Vanilla Ice - Legacy

Legacy

Along with Beastie Boys, 3rd Bass and House of Pain, Van Winkle was one of the earliest white rappers to attain major success. Chuck D has credited Van Winkle as a regional breakthrough, stating "He broke through in the mid-South, in a Southern area in Texas, in something that was kind of indigenous to that hip-hop culture down there. He just doesn’t get credit for it." In 1991, 3rd Bass released a single called "Pop Goes the Weasel", and in the lyrics comparing Van Winkle unfavorably to Elvis Presley. The song's music video featured Henry Rollins as Van Winkle, who is depicted as being assaulted by 3rd Bass. Van Winkle responded to "Pop Goes the Weasel" with his 1992 song "The Wrath". Del tha Funkee Homosapien referred to Van Winkle in the lyrics of "Pissin' on Your Steps", which appeared on his 1991 debut album I Wish My Brother George Was Here. Similar to 'Pop Goes the Weasel', the song negatively makes a connection between Van Winkle and Elvis, while saying Ice alongside MC Hammer are mocking hip hop by being commercial. Vanilla Ice answered back to most of his critics in the song Hit 'em Hard.

Robert Van Winkle appears as a video game character in Championship Motocross released in 2001 on PlayStation 2. Former Ultimate Fighting Championship light heavyweight champion Chuck 'The Iceman' Lidell used Ice's song Too Cold for his entrance to the ring. In 2007, Nike released Vanilla Ice shoes for their Fallen Heroes pack. Rapper G-Child, best known for her appearance on ego trip's The (White) Rapper Show, has credited Van Winkle as being a major influence on her work. After meeting Van Winkle in 2000, G-Child performed freestyle raps at six of Van Winkle's performances, and opened for him four times. In March 2009, Van Winkle participated in a Virgin Mobile advertising campaign titled "Right Music Wrongs", apologizing for his 1990s image. As part of the campaign, Van Winkle was placed on "trial", and was voted innocent by users of the campaign website. He also appeared in a commercial for the South African light beer Castle Lite. In 2010, Vanilla Ice was featured on the debut single of the Irish duo Jedward, a mashup of "Under Pressure" and "Ice Ice Baby". "Under Pressure (Ice Ice Baby)" was released in the United Kingdom on January 31, 2010 via download and as a physical single on February 15, 2010. In 2010, Serbian musicians Slađa Delibašić and Shwarz released the single and music video Dizel Power. The music video and song feature various references to Vanilla Ice, including the performers dancing next to a graffiti mural of Ice. The video has reached two million views on YouTube.

After signing with Psychopathic Records, Violent J mentioned that Insane Clown Posse were longtime fans of Ice's work; “We were bumping him way before "Ice Ice Baby" blew up. We were bumping him when he had his first record out on Ichiban. Shaggy had the vinyl and we used to bump that shit up in his room. It felt like two summers before that shit blew up.” "Thanda Thanda Pani" (Cold Cold Water) by Baba Sehgal was inspired heavily by Vanilla Ice's music and style. Rapper G-Child, best known for her appearance on ego trip's The (White) Rapper Show, has credited Van Winkle as being a major influence on her work. After meeting Van Winkle in 2000, G-Child performed freestyle raps at six of Van Winkle's performances, and opened for him four times.

Eminem has often name-dropped Vanilla Ice in his songs. Starting during taped freestyles he did with rapper Proof in 1992 where they performed against each other portraying Ice and MC Hammer, respectively. In his first single "Just Don't Give a Fuck", Eminem mentions Ice alongside Everlast, boasting in a playful manner that he's a better rapper. In "Role Model", Eminem says he ripped out Vanilla Ice's dreadlocks. Van Winkle responded to in a magazine interview with Vibe saying that Eminem "raps like a girl". While Vanilla Ice and Eminem neither look at their responses as an actual beef, Eminem did reply to the quote in his song "Marshall Mathers" which also featured a verbal attack on the Insane Clown Posse. Eminem mentioned Ice again in the song "Purple Pills" in 2001, which caused Vanilla Ice's only response in song. On his album Bi-Polar, Ice mentions Eminem in a positive light ("Hip Hop Rules") and in a negative light ("Exhale"), however, Van Winkle stated that he has no bad feelings towards Eminem. In a 2002 interview, Vanilla Ice stated that he thought Eminem's references were flattering, going on to say "I give him credit, I think he’s talented, I think he’s a killer rapper, you know I don’t compare myself to him because he’s another white rapper, I don't compare myself to any other rapper period, I don’t colorize hip hop, it’s stupid, but for people who are doing that are just looking through the eyes of a racial standpoint, and it really shouldn’t be looked at that way, you’re looking at two musicians that are in a broad brand of hip hop, so you don’t need to compare us two. Following me, any white rapper is going to have to hear 'oh, you think you’re Vanilla Ice?', so I am sure he’s heard that." In April 2009, Van Winkle appeared in the music video for Eminem's song "We Made You". In the 2011 single Fast Lane, Eminem raps about riding in his car while listening to Ice Ice Baby.