I'm a Christian, but I don't believe in religion or anything like that.
Vanilla Ice
Show me a smile, and I'll show you one back.
One thing I didn't understand in life was that I had $100,000,000 in the bank and I couldn't buy happiness. I had everything: mansions, yachts, Ferraris, Lamborghinis, but I was depressed. I didn't know where I fitted in. But then I found family and friends and I learned the value of life.
I live off a motto that says, 'yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery'. I have goals and agendas. Where ever I'll be tomorrow, that's where I'll be.
Listen, if you don't talk big game, you never get anywhere. If you don't think big, you don't get big. Some people call it egotistical, some people call it high hopes, some people call it confidence. It's all in how you want to dissect it.
I was born in Dallas, Texas, but I was raised in south Florida. 'Ice Ice Baby' is about that area.
I have been known to hang out and party back in the day. I had a weekend that lasted a few years.
My breakdancing crew used to go to the mall and squat a piece of cardboard there; we had our jam box, and I'd spin on my head and make about forty bucks a day, which was pretty good back then. I was only 14 years old, so I would chase the girls around the mall and eat some pizza and have some change left over.
And all the zig-zags and lines in my hair? I used to do that myself. I just thought it was cool that you could actually do that with your hair.
When 'Ice Ice Baby' was selling a million records a day, I bought several properties: a home next to Michael J. Fox in L.A., a palace in Miami and a mountain cabin in Utah. Then, a few years later, I took a break from touring, saw that my properties had cobwebs, so I sold them, and - to my surprise - I made a huge profit!
I bring people on stage with me. It's a good time, and people love to join in on the party. Show me a smile, and I'll show you one back.
It's about enjoying your life. If you have no family, no friends to enjoy it with, it don't matter how much you have, how much success you have, how much fame you have, how much money you have, it doesn't matter.
I turn my negatives into my positives because one of my mottos is, 'Yesterday's history, tomorrow's a mystery,' meaning that you can't go back and change anything in the past.
To me, a critic is some loser who has no idea... someone with an opinion. We all have opinions. No offense, but what makes them dictate what is cool and what is not.
I'm the kind of guy who really likes a challenge. It's more rewarding.
I've been playing concerts for many years, and it's still as exciting as it was the first time. I hope that shows when I'm performing.
I use the music to vent, and a lot of the stuff that I am writing about or was writing about contained a lot of anger and anxiety, stress and depression, so that's how the album came out so dark.
Rap is from the streets and I'm from the streets. That's why a lot of people accept me.
I've never met anybody in this world like me.
A lot of people think I was an overnight success, but I was an opening act for three or four years, and then I signed my contract with EMI. Then it kind of blew up overnight.
More than half of all the hip hop record sales are white people, and I think that might be a result of my record helping people to accept hip hop.
Learn from my mistakes and you don't have to make them yourself.
I own a mortgage company and a real estate company funded by the music. Florida is a kinda gold mine.
Negativity spreads faster than any Justin Bieber song.
If you grew up in my generation, you're going to be influenced by Run DMC, the Beastie Boys and also listen to Metallica - it wasn't segregated anymore.
I do freestyle jumping. Been doing since I was eight years old and can't quit. I'm addicted. I've broken many bones, but I ride with confidence. It's my thing - there's no high on earth like it. It's my hobby and I really enjoy it.
I know this will blow your mind, but most people would probably never ever get it, but I listen to classical music when nobody else is around. It calms me down and I can get into this, like, deep thinking mode, you know, because there's really no lyrics to it, so you're not following something that - that you're listening to a story.
For three years, between 16 and 19, I was the opening-act-for-the-opening-act-for-the-opening-act, you know? And then I was on tour with Ice-T, Stetsasonic, EPMD, Sir Mix-a-Lot - legends - and went on to sell 160 million records. It still baffles me.
I didn't want the public in my personal life at all - I thought that people might perceive me as too normal, and I'd lose that larger-than-life rock star persona. You've got to protect that!
I don't have any reason to hate anybody; I believe in good karma and spreading good energy.
I have a very broad demographic, from the 8-year-old who knows every word to 'Ice Ice Baby' and the college kid who grew up on 'Ninja Rap' to the soccer mom and grandparent.
I like Jay-Z, 50 Cent and Common. But I like the underground stuff like Young Jeezy, Black Rob and Shine. I also love heavy metal like Slipknot and Pantera, It's very intense stuff.
I just kept it real and had the freedom to do what I want. It's not designed for any age group. It's not made for radio. There are no edits. The whole album contains explicit lyrics but that's because you need it.
I had a pretty modest upbringing; it was no pleasure cruise. I don't think I would be as happy today if I hadn't been through that. It was tough; I made some bad choices myself.
A lot of people don't remember anything since 'Ice Ice Baby,' but I've got 3 records out since then and they're all successes - but not commercially.
Even in a bad market, location, location, location is a way to still buy and sell property.
It took me a while and a lot of hard times to figure out my purpose, I am so happy with my life. I just want to help make other people happy, too.
I'm a random guy. I shake a hand and make a friend. I don't do egotistical things.
With the mega-fame came the mega-downfall - you know, with the press and everything - and at a young age, it was very stressful to me.
I didn't end up going bankrupt... I made some great investments and I held on to my money, which also enables me to have the freedom to do what I want now. But it's not about finances. No matter what, it's about keeping it real.
Concerts every night, autograph signings, endorsements, and so on. That's not what real life is about.
My mom raised me to be clean, so it's in my nature. I have two little girls, and I'm married, but we've got a nanny and a maid.
I don't harp on what I could change about the past, because I can't go back and change it. But definitely a lot of things I would change.
I got caught up on drugs for a few years, I'm off it, I'm very happy, got two kids and a family and everything. And like I said I'm making the underground music, and keeping it real.
Shows have been sold out. It's overwhelming, you know. I had no idea what to expect with this new sound and everything and just to see so many people just come out and embrace it, it's overwhelming.
I used the music kind of as therapy, and it's just amazing that I feel so free after doing that. I feel like I had it trapped inside of me and now I feel free. So it's been a very good therapy session for me as well.
This was totally influenced by me and the direction that I am writing about and the stuff that I am writing about. There is just no way that you can be as intense as what I have been through in my life over a drum beat machine, sample, or loop; it's just not going to happen.
It wasn't until '94 when I tried to commit suicide that I realized that it wasn't about the money.
Honestly, a lot of people thought that I was on top of the world selling so many millions of records, and that this is the life that everybody would want, but I never got to enjoy any of my success.
To be truthful, Jay-Z wouldn't have a quarter of the records sold today if it wasn't for the white people buying his records.
