Vanilla Ice's Impact

4I want to continue on the discussion that involved Vanilla's Ice's impact on a white rapper's chances of being successful in the rap music industry. I still think that Vanilla Ice jumped on the preverbal sword of what a white rapper should not do to make it in that genre of music. His background was fabricated in an effort to be accepted by the black artists and the black audience that make up the rap culture. Had that not happened to him, it surely would have happened to someone else. I truly believe that Eminem learned and benefited from Vanilla Ice's mistakes.

Vanilla Ice showed that it is a mistake to try to force yourself into acceptance of audience that is already skeptical of you joining their crowd. Eminem's approach was laying out his unappealing background, and not try to force any connections with the rap audience. His attitude seemed to challenge the black culture's methods. He was not afraid to throw his "Whiteness" in their face, and say that he was better at what he did than anyone.

The "rags to riches" story is commonly associated with a successful rapper. Vanilla Ice did not have one so they tried to make one up to force his success. Eminem does have a "rags to riches" story, but it is not the kind of story that we traditional see with successful rap artists. The problem may have been that the black artists refuse to believe that a white guy could have a rough background. Eminem certainly had a less than attractive background, but it was honest.

I do not think that the Vanilla Ice was used as a serious comparison to Eminem. He was so obsolete at the time that no one could honestly believe that there would be a second coming. There were other white hip hop artists between the two, but none of those appeared to legitimize themselves as rap icons like Vanilla Ice and Eminem looked to do.

Now since Eminem used his real background, so it is hard to say that it was influenced by record executives. Eminem maybe the kind of person that would not let himself be influenced in such a way, but if Vanilla Ice had not crumbled like he had then it is likely that someone one else would have been pushed into that same situation.