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6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
excellent, what are you waiting for???, October 30, 2001
i just recently saw Vanilla Ice in concert here in Raliegh, NC and i must say, it was an excellent show. The Iceman is all about his fans!!!! This cd is my personal favorite. Everyone and their mother has heard his original "to the extreme" cd and nobody i know can actually give me a legit reason as to why they don't like his music, they just jumped on the hater bandwagon. well, they don't know what they are missing, cause this cd is far superior. it's one of the cds that i listen to all the time, it's just that good. Ice just keeps putting out good music consistantly so he's got a lifetime fan in me. His lyrics are so dope!!! I love it!!! Do yourself a favor and get off the "I hate Vanilla" bandwagon, cause i can't think of one reason to hate a man that is so appreciative of his fans. He took the time to autograph my Mind Blowin' cd and even take a picture with me. If you haven't heard this cd yet, you got to, it's a win-win situation. 'Nuff Said
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Probably the best in the Vanilla Ice catalog, March 29, 2006
I first listened to this album about seven years ago and have heard it a few times since, including just this past year, as I know a couple people who own a copy. I don't own this cd myself, and have no plans to buy it. However, I felt the need to offer an objective review that will balance out all the ones left by people who are either hardcore Vanilla Ice fans or extreme haters, with no middle ground in sight. I've heard it enough times to give a pretty informed review. I've also heard pretty much everything else in his catalog, so it will be easy for me to make some comparisons to earlier (and later) work.
'Mind Blowin' was Vanilla Ice's attempt to return to the top of the charts in 1994. The album had a more loose and laid back feel compared to earlier efforts from Rob Van Winkle. 'Mind Blowin' turned out to be a commercial failure, for a variety of reasons.
To start, SBK Records (Ice's label) went under around the time this came out and any promotional efforts dried up with the label. Secondly, hip hop (and pop) fans were not buying the new, tougher, funkier Vanilla Ice sound. This is an album that is often classified (mistakenly) as gangster rap, like M.C. Hammer once attempted himself. This is actually more along the lines of Cypress Hill or House of Pain, as opposed to Dr. Dre, N.W.A. or Snoop Dogg. You could even classify this as safe, radio-friendly party rap, not unlike Sir Mix A Lot. Ice manages to avoid any real cursing or profanity on this album, even stopping himself before swearing at one point, so he doesn't come across as tough as he might like to. That or he wanted to get as many cuts played on the radio as possible. Isn't this what it is all about?
Truth is, 'Mind Blowin' is actually Vanilla Ice's best album which may not be saying much. However, it is significantly better than 'To The Extreme', 'Extremely Live' or anything that has come out since this release. There are a lot of popular songs that are sampled or lifted in this album, something Vanilla Ice has done throughout his career. Rob/Ice has a number of very short song intros (i.e. "Live Intro" and "Smooth Interlude"), which is also par for the course on his studio albums.
"Fame" is indeed a David Bowie cover and this selection opens the album, getting it off to a decent start. "The Wrath" and "Roll em up" were both released as singles, which gives you a clue as to what some of the better songs on this effort are. "Hit em hard" is a comical track in which Vanilla stumbles through an attempted diss/threat on Mark Wahlberg (Marky Mark) and New Kids on the Block, which is pointless since neither of them (or Ice) were selling a lot of records in 1994. Why even bother going after them? You won't find top-notch rapping on the song, but the diehard Vanilla Ice fans will undoubtedly eat this one up. The rapping isn't much better on "Now & Forever" but at least the sampling is pretty good. "Iceman Party" follows and sounds very dated, like an outtake from an earlier album. The song makes references to both cassette tapes, thanking fans for (quote) "buying Vanilla Ice tapes", and to the year 1992 (even though 'Mind Blowin' came out in 1994). It suggests that Ice had this tune laying around for a couple years and threw it on the album anyway, without bothering to update it.
"Oh My Gosh", like "Roll em' up" earlier on the album, makes reference to smoking pot, a theme that occasionally shows up on this record. "Minutes of Power" sounds like something Coolio was doing when he was still making MTV hits. It is actually one of the best (and funkiest) tunes Ice has ever done, for better or worse. "I Go Down" is Vanilla Ice copying Tupac Shakur and doing an ok job. He actually gives a shout out to both Tupac and Mary J. Blige in this song, maybe hoping this will give him some credibility. "Bullet On The Chart" is just another short song intro (like some of the others I previously mentioned), which leads into the next tune ("Phunky Rhymes"). "Phunky Rhymes" disses Two Live Crew and also thanks all the supporters who stuck with Ice during thick and thin, it isn't that bad of a song overall. "Blowin' My Mind" is something that would have never appeared on an earlier Vanilla Ice album. However, it does contain the same old lyrics boasting about his sexual conquests. "Son Of A Gun" (mistitled on Amazon) is a short sample, like the ones that came before it. "Get Loose" attempts to rehash the earlier hit "Ice Ice Baby" at one point. This final track is the weakest effort and has some of the poorest rapping of the entire lp. It is certainly not a good way to finish things up.
Quite honestly, I liked this one better than I expected. It is the best Vanilla Ice is capable of and that isn't so bad. Some fans of this artist may not know that Rob Van Winkle later rehashed two songs from this album, "The Wrath" and "Oh my gosh", on his so-called heavy metal/nu-metal comeback cd, 'Hard To Swallow', which came out in 1998 on a major label and nearly went gold (stunning a lot of naysayers).
Despite the modest rating of three stars, anyone who digs Vanilla Ice or late 80's/early 90's whitebread or pop rap would do well to pick this up. This is an essential release for the Vanilla Ice fanbase, which has more members than people might think, even if they are fans for the kitsch value alone. If you've always loathed this "rapper", don't even bother. Nothing about 'Mind Blowin' is likely to change (or blow) your "mind", pardon the pun.
While it is not all that important, it is worth noting that 'Mind Blowin' had the best cover art of any Vanilla Ice album. It was also the very first time he started using a brand new logo which has appeared on every album cover since.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The title of this album is no lie!, September 13, 2002
Wow, when I saw that the great rapper Vanilla Ice had recorded a new album and had the audacity to call it "Mind Blowin'" the only thing I could think was: does he really think he can top the masterpiece "To the Extreme"? What kind of hubris can this man have to think he has gone BEYOND the extreme and into the realm of mind-blowin'? But then I heard the music and realized that, if anything, Vanilla Ice was being profoundly modest. What a humble man. This album is far more than merely mind-blowin'! This album is downright bewildering! Amazing! And they said he was past his prime!
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by Vanilla Ice 
