Nardwuar: Who are you?
Vanilla Ice: Sometimes people call me Hasselhoff. No, I'm kidding, my name is Rob it's my real name.

You are Vanilla Ice!
A.K.A. Vanilla Ice, yeah.

And now here you are in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada on tour. Vanilla Ice, are you back to rap? Are you back to rap? Is it gonna be rap tonight or is it the metal thing? What's going to go on tonight, Vanilla Ice?
We mix it up, man. We're going to bring it back to the old school, y'know. Which is why I did my new CD the way I did with the double CD, one being hip-hop and one being rock y'know. But we're going to introduce all the new stuff as well, but we are going to take you back to the old school. We have fun with it.

Vanilla Ice, with the album To The Extreme, did you coin the phrase "Extreme?" Like, are you responsible for "Extreme Sports" there, Vanilla Ice?
[Laughs] Ha, I don't know if I would go that far man. I think you're stretching it a little bit. No.

Give yourself some credit, like "Extreme", after you did To The Extreme, all this "Extreme" stuff was labeled.
Yeah, you're right, that's true. It's kinda funny, a little coincidence there, but uh, naw man, I'm just an extremist in everything I do. I hanglide, I'll parachute, y'know, I do motocross, I do the freestyle stuff and fully condone the jackass lifestyle. I'll do Celebrity Boxing. I jumped in the ring with ICP (Insane Clown Posse) recently and smashed a stop sign over a dude's forehead and stapled a dollar to his to his cheek and his forehead with blood coming out. So I get into some pretty crazy, crazy things.

Anything for the money. But you don't need the money do you?
No, it's not for the money, man. It's about the excitement of it; we only live once, y'know. So I'm out here for the passion of just y'know being a jackass and have a good time doing it.

Vanilla Ice, did you pave the way for Snoop Doggy Dogg and Death Row Records? If it wasn't for Vanilla Ice, would there be Snoop Doggy Dogg or Death Row Records?
Man c'mon, you're stretching it, dude. No, no, no I mean---

You did pave the way though, didn't you? Indirectly, there would be no Snoopy Doggy Dogg if there wasn't Vanilla Ice, right?
Well y'know you said the word indirectly. Everybody knows about the Suge Knight incident and yes in a way I contributed to the Chronic record, Snoop Dogg and Tupac. I funded, basically, initially, the beginning of that whole Death Row project, indirectly. [laughs] But I---

Willingly?
Well no, not willingly but y'know what? It was all good because I look at it in a positive way. I got way more money than I ever expected today and basically I look at it like it was an investment in some of the best hip-hop ever to live and ever come out. So I'm happy for it y'know? I'm happy.

Vanilla Ice, "Go Ninja, Go Ninja." Is it true you have returned to "The Ninja" Song?
Yeah man, we're gonna do a hardcore remake of that song real soon. It was really crazy because we have been playing Canada, man and I don't even know the words to that song anymore just the hook y'know?

C'mon! [sings] Go Ninja, go Ninja---
Yeah, yeah, I know that part but I'm just sayin', I'm sayin' we play it in Canada every show and the kids are just yellin' "Ninja Ninja Rap" y'know? And I am like, "No way. Go Ninja." So anyway, make a long story short, I'm doin' a hardcore version of that. Check the website vanillaice.com. It's gonna be, uh, you can download it for free on there, so check it out.

Vanilla Ice, "Da Hip Hop Witch." You made some good connections from that movie didn't you? "Da Hip Hop Witch." Wu-Tang!
[laughs] Yeah yeah, Wu-Tang Clan's on the new record. It was really versatile, this record y'know? We worked with Slipknot, which is the heavy, hardcore crazy side. And we got Soulfly on there. And then on the hip-hop side we got Public Enemy, Insane Clown Posse and the Wu-Tang Clan. So it was a big collaboration. It was a nice musical adventure for me.

Your movie Cool As...
Cool As Ice.

Cool As Ice. Is it true that Lisa Marie Presley was going to be in Cool As Ice but turned you down, Vanilla Ice? How dare she!
How dare she! No, it's the first I ever heard of that. But it sounds cool, [laughs] makes good ratings. [laughs]

Drop that...
Zero and get with the... [both Nardwuar and Vanilla] Hero!

