These days, Vanilla Ice is best remembered for a near-frightening appearance on VH1 that culminated in him taking down a mannequin with a baseball bat. But even ifhis appearances on reality television have become a kind of second career, there's no denying its Ice's passion for music that have made him a public figure. Ice--whose real name is Robert Van Winkle--is still recording albums, and has tried on a variety of musical styles since debuting in the early '90s as a hip-hop star and MTV sensation.Let's start at the beginning: Despite what his name would suggest, Ice was born under the warm sun of Florida, in Miami Lakes. Similar to Canadian rapper Snow, Ice attracted attention for being one of the only white rappers climbing the charts of mainstream music. In the late '80s and early '90s, when hip-hop was just starting to break out of the underground and become marketed via MTV, both artists were major phenomenons. Ice scored a huge hit with the single "Ice, Ice Baby," which, despite his claims otherwise, suspiciously sounds like it borrows the bass line from "Under Pressure."Nevertheless, Ice's breakthrough album, To the Extreme, topped the charts for more than a month, and ultimately sold over 7 million copies. A feature film, Cool As Ice, was released with the intention of launching a film career. But Ice's 15 minutes were up. Audiences left Van Winkle in the cold.That didn't stop him, however. In 1994, Ice released a new record, Mind Blowin, the cover of which depicted him sporting dreads. The music borrowed liberally from Cypress Hill, and though it was a change, new fans didn't come with it. On subsequent records, Ice would dabble in rap-rock, then reinvent himself as a trailer-park rapper. Sadly, it seemed that the Ice Age had passed.
