American rapper Vanilla Ice, K. Kennedy, and DJ Earthquake released “Ice Ice Baby” as their debut song. The bassline of “Under Pressure” by British rock band Queen and British vocalist David Bowie served as its inspiration. Bowie did not obtain songwriting credit or royalties until after the song had become a smash. It was included on Vanilla Ice’s 1990 first album, To the Extreme, and is his most well-known tune. On Platinum Underground and Vanilla Ice Is Back, it has been remixed. A live version can be found on the album Extremely Live, while a nu metal version with the name “Too Cold” can be found on the album Hard to Swallow. When Vanilla Ice’s cover of “Play That Funky Music” was first published, “Ice Ice Baby” was included as the B-side. However, the record was not immediately popular. It started to become more popular when DJ David Morales played “Ice Ice Baby” in its place. “Ice Ice Baby Lyrics” was the first hip-hop single to peak at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song “Ice Ice Baby” helped to diversify hip hop by bringing it to a wider audience outside of the United States by topping the charts in Australia, Belgium, the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland, the Netherlands, and New Zealand.
Music and lyrics
The song “Ice Ice Baby” was written by Robert Van Winkle, best known by his stage name Vanilla Ice, in 1983 when he was 16 years old. The lyrics were based on his experiences in South Florida. In the lyrics, a gunshot and Van Winkle’s rhyme ability are both mentioned. The national African American fraternity Alpha Phi Alpha is where the chorus of the song “Ice Ice Baby” gets its inspiration. In an interview from 2001, Van Winkle addressed the song’s lyrics, saying: “If you published ‘Ice Ice Baby’ now, it would fit in today’s lyrical regard among peers, you know what I’m sayin’? I don’t sing, “Pump it up, go!” Go!’ I am at least saying something. The bassline of Queen and David Bowie’s song “Under Pressure” from 1981 is sampled in the song’s hook; neither artist received credit or royalties for the use of the sample. In a 1990 interview, Van Winkle claimed that the reason there was a slight difference between the two melodies was because he had added a note to the “and” of the fourth beat. Van Winkle readily acknowledged sampling the music in later interviews and insisted his 1990 comment was a joke; others, though, felt he had been serious. Van Winkle was faced with a copyright infringement lawsuit by Queen and David Bowie’s attorneys, which resulted to an out-of-court settlement where Van Winkle agreed to compensate the original artists financially. For the sample, Bowie and every Queen member received composition credit.D minor is the key in which “Ice Ice Baby” was composed. Van Winkle revealed to the British youth music publication Smash Hits in December 1990 how the idea to sample “Under Pressure” occurred to him.
I work by browsing my brother’s collection of vintage albums. He used to listen to music like rock ‘n’ roll. Rock wasn’t exactly my period, so I listened to funk and hip hop. But because of my brother, I basically combined the two because he had a copy of “Under Pressure.” Hip hop was excellent when those noises were added to it.
