American rapper Vanilla Ice is not shy about sharing the way he made millions after hitting gold with Ice Ice Baby (Picture: Getty)
Vanilla Ice took over the radiowaves with his chart-topping 90s single Ice Ice Baby. Decades later he is still riding on the high.
The 56-year-old rapper, real name Robert Van Winkle, shot to overnight fame with the hip-hop tune in summer of 1990 which notably samples the bassline for Queen and David Bowie’s popular song Under Pressure.
As well as topping the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the US, the song – also created by K. Kennedy and DJ Earthquake – took off in Australia, Belgium and the UK.
But after a brief resurgence on the charts with his popular cover of Wild Cherry’s Play That Funky Music he soon dwindled from the public spotlight.
But his music success translated into millions of dollars, and the rapper is well-known to have bought several houses in his 20s. By the late 1990s, he was pursuing his passion to become a construction contractor and work in real estate.
‘I did Ice Ice Baby when I was 16 and then it blew up really big and we were selling a million records a day easy. Way beyond any of my expectations,’ he explained on Steve-O’s podcast Wild Ride!.
Vanilla Ice the year Ice Ice Baby blew up (Picture: Getty)
After his home was destroyed by Hurricane Andrew in 1992 he fixed it up and sold it for a huge amount. This soon led to him amassing a property empire.
He explained that although he had ‘bought other houses around the country’ he ‘never really saw them’ because he went on tour for three years, even though he had bought a home next to actor Michael J Fox.
At this point, he thought to himself: ‘”Well I’m young, I’m dumb, maybe I blew all that money.” I never saw them.’ So instead he decided to ‘sell them all’.
He continued: ‘I sold them all and they sold really quick and I made millions for doing nothing! I didn’t even change the carpet.
‘And I go, “Holy s***, let’s go buy a bunch more of them.” I was buying homes all over the place and still am. I have a process now on how I buy the homes that takes 30 years to understand how it works.’
The music artist turned real-estate master also hosted a construction show (Picture: Getty)
His divorce in 2018 brought to light his financial situation (Picture: Getty)
The former Dancing on Ice star has also hosted his own property construction show, The Vanilla Ice Project, since 2010 that takes audiences along with him as he refurbishes various homes.
Whatever his method it is working as the latest figures on Celebrity net Worth value the hip-hop artist at $20million (£15million).
In a 2020 interview, he talked about the immense success of Ice Ice Baby.
He said at the time: ‘It was beyond wildfire, beyond a tsunami. Just unbelievable success, so fast, and so incredibly impactful—to the point where we look back 30 years later and Ice Ice Baby has become an anthem that actually defines the ’90s.
‘All you have to do is play Ice Ice Baby and you’ll remember everything you were wearing, who you were dating, how cheesy and corny we were. The ’90s just had that attitude.’
Keith Allen is another aritst who is financially profiting off a hit single from many years ago (Picture: Dan Wooller/REX/Shutterstock)
In 2018, the father-of-two divorced his wife Laura and in court documents obtained by the Daily Mail revealed he was still earning an eye-watering $800,000-per-year with 15 properties among his assets.
The rapper is not the first artist to still be capitalising off a major 90s hit. Earlier this year Fat Les musician and comedian Keith Allen admitted he is still raking in millions from the 1998 football parody song Vindaloo.
When asked if he still received money from royalties, the 70-year-old actor said: ‘Oh God yeah, a lot, probably about £20,000 a year. I mean, I get more money from Vindaloo [1998 UK Number Two by Fat Les] than a lot of things.’
Got a story?
If you’ve got a celebrity story, video or pictures get in touch with the Metro.co.uk entertainment team by emailing us celebtips@metro.co.uk, calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff page – we’d love to hear from you.