By Patrick Douglas

The "ICE" Man

It’s been nearly 20 years since Robert Van Winkle took the music industry by storm with his pop sensation “Ice Ice Baby,” but it may as well have been a lifetime ago for the man more commonly known as Vanilla Ice.

Since then, the musician has melded himself into a rocker and become a familiar face on reality television.

The transformation has been so significant that while he still performs his classic rap songs ~- he recently played his first gig with MC Hammer in 20 years ~ he plans on entering the studio this summer and enlisting the aid of everyone from Slipknot to Public Enemy.

“I just got a new record deal so I’m pretty excited about that,” said Ice. “I got some heavy, heavy s**t coming on there. Stuff with Slipknot and Soulfly. Shannon Larkin from Godsmack. I’ve also got some Wu Tang Clan and Public Enemy and Chuck D and Flavor Flav. All kinds of collaborations going on. I don’t know what I’m gonna come up with. I like to go in there and roll the tape and whatever I come up with, I just vibe on it and come up with it.”

Despite his massive success thanks to radio in his early days, Ice isn’t the kind of artist who spends any bit of mental energy on coming up with his next radio hit.

“I’m not into letting radio influence me on how I make the music or industrialize,” he said. “I don’t make music for money. I make it how I wanna make it and that’s the way it should be.”

Ice is a very recognizable figure in today’s reality TV circles thanks to his appearances on everything from “The Surreal Life” and “Celebrity Bull Riding Challenge” to ”The Surreal Life: Fame Games.” It’s been the perfect outlet for a man who likes to entertain.

“I’m a jackass,” said Ice. “A lot of that stuff is staged. A lot of people think I have this attitude or anger problem. I don’t. I’m a pretty easy going guy. I have fun, dude. I don’t give a f**k. I just have fun.”

Ice has definitely experienced a lifetime’s worth of success in a short period of time. In the early ‘90s, he dated Madonna and sold 11 million copies of his debut and even had a leading role in the 1991 feature film “Cool As Ice.”

“I had a weekend that lasted a few years in between,” he says with a laugh. “The impact was gigantic back in the day. Between me and (Hammer) we outsold every musician in the world including Elvis, the Beatles, Madonna and Michael Jackson.”

“Those were good times.”