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“Ice Ice Baby” was originally the flipside to Vanilla Ice’s debut single “Play
That Funky Music”. When it was later released as its own single, it became an
international smash hit.

After every record company turned Vanilla Ice’s original demos down, Tommy Quon
(the owner of the Dallas club City Lights) had the club’s DJ Earthquake produce
two tracks for release on his label Ultrax Records. “Play That Funky Music”,
based on the 1976 hit of the same name, was the A-side, and “Ice Ice Baby”,
based on the Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity chant in the film School Daze spoken
over Queen’s “Under Pressure”, was the B-side.

A DJ at an FM station in Georgia liked the B-side better and played it on air.
Soon it became that station’s #1 requested song, leading stations in Tennessee
and Texas to do the same. It also became Video Jukebox’s most requested video.
After SBK Records' founder was played the song over the phone, he signed Ice the
next day. In August of 1990, his label released “Ice Ice Baby” as the A-side
with “Play That Funky Music” as its flipside.

The song began climbing charts around the world, eventually reaching the top 10
in twelve countries – hitting #1 in six of them including the UK and the US
(where it became the first chart-topping rap single in history).

“Ice Ice Baby” contains an uncleared sample of Queen’s “Under Pressure”, so when
confronted about it, Ice claimed he’d altered it, but he later admitted he
actually hadn’t. The parties settled out of court for an undisclosed sum, and
members of Queen, plus the guest vocalist on the original song David Bowie, were
also given songwriting credits.

The song is credited for ‘making hip-hop an acceptable genre to mainstream
media’ and continues to be popular into the 2000s. It was certified Gold in 2005
for selling 500K digital downloads and named by VH1 the #29 top song of the 90s.

But it also has its share of negative feedback, with MTV ranking it the #9 worst
video in history, and Houston Press calling it the worst song to come from
Texas. In 2012, actor/comedian Adam Scott discussed the song’s opening lyrics on
Conan, pointing out how ridiculous they sound when analyzed.