by Hunter Moore ’15

Robert Van Winkle, also known as Vanilla Ice, is a multi-talented man who became a star rapper in the 90s and has desperately done all he can to not leave Hollywood since. A young man who grew up as an athlete, winning all types of awards for motocross racing, morphed into one of the most popular white rappers of all time. He then became a reality television star, successful house flipper and actor in the comedy films such as “That’s My Boy.”

Ice’s album “Hooked,” one of the greatest debuts of all time, offered one of the most electrifying songs ever made titled “Ice Ice Baby.” The song was later featured on his platinum album “To the Extreme,” which hit the top of the charts and made Ice the first white boy to play that funky music at the top of the genre.

“I love Vanilla Ice, I have a tattoo of his face on my chest right under my ‘I love Pitbull’ tattoo. I consider his music somewhat of a passion of mine,” exclaimed sophomore Chris Chiogioji.

Many don’t share the same view as Chiogioji and see Ice as a joke. This is possibly because they can’t grasp the true vibe of his art and understand what Ice is actually trying to say in his music.

“Vanilla Ice is not a good rapper; his only real popular song had a beat stolen by Queen. The overall performance of him and Adam Sandler in ‘That’s My Boy’ was just horrible as well. I don’t know much about his reality show but I’m not interested. How he made it to the top of the charts says something bad about rap in the 90s,” said sophomore Tanner Jacob.

Despite haters like Jacob, Ice still has his loyal fan base that is dying for more Vanilla Ice, and some die-hard fans can be found in the halls of Sherwood, always listening to his retro melodies.

“Vanilla Ice is a mentor; he has always been like a father-figure towards me. His raps are as smooth as sugar in my iced coffee on a Sunday Morning. It is not rare to see me getting emotional while the music speaks to me,” said music enthusiast, junior Matt Chanin.