“I just want to go back to the ’90s,” said rapper Vanilla Ice.
It was a Thursday morning, two weeks after performing at the Palladium Times Square in New York City. And after completely blowing up one interview and showing up to this interview 15 minutes late, Vanilla Ice finally answered the phone through his publicist.
He started by explaining that he was super busy. He was in his car to narrate a home makeover TV show.vanilla ice cream home show, ‘It’s been shopping. She then had to pick up her 4-year-old daughter from school.
“She won’t let me sit,” said Vanilla Ice, 54. His real name is Robert Van Winkle. “I feel like I’m in a Zumba class with her every day because she hears ‘move it, move it’ and makes me dance.”
Thirty years after taking over teenage pop culture as the “white rapper” with zig-zag haircuts and break-dancing moves, Vanilla Ice is back in the spotlight.
This summer he headlined the “I Love the ’90s” national concert tour. The tour will feature forgotten acts from that decade, including Color Me his Bad, Coolio and Tonerock.has also appeared in Collect a Cona pop culture convention that attracts tens of thousands of people, including a significant number of Pokémon fans
in june he joy burst, A Toronto energy drink company has developed a new flavor called Vanilla Ice. drink adsBoomboxes, gold chains and silver tracksuits are starting to pop up online and elsewhere. and he opened a brewery, pop culture museum Lake Worth Beach, Florida, where he lives.
“I have to be a lousy adult during the week because I’m doing construction, not just for TV,” he said. “But on weekends, I’m the oldest teenager in town.”
In the edited interview below, he thinks about his beloved decade and what made him love him, and talks about his current comeback.
On TikTok, where you’re active, a video with nearly a million views preaching to Gen Z why the 90’s were so much better than today. Why do you think they are listening?
The 90’s are contagious. This decade was neon and very colorful. Nothing was too serious. It was “enjoy life, make friends”. We had Beavis and Butt-Head, we had block parties, we had fanny packs. If you walk through the mall today, everyone is wearing his 90s pieces. Sneakers are crazy. 90s checkered Vans. It’s all back.
What do you think made the 90s so appealing?
The 90’s were the last years of a great decade. Because then computers destroyed the world. I got excited about things like floppy disks. There are so many channels right now trying to divide everyone and control their thoughts. In the 90’s they broke the news. It was neither this side nor that side. I have fans on all sides and I try to embrace everything.
Appeared in Mar-a-Lago To the maskless crowd on New Year’s Eve 2020 during the pandemic. How is it not political?
i live in palm beach. The place is legendary. The architecture was incredible. You must have seen Mayor Giuliani dancing. And Don Jr., he went bananas. He knows every word of every song.
But didn’t you become an ally by appearing there?
I hate it. Whoever gets it, just get it. We are all neighbors here. Don’t panic if my hairstyle is different from yours.
who goes to your show?
It’s a very young audience and I see college students, which is the hardest audience. They may be introduced through their parents, but I think a lot of people find me through Adam Sandler’s movies. Some come dressed as turtles. 35-year-old and 40-year-old soccer moms also appeared. They hire a babysitter, come dressed up, and spend the night. You can tell they are really reliving high school.
Tell me about the Pop Culture Museum.
It is a four-story building. At the bottom is a speakeasy with a piano player. I’m mimicking the “Titanic” stuff — when people see it, they’ll see Leo. I don’t know who they are, but they’re all super-iconic celebrities we all know. Some are rare, such as the Ninja Turtle’s bowl of cereal, and Mohammed’s, which belonged to Ali.
What keeps you going?
It may sound cheesy, but I get my oxygen from vegetables. I have a rare blood type O and have been a vegetarian for 19 years because I need to keep my body healthy. I ate a lot of salads and learned how to drink smoothies. Indian food is my favorite. There are vegan Indian restaurants around me.
But it’s nice to have young fans. I use their energy to keep me young, keep me moving and energized.