After signing with a larger label, SBK, they paid him to adopt a more commercial appearance, which was the subject of frequent mockery among his peers. However, Van Winkle's success did not go without drama. Van Winkle later opened for EPMD, Ice-T, Stetsasonic and Sir Mix-A-Lot on the Stop the Violence Tour. Quon financed $8,000 for the production of a music video for "Ice Ice Baby", which received heavy airplay by The Box, increasing public interest in the song. When a disc jockey played "Ice Ice Baby" instead of the single's A-side, the song was more popular than "Play That Funky Music". "Play That Funky Music" was released as the album's first single, with "Ice Ice Baby" appearing as the B-side. Van Winkle signed a contract with Ichiban Records in 1989, and released his debut album, Hooked. Upon seeing Van Winkle's performance, Quon saw commercial potential in his rapping and dancing skills, and offered him a contract with his management company, Ultrax. In 1987, Van Winkle met Tommy Quon at his Dallas night club City Lights. Between the ages of 13 and 14, Van Winkle practiced breakdancing, which led to his black friends calling him "Vanilla Ice." Van Winkle wrote "Ice Ice Baby" at the age of 16, basing its lyrics upon his experiences in South Florida. Just for fun, here is the video of Vanilla Ice clearly explaining the difference between the two songs, I’ll let you be the judge.Vanilla Ice, real name Robert Matthew Van Winkle (born October 31, 1967, not to be confused with Rip Van Winkle), is a rapper born in Dallas, Texas, and raised in Texas and South Florida, who is best known for his 1989 hit "Ice Ice Baby", which samples the main riff from Queen and David Bowie's "Under Pressure". This is the story of when the rock legends Queen came to co-write and earn royalties on a 90’s rap phenomenon. The last straw in this story was the now infamous interview of Vanilla Ice trying to defend his song by claiming the base line was similar but not actually ripped off, due to an extra note added to the last down beat of the line, making it “two entirely different bass lines”. Ironically, Ice Ice Baby gave a sudden rise in popularity to the original Under Pressure track as younger generations discovered it through the rapper. What started as a simple sampling issue, stained the reputation of the rapper. The amount was not revealed until much later, the sum of 4 million in USD was payed to the band Queen along with writing credits for the 4 members on the song. Thankfully for Vanilla Ice, the case did not end up going to court and got settled in private. However, the origin of the sample and the artists responsible were not given credits and therefore earned no royalties. The American rapper tried to defend himself, pleading that it was nothing more than sampling, a very common practice in the rap industry. The band’s lawyers got involved and quickly threatened to sue Vanilla Ice for copyright infringement. The similarity is undeniable to anyone listening to both songs and seeing the popularity and money that Ice Ice baby was generating, Queen was not going to let it slide. A small rock English rock band by the name of Queen saw in the bass line a very obvious rip off of their own song, co written and co performed with The singer David Bowie, Under Pressure. However, not everybody felt over the moon with the new rap single and its explosion in popularity. The single climbed to the top of the charts in 10 countries including the UK Singles chart and the US Billboard 100. The track in question is the infamous “Ice Ice Baby.” On it, a track that would later on become his most famous hit, turning the singer into an internet laughing stock by the same occasion. On the 22nd of August 1990, Vanilla Ice released his debut album “To the Extreme”.
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