Vanilla Ice is Back....

The Iceman Cometh

Review by B-RHEA

I bought Vanilla's new album, "Hard to Swallow" for
nostalgia, not because I thought it would have frequent
spinner miles in my cd player. And it hasn't, I've only
listened to it a few times but in all honesty kids, it's actually
pretty close to being a great cd.

Ross Robinson, the man behind Korn's first two albums
was at the helm producing Vanilla's first effort at hard-core
hip-hop. "What could be more 'punk' than producing the
new Vanilla Ice album?" asks Robinson. Good point. If you
like Korn's beats, then you'll like parts of "Hard to
Swallow." The beats and music have a primal groove that
is easy to sink into, but at times that same characteristic is
just a little...well, too hard to swallow.

The vocals are not the Vanilla Ice that we're used to. Not
by any stretch of the imagination. Combine Henry Rollins
and Busta Rhymes and that's the new Iceman. He pulls it
off pretty nicely in some places laying down flowing prose
about smoking weed and macking on the ladies, and
you're thinking, "Yeah, Vanilla. Break it down homeboy."
But in other places, the vocals get distracting and you're
like, "Oh, that's just Vanilla trying to sound mean."

Hopefully, and I do mean this, this won't be Vanilla Ice's
last album. With a few tweaks and some more experience
busting hard-core rhymes, Vanilla Ice could really be a
respectable act again. Not that having "Ice, Ice, Baby" on
your resume makes you respectable, no wait, it does.
What was I thinking, "Ice, Ice, Baby" was rad. Would you
stop laughing? I'm trying to review here.

Seriously now, Vanilla Ice deserves a second chance in
the music industry and hopefully he'll get it. Let's all think
back and remember that at one time, not so long ago, we
loved him. Maybe a few records from now, he'll give us a
reason to love him again. Unfortunately, "Hard to Swallow"
is not that reason, but it's not far off.

For more reviews go to: Hi-fi Geeks