Vanilla Ice: Extremely Live (SBK)

FACE THE fact, Jack — Vanilla Ice got a bum rap. Give or take Cool J's 'Boomin' System', 'Ice Ice Baby' is as catchy and witty a single as has come out this decade, and that's why it was so popular. (I bought my copy as a 12-inch on Miami's Ultrax label after hearing it on black radio in Detroit, before SBK picked it up. It was the only new rap record I bought in 1990. And for months, it never occurred to me that Ice might be white, okay?) It wasn't the first hip-hop ever to hit No. 1, either — Blondie's 'Rapture' was, and after that Falco's 'Rock Me Amadeus' (both by Caucasians, so complain all you want, fine). The fact that critics keep reporting otherwise just demonstrates how short their memories are.