Hero! Eyyyye. Boyeeee with Vanilla Ice. You love the fighting don't you there Vanilla Ice?
I love everything man. There's no shame in my game, man. Like I said, I condone the jackass lifestyle so fighting and everything, I mean---

But in the Cool As Ice movie there is a lot of Ninja kind of fighting action, wasn't there.
Yeah man, there was some stuff like that going on, y'know? It's exciting.

So it was natural for you to do the Celebrity Boxing?
Yeah, I told you, that's why I was telling you a minute ago. I'll get on TV, I'll do it; anything. There's no shame in my game, I just let 'em hang. [laughs]

Now what's the deal with that, with Todd Bridges? Before he even entered the ring, they said like he's winning. Were they out to get you there, Vanilla Ice?
Well it was staged. I'm ain't gonna lie to you. We had like 10 minutes between the rounds and then they edited it on TV, y'know? And it was all staged, man. We had fun with it. It was just an exhibition.

'Cause that announcer was really mean. He's like, "Vanilla Ice is gonna pull out his purse and hit him with his purse!"
No, man. That's the way boxing is, if you're ever watch a boxing match there's always George Foreman or Sugar Ray Leonard sittin' on the sidelines, y'know, sayin' some good things about other people---

Keep your chin up. What was with that chin up? Did they tell you to keep your chin up? "Keep his chin up!"
What it is, is it's entertainment, brother. Sit back and enjoy it.

Was there anybody you could choose to fight? Like could you choose to fight Eminem?
Uh, I wish I could. I have been tryin' to! I will, I wanted to fight him. I mean that would be huge ratings wouldn't it? It would be awesome, man. I'd just do it for the hell of it, 'cause I'm crazy like that.

How did you end up with Todd Bridges?
He was the only person I could get that had any boxing experience. Everybody else, all the other celebrities, are big pussies. They didn't want to get out there. So, uh, I showed him there aint no shame in my game. I'll get out there and swing it with anybody. I just have fun, man. I don't care, win or lose, whatever. You win some, you lose some, y'know? I'm actually busted up today, man; me and my drummer had it out last night on stage; he hit me with a drumstick, I'm sittin' there playing. It's an accident, y'know? He just kinda went, wham! And I was standing there and he hit with the drumstick, blood was coming out. He hit me on the first song, too. Blood comin' out all over my face and I'm sittin' there just spittin' it out. Looked like Danzig or something on stage, but it was insane man.

Vanilla Ice, who is Mini-Me?
Mini-me?

Who is Mini-Me, Vanilla Ice?
Let's see, "m" and "m." M-M, Mini-Me.

Eminem.
Well, yo. Y'know what it is? I... it's like this [raps] It's been a long time since ya seen me on the TV. V-Ice is here for she-zee, takin' what's mine 'cause it's my time to hit y'all with a new style of rhyme. Yeah, this is hip rock. It can't be stopped. I bomb the system, straight to the top. Millions of dollars, I been spendin' em. I love rap, I paved the way for Eminem. Needless to say, I rap back today, y'all forgot about me, like y'all forgot about Dre. But I'm still here, with no fear, I say what I want and I make sure it's clear.

Yeah! Vanilla Ice. Take that Eminem!
[laughs]

Take that Eminem! Now I was curious, Eminem had Dr. Dre, you had Public Enemy. What happened with the Public Enemy Association? Like you only recently got Public Enemy back on board.
No, no. Back on board, what do you mean? I did the Stop The Violence tour with them forever ago.

Well I mean Eminem had Dre to guide him. Too bad you couldn't of had more of the Public Enemy right?
Uh, for what? What do I need, what do I need more for, man? I got everything I need right now. I'm, I'm not making radio-friendly, commercial, mainstream bullshit. I'm making real music and there's no edits.

No, but I mean comparing yourself to Eminem. Like Eminem gets a cool movie and you get the [Teenage Mutant Ninja] Turtles. Like you've talked about that before, haven't you Vanilla Ice?
Hey I think the Turtles are cooler than Eminem's 8 Mile.

"Go Ninja! Go Ninja!"
Exactly! Y'know how many people are probably singin' that with you right now in there? Every person. I just played, every place. I just played in this whole country, man. I'm telling you it's just been "Ninja Rap" everywhere. It's been great.