frequent, and being Texas, half the club came strapped. Texas did not pass its concealed-carry law until 1995. In fact, in 1991 its legislature considered a gun-control law! Great writing, but I wonder at how accurate the rest of the details are.

The only detail I found questionable (and have the knowledge to do so) is the labelling of Forest Lane as "South Dallas". That's pretty much as far north as you can get in Dallas, notwithstanding a weird chunk that goes north near Carrollton/Farmers Branch.

I also wouldn't have considered Farmers Branch to be an inner-ring suburb — my recollection from the 90s was that it was way out in the sticks. But maybe I misremember.

Re: The Mostly True Story of Vanilla Ice

#72

Post by trengorilla » Mon, Oct 12, 2020, 7:27 AM UTC

dfischer wrote: post #14

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…

He has an interview with Joe Rogan that’s pretty interesting. You may enjoy it.

I don't think he does..

Re: The Mostly True Story of Vanilla Ice

#73

Post by axilmar » Mon, Oct 12, 2020, 9:24 AM UTC

whoknew1122 wrote: post #60

howlgarnish wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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:…

2 Live Crew were from the South, weren't they? isn't Miami considered South in US?

Re: The Mostly True Story of Vanilla Ice

#74

Post by rikroots » Mon, Oct 12, 2020, 11:24 AM UTC

olivermarks wrote: post #69

rikroots wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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...

Gary Glitter was wildly popular in the UK top 10 and was subsequently very big on the university circuit. He was then publicly disgraced and imprisoned, but that was well after the period I mentioned. I am not a fan of cancelling people's creative output because of criminality. The work - by many showbiz people - stands.

I get where you're coming from. The Glitter Band put out some excellent songs both when fronted my Mr G and without him, but none of their material gets played on retro music radio stations nowadays.

I think the trigger for my comment was "[...] but management totally screwed up his presentation, he reminded me of the Gary Glitter of rap at his heights" - the article makes it clear how much damage was caused to Vanilla Ice by his management's one page "resume", alongside other decisions. Whereas GG's (scandalously overdue) downfall was entirely his own fault.

> I am not a fan of cancelling people's creative output because of criminality. The work - by many showbiz people - stands.

Agreed!

Re: The Mostly True Story of Vanilla Ice

#75

Post by 1-more » Mon, Oct 12, 2020, 2:10 PM UTC

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…

Gucci Gucci knocks. TYFYS

Re: The Mostly True Story of Vanilla Ice

#76

Post by dfischer » Sun, Oct 18, 2020, 4:21 AM UTC

trengorilla wrote: post #72

dfischer wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He has an interview with Joe Rogan that’s pretty interesting. You may enjoy it.

I don't think he does..

Yeah you’re right. I got confused with everlast come to think of it. I didn’t realize how similar they were until now. My apologies.

Re: The Mostly True Story of Vanilla Ice

#77

Post by dfischer » Sun, Oct 18, 2020, 4:21 AM UTC

dfischer wrote: post #14

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…

He has an interview with Joe Rogan that’s pretty interesting. You may enjoy it.

I realized I totally misremembered. I was thinking of the interview with Everlast. I apologize.