Ice ice baby Lyrics
- Yo VIP, let’s kick it
Ice, ice baby
Ice, ice baby - Alright stop, collaborate and listen
Ice is back with my brand new invention
Something grabs a hold of me tightly
Flow like a harpoon daily and nightly
Will it ever stop? Yo, I don’t know
Turn off the lights, and I’ll glow - To the extreme, I rock a mic like a vandal
Light up a stage and wax a chump like a candle
Dance, go rush to the speaker that booms
I’m killing your brain like a poisonous mushroom - Deadly, when I play a dope melody
Anything less than the best is a felony
Love it or leave it, you better gangway
You better hit bull’s eye, the kid don’t play
If there was a problem, yo, I’ll solve it
Check out the hook while my DJ revolves it - Ice, ice baby
Vanilla Ice, ice baby - Vanilla Ice, ice baby
Vanilla Ice, ice baby
Vanilla - Now that the party is jumping
With the bass kicked in, and the Vegas are pumping
Quick to the point, to the point, no faking
Cooking MCs like a pound of bacon
Burning them, if you ain’t quick and nimble
I go crazy when I hear a cymbal
And a hi-hat with a souped up tempo
I’m on a roll, it’s time to go solo - Rollin’ in my 5.0
With my rag-top down so my hair can blow
The girlies on standby, waving just to say “Hi”
“Did you stop?” No, I just drove by
Kept on, pursuing to the next stop
I busted a left, and I’m heading to the next block
The block was dead, yo
So I continued to A1A Beachfront Avenue - Girls were hot wearing less than bikinis
Rockman lovers driving Lamborghinis
Jealous, ’cause I’m out getting mine
Shay with a gauge, and Vanilla with a nine
Ready for the chumps on the wall
The chumps acting ill because they’re full of eight ball
Gunshots rang out like a bell
I grabbed my nine, all I heard were shells
Falling on the concrete real fast - Jumped in my car, slammed on the gas
Bumper to bumper, the avenue’s packed
I’m trying to get away before the jackers jack
Police on the scene, you know what I mean
They passed me up, confronted all the dope fiends
If there was a problem, yo, I’ll solve it
Check out the hook while my DJ revolves it - Ice, ice baby
Vanilla Ice, ice baby
Vanilla Ice, ice baby
Vanilla Ice, ice baby
Vanilla - Take heed ’cause I’m a lyrical poet
Miami’s on the scene, just in case you didn’t know it
My town, that created all the bass sound
Enough to shake and kick holes in the ground
‘Cause my style’s like a chemical spill
Feasible rhymes that you can vision and feel
Conducted and formed, this is a hell of a concept - We make it hype, and you want to step
With this, Shay plays on the fade
Slice like a ninja, cut like a razor blade
So fast, other DJs say “Damn!”
If my rhyme was a drug, I’d sell it by the gram - Keep my composure, when it’s time to get loose
Magnetized by the mic while I kick my juice
If there was a problem, yo, I’ll solve it
Check out the hook while D-Shay revolves it - Ice, ice baby
Vanilla Ice, ice baby
Vanilla Ice, ice baby
Vanilla Ice, ice baby
Vanilla Ice
Yo man, let’s get out of here
Word to your mother - Ice, ice baby, too cold
Ice, ice baby, too cold, too cold
Ice, ice baby, too cold, too cold
Ice, ice baby, too cold, too cold
Smash Hits, Robert Van Winkle
Since Van Winkle was the first rapper to enter the pop market, he was forced to “take the heat for a lot of people” regarding the use of samples in his music. However, the backlash he faced as a result of this allowed sampling to become accepted in mainstream hip hop.
Ice Ice Baby Release Date
The ice ice baby release date is Nov, 3, 1990. Van Winkle’s cover of “Play That Funky Music” including “Ice Ice Baby” was originally released by Ichiban Records as the B-side to the song. The 12-inch single included “Play That Funky Music” in its radio, instrumental, and a cappella versions as well as the radio version of “Ice Ice Baby” and its “Miami Drop” remix. “Ice Ice Baby” became more popular than “Play That Funky Music” after a DJ by the name of David Morales played it instead of the single’s A-side.For $8,000, a music video for “Ice Ice Baby” was created. Tommy Quon, Van Winkle’s manager, provided the funding for the video, which was filmed in Dallas, Texas, on the top of a warehouse. In the video, Van Winkle can be seen rapping the song’s lyrics as he and other people dance. While Van Winkle was still unknown, The Box gave the song a lot of airtime, which raised interest in it. In 1990, EMI Records in the UK and SBK Records in the US each released “Ice Ice Baby” as a stand-alone single. The “It’s a Party” album version was included on the SBK single, along with the “Miami Drop,” instrumental, and radio mixes of “Ice Ice Baby” and the “Miami Drop” mix of “Ice Ice Baby”. The song’s club and radio mixes as well as the abbreviated radio version were all included on the EMI single.
