All Right, Stop. Collaborate and Listen.

Vanilla Ice invited everyone and their dog on stage

Question: What song became the first #1 rap song ever in November of 1990?

Confession time. I have, for the past 30 years, have an odd fascination with all things Vanilla Ice. I don't think I would ever classify it as a crush or anything like that. It is no secret that I love all types of music and really appreciate very talented artists. I also really appreciate campy artists that don't take themselves too seriously. Music, to me, is supposed to be fun. Enter Vanilla Ice and all of his campy hits ("Ninja Rap", for instance).

I think I can blame my fascination on my mom, really. For Christmas one year in the early 90s (I believe it was 1991), she got me a "karaoke machine". This wasn't a fancy one they use at karaoke bars. It was basically a double tape deck with a speaker and microphone. You put the backing track cassette in one deck, and then you could put a blank cassette and record your performance in the other deck. I loved that thing. Unfortunately, the only tape I had for it was "Hits of 1990". I sang my heart out to such classics as "Black Velvet" by Alannah Myles and "From a Distance" by Bette Midler. It was because of this cassette I can still, and always do, rap every word to "Ice Ice Baby".

This particular skill has actually come in handy several times over the last 30 years. It impresses people at parties/clubs/dances/weddings when I bust it out (with accompanying dance moves, of course). It also earned me some "cool points" when I first started teaching at my current school. I told them that I would dance when I chaperoned Homecoming, so they asked what song they should request to get me to dance. I, of course, wanted to show off so "Ice Ice Baby" it was. This is a legacy that has passed down through class after class and I still get pulled onto the floor 12 years later to dance and "rap" (well, either that song or "Bye Bye Bye" because I can do the actual dance...but that might be a different post some day). I also used part of the song in a mash-up with "Do You Wanna Build a Snowman?" from Frozen to create a glow-in-the-dark lights routine for my dance team (we placed 3rd at the State competition that year with it!). It is a part of me.

I have managed to see Vanilla Ice twice in concert. The first time it was totally random out of the blue when he showed up on stage in the middle of a New Kids on the Block concert in Chicago (ah, yes, another post will come from NKOTB, most likely). My friends thought I was nuts because all I could do was scream "OH MY GOD IT'S VANILLA ICE! VANILLA ICE!" over and over again, but it was so many years of loving all things Vanilla Ice karma finally paying off.

The other time I saw him in concert was on the "I Love the 90s Tour" (great acts, terrible seats and sound, by the way). He had so much pyrotechnics and smoke it was insane. He also went around the audience taking selfies with everyone for like 40 minutes after the concert was over. Again, I had crappy seats, so I wasn't down on the floor to get one of those and the evil ushers wouldn't let us go down. So I only have pictures from the nosebleed section that you can't even tell who it is (see the picture accompanying this post for proof. Vanilla Ice is the guy in a red hat standing on a box with the spotlight on him, just for reference).

Anyway, I will continue loving all things Vanilla Ice and busting out the rap and the moves whenever I hear the song. Word to your Mother.

Answer: Ice Ice Baby by Vanilla Ice