6 Things You Didn't Know About Vanilla Ice (But Were Afraid To Ask)

2. Vanilla Ice's Follow Up Album Was Actually Pretty Good

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4nGSW4VubU To stay on the subject on how a lot of people choose to view Vanilla, a lot of people refer to him as a one-hit wonder, although he technically is a two-hit wonder and has had a bunch of songs on the billboards from three different albums (all released around the same time - 1991). Vanilla Ice's follow up album (originally slated for a 1992 release date) was held back as the record executives thought that things needed to cool down a little for the Iceman. But I personally think that they accidentally helped tank his rap career in the mainstream instead. The mantra became "Vanilla Ice can never make a song that surpasses Ice Ice Baby" - but that wasn't true if you ask me. The album "Mind Blowin" was finally released in 1994. A lot of the songs were scrapped and new songs were done instead. Ice (who at that time had fired manager Tommy Quon and lost his DJ Earthquake that was still with Quon's management) made the record with his old friends from his Ichiban Records days, from his DJ Zero, to underground legends Rodney O and Joe Cooley and Cyco from Insane Poetry. Together, they made magic happen. It's very easy to claim that Ice at the time was trying to cash in on the G-Funk fad at the time or trying to mimic Cypress Hill - but the truth was a lot simpler than that. Ice simply wanted to stay true to hip hop. He agreed with his rivals in the industry that he had sold out with his other record and really wanted to fix it by making a record that he was happy with. What we get is some very smooth keyboards, excellent funk sampling and a mixture of interesting wordplay and classic boasting. For those that had not seen or heard from Ice since 1990 or 1991 - he was a completely changed man with different values. To those who had actually watched his slow transition, knew that they were dealing with the same guy as before. It was an image thing that got played way out. The record didn't break into the pop charts (which shouldn't come as a shock to anyone, there wasn't a single pop element on the album) and the record executives decided to let Ice go, even before releasing most of his music videos or properly advertising the record. The record, unsurprisingly enough, did a lot better in Asia, South America and Europe. I'll never say that Vanilla Ice's Mind Blowin is the most underrated rap masterpiece out there, but I think a lot of lovers of hip hop would agree with me that the mid-90's was a very good time for hip hop. From Cella Dwellas to Heltah Skeltah. And if you liked anything by hip hop masters Rodney O and Joe Cooley or Insane Poetry - you're going to find some lost tracks on Mind Blowin that might in fact blow your mind.