Reception
“Ice Ice Baby” received positive reviews, becoming the first hip-hop song to reach number one on the Billboard charts, and is credited with bringing hip-hop to a wider demographic. According to Billboard’s Larry Flick, “Photogenic White Rapper Rocks Impressively Over A Sparse Beat-Bed That Borrows Heavily From Queen’s “Under Pressure.” might have a significant multiformat impact.
Vanilla Ice “probably would have scored with his hit rap single “Ice Ice Baby Lyrics” even if he hadn’t been white,” observed Entertainment Weekly critic Mim Udovitch. A sample from Queen and David Bowie’s “Under Pressure” serves as the song’s hook, grabbing you and throwing you out into the dance floor.” The same commercial appeal yet sharing an identical lack of creativity, according to Selina Webb of Music Week. The hook is from Queen’s “Under Pressure,” she claimed, and the vocal is a sophisticated white rap. Having a little bit more street cred than the New Kids while yet appealing to the same sizable clientele.
Legacy
Eminem, a rapper from Detroit, claims that after hearing “Ice Ice Baby” for the first time, “I felt like I didn’t want to rap anymore.” He was making things really difficult for me, which made me furious. Van Winkle’s fame started to wane as people started to see him more as a novelty act and pop sensation than as an actual rapper. Hip-hop fans began to question Van Winkle’s authenticity, although he eventually started to find some success and draw in a new following outside of the mainstream public that had formerly welcomed him before rejecting him. Van Winkle remains to be best recognized for the song “Ice Ice Baby” even if he claims that his American fans prefer his more recent songs. The “Ice Ice Baby”-“Under Pressure” debate, according to Rolling Stone, is a significant music copyright case because it “sparked discussion about the punitive actions taken in plagiarism cases.” “Though [Vanilla Ice] paid the price,” Some contend it isn’t enough to restore Queen and David Bowie’s potential reputation, since People are now identified with him as a result of a collaboration they were compelled to enter, according to Jordan Runtagh of the magazine. The song appeared on the Extremely Live CD and was played live. With a nu metal feel, a new version of “Ice Ice Baby” dubbed “Too Cold” was produced. “Too Cold” was a tune from Van Winkle’s 1998 album Hard to Swallow that was initially meant to be a secret track or B-side but ended up getting radio play in some areas. In Europe, the remix “Ice Ice Baby 2001” was released in 2000 as a single accompanied with a fresh music video. The remix increased awareness of Van Winkle’s music on a global scale.
“Ice Ice Baby” was voted number five on the “50 Most Awesomely Bad Songs Ever” list compiled by VH1 and Blender. The Houston Press named it the worst song to have come out of Texas, another accolade. Van Winkle himself made an appearance to destroy the master tape when the song’s music video was “retired” on the 1999 MTV special 25 Lame. Van Winkle ended up trashing the set of the programme after being given a baseball bat. The song was voted 29th among the 100 Greatest Songs of the 1990s by VH1 in December 2007.
Ice ice baby of Popularity
The debut album “To the Extreme” by Vanilla Ice was released on August 22nd, 1990. There was a song on it that would go on to become his biggest success and, at the same time, make the singer an online parody. This particular song is the famed “Ice Ice Baby.” The song topped the charts in ten different nations, including the US Billboard 100 and the UK Singles chart. Not everyone, however, was ecstatic with the new rap song and its meteoric rise to fame. A modest English rock group by the name of Queen noticed a very clear plagiarism in the bass line of their own song, Under Pressure, which they co-wrote and co-performed with vocalist David Bowie.
Anyone who listens to both songs will hear the similarities immediately, and given the success and revenue that Ice Ice Baby Lyrics was bringing in, Queen was not going to ignore them. As soon as the band’s solicitors intervened, they threatened to file a lawsuit against Vanilla Ice for copyright infringement. The American rapper attempted to explain himself by arguing that it was simply sampling, a practise that is fairly widespread in the rap business. However, the sample’s creators and those who created it were not given credit, and as a result, they did not get any royalties.
Also, Read about:-
John Legend Song All Of Me Lyrics and Some Interesting Facts.