Mind Blowin' is the second studio album by AmericanrapperVanilla Ice. Released on March 22, 1994, it is the rapper's final release on SBK Records. The album did not chart, and received unfavorable reviews. It has since received some degree of cult status in the hip hop community. Songs from the album made up one third of Vanilla Ice's tours during 1992-2010. The album sold just 125,000 copies in the United States considered a flop in comparison to his blockbuster debut album To the Extreme. Ice followed up this album with 1998's Hard to Swallow, which involved a switch to the record label Republic Records.
Lyrics
Cyco of Insane Poetry worked on 10 songs on the album. The Wrath, one of the album's singles, was a reply to the single "Pop Goes the Weasel" by 3rd Bass. Mark Wahlberg, then in the rap groupMarky Mark and the Funky Bunch, had made negative remarks about Ice in one of his songs. Ice answered back in the song Hit 'em Hard which was almost in its entirety a dis song aimed at Mark, but Ice also included 3rd Bass and MC Hammer. Neither 3rd Bass nor Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch responded. A lot of the lyrics were drug influenced and featured references to smoking marijuana, especially in the single Roll 'em Up. The song I Go Down pays tribute to Gang Starr, Mary J. Blige and Tupac Shakur.
Reception
Reviews were unfavorable. Entertainment Weekly reviewer James Bernard called the album "more clunky than funky". Rolling Stone reviewer Danyel Smith called the song "Get Loose" "snappy", writing that although the lyrics are "inane", "the song is a thumping party, one of the few places where Ice loosens up. He sounds solid at the beginning of 'The Wrath' as well He sounds easy and unaffected – close to sexy. But he doesn't keep it up: In 'Now and Forever,' a wet dream kind of song, Ice goes back to goofy lyrics and his dry Max Headroom style." AllMusic reviewer Stephen Thomas Erlewine wrote that "There isn't a single moment that establishes a distinct musical identity, and the whole thing is rather embarrassing." Vanilla Ice's cannabis-oriented lyrics were questioned by some, including Primus bassist Les Claypool, who stated in an interview for High Times, "He's got dreadlocks and he's got this song about smoking pot and basically he uses every little catch phrase he can think of that has to do with pot in his rap. That's all fine and dandy and cute, but it could be misconstrued and manipulated by the wrong people." The album was named the "Least Essential Album Showcasing An Image Makeover" in The A.V. Club's list of the "Least Essential Albums of the '90s," cited as "an album that inspired almost no one to roll up the hootie mack, as instructed in its first single."
