Quotes by Vanilla Ice

Honestly, a lot of people thought that I was on top of the world selling so many millions of records, and that this is the life that everybody would want, but I never got to enjoy any of my success.

I didn't end up going bankrupt... I made some great investments and I held on to my money, which also enables me to have the freedom to do what I want now. But it's not about finances. No matter what, it's about keeping it real.

I don't hate on any artist actually, not on boy bands, on nothing, it's just music and if you enjoy it then enjoy it. I just have my own opinion of what I like and so should everybody else. I don't try and make everybody else believe in my opinion, everybody's born differently you know, God created us all different.

I got caught up on drugs for a few years, I'm off it, I'm very happy, got two kids and a family and everything. And like I said I'm making the underground music, and keeping it real.

I had millions of dollars, all of the material things that anybody could want, but I just couldn't find happiness. And I would have gave it all back, if I could go back in time and sign that thirty thousand dollar contract with Def Jam, just to have my credibility and to not be the butt end of a lot of jokes.

I just finished up my new record and collaborated with quite a few artists: Slipknot is on the record, a group called Soulfly are on the record, Wu Tang Clan, Public Enemy, Insane Clown Posse, which is all huge multiplatinum artists in the States you know, so I'm looking forward to this, I just finished it up and I can't wait to get it out.

I just kept it real and had the freedom to do what I want. It's not designed for any age group. It's not made for radio. There are no edits. The whole album contains explicit lyrics but that's because you need it.

I just released a record that was produced by the same producer as Korn and Limp Bizkit and Slipknot-his name is Ross Robinson. In '98 he produced this record for me, and I released that and it did very well in the States. It caters to a younger 15- to 19-year-old audience, but it's not just a pop audience. Like you see your little kids out here that go crazy over boy bands, and then they grow up and they don't admit that they were ever down with the boy bands.

I listen to the rock stuff, I like Bush and stuff like that. Pop-wise, no I don't listen to boy bands and stuff like that at all, ever. Never have, I know that's mostly what they play over here is pop music. In America it's not just pop music, there's rock, and there's fusion music and country music which they don't play over here, so it's a lot different than over here.

I really feel like I've been given a second chance and to see so many people coming out to embrace my new sound is a blessing. And a lot of people, after seeing the VH1 special, feel like they get to know me personally because my whole life has been a big misconception about me personally.

I use the music to vent, and a lot of the stuff that I am writing about or was writing about contained a lot of anger and anxiety, stress and depression, so that's how the album came out so dark.

I used the music kind of as therapy, and it's just amazing that I feel so free after doing that. I feel like I had it trapped inside of me and now I feel free. So it's been a very good therapy session for me as well.

I was playing a record company whore back in the days, a puppet. Everything was staged. I wasn't really designed to be this novelty act; I was turned into one. When I first came out, I was opening for Ice-T, EPMD, and Public Enemy. All of my audience was black.

It wasn't until '94 when I tried to commit suicide that I realized that it wasn't about the money.

Nobody knew the direction of the album until the very end. It was really amazing because we had no idea what we were going to come up with.

People don't understand it's really a hard thing, because I was here in the early '90s and... basically I was gone from over here. I've been doing my thing over in the States, but it's more underground than pop-ish, mainstream-ish, radio-friendly stuff, it's more underground. People have no clue what the hell Vanilla Ice has been up to.

Shows have been sold out. It's overwhelming, you know. I had no idea what to expect with this new sound and everything and just to see so many people just come out and embrace it, it's overwhelming.

This was totally influenced by me and the direction that I am writing about and the stuff that I am writing about. There is just no way that you can be as intense as what I have been through in my life over a drum beat machine, sample, or loop; it's just not going to happen.

With radio limitations as far as length of songs and content, sometimes if you are being conscious of that then that effects the outcome of a song.

You can't please everybody, and basically I just decided to please myself first on this record. This record is more like my diary and I am expressing myself through my music. And that's what it should be about. That's why I didn't change my name or anything. It's not about the name; it's about the music. The old saying goes that video killed the radio star and it's very true. And now I'm just letting everything revolve around the music. There is no image; I am just being myself.