I am a huge Vanilla Ice fan and I probably read this when I was 13 or 14.
This book is about the life of rapper Rob VanWinkle, or better known as Vanilla Ice. It tells of his childhood, life on the streets of Miami and moving to Dallas Texas, his rise to fame and much more. The book is pretty much just a bunch of lies, Rob says so himself. His manager, Tommy Quon, wrote it. It is still enjoyable read, but of course, it would be better if it really were from Rob himself. Either way, I liked it and enjoyed it when I read it and I would say it is a must for any Vanilla Ice fan, even if just for collecting.
Vanilla Ice comes off as a petulant child. There seem to be multiple reasons for this. The first and main reason would seem like a bunch of unresolved trauma in his life. The second is that he's 22 or 23 at time of writing, which is a frightening time to get stuck in the amber of print. The third and best reason is that the ghost writer for this book allegedly hated Vanilla Ice and was an able enough writer to highlight what a doofus Ice was without Ice catching on while it was happening.
"I am from Miami. I am from the streets. That is where I learned to rap, beat-box and dance. That is where I learned about life, about prejudice and brotherhood, about hope and about hopelessness. I was in a gang, I have been shot at, I have seen people get messed up on drugs, I have seen friends die. I have been stabbed and nearly killed."
"I really got into dressing up on Halloween. Every year I was something different . . . For the last four years I've dressed up as the same thing- a sniper."
Ice claims this book is a lie and written by his then manager, Tommy. I don't know how true that is. Ice to this day, spits corny freestyles like the ones printed in this book. This book says he used to skateboard on the street as a kid in Miami and he was at a press conference in 2010 and he told the people there the same thing. This book also says he's interested in home renovation, and of course he flips houses now and has how own home improvement show. He sounds so smug and arrogant in this book, but it's fun to read and has nice photos.
When I read this book for the first time back in 1991, I had no idea that it was total crap fabricated by Mr. Van Winkle's publicist, but at least it was entertaining crap.