Please do not hesitate to contact us at or on 020 72886003 for a free consultation. If you fancy a quick laugh, check out the classic footage online of Van Winkle poorly attempting to justify that the melodies were not the same.Īs always, our specialist copyright team (and music lovers) here at Briffa are always on hand to help with all things music, be it contracts, claims or even just a free chat about what’s what. I personally believe in the artistic merit in sampling, however in this case Van Winkle blatantly sampled a famous song without giving the recognition and royalties due to the artists. Regardless, he happily explained that he had made a handsome amount of money from Ice Ice Baby and was comfortable in life. Years later, Van Winkle revealed that he paid $4 million to purchase the publishing rights to Under Pressure which he said was cheaper than continuing having to pay royalties. Bowie and Queen members both also received songwriting credits on the track. The case eventually settled for an undisclosed but inevitably hefty sum. Representatives for Queen and Bowie were having none of it and threatened a copyright infringement claim. Unfortunately for Winkle it does not work that way. He famously insisted that the two melodies were different because he added a beat between notes. Van Winkle had quite clearly sampled the classic bassline to Under Pressure. Vanilla Ice denies ripping off Queen and David Bowies Under Pressure Kasper Hartwich 77 subscribers Subscribe 3. Queen and David Bowie were not nearly as impressed as everyone else was. The song is based on the bassline from 'Under Pressure' by Queen and David Bowie, who originally did not receive credits or royalties for the sample. Nevertheless, Vanilla Ice (or Robert Van Winkle as he is legally named) got himself into some trouble when he brought out his now immortal track. After all, it brought us such classic and meaningless lines as “all right stop, collaborate and listen”. I am not entirely sure how to feel about this song on the one hand it is awful but on the other hand I like it. The bass line of Under Pressure has undoubtedly been sampled in the song. The song belongs to the hip-hop genre in contrast to the rock song Under Pressure and was written by Vanilla Ice and DJ Earthquake. This week I am going to talk about a song we have all heard – Vanilla Ice’s seminal 1990 track Ice Ice Baby. Ice Ice Baby was released in the year 1989 in the debut album of Vanilla Ice named Hook. At least the lockdown is gradually being relaxed so sit tight and enjoy these charming blogs in the meantime. I hope you are all keeping well and enjoying the gradual descent into insanity which I am sure has been these past two months. Thanks, Vanilla Ice.It is that time again, another Classic Copyright Case from yours truly. But this was the start of things to come with sampling credits and all the problems that came with it. The money bought him ownership of Under Pressure and gave songwriting credits to Mercury and Bowie. The ever-so-slight variation (repeating a bass note in the middle) wasn’t enough to claim originality and a lawsuit ensued, with Vanilla Ice eventually paying $4 million. “We sampled it from them, but it’s not the same bassline.” Hold up… did he actually say those words? Well, he didn’t credit Queen or David Bowie for the track so he must have meant it. In this interview with MTV, Vanilla Ice said he would have liked to think that his whiteness didn’t stand out amongst his black compatriots in hip hop and that the bassline for Ice Ice Baby sounded nothing like Under Pressure. His most infamous move, however, was Ice Ice Baby and the clear use of the bassline from Queen & David Bowie’s Under Pressure. His classic phrase “Word, to ya mother!” has been parodied for decades along with his corny quiff-top and patriotic attire. Lampooning artists in hip hop is a regular pastime nowadays but one of the biggest artists to get a critical caning by hip hop fans and commentators alike was Vanilla Ice.
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