:Hard to Swallow

Vanilla Ice was briefly a member of a band called Pickin' Scabs, which he described as being "like a grunge band."{{cite web |url=http://www.well-rounded.com/music/interviews/vanillaice.asp |title=Vanilla Ice: The Well Rounded Interview |access-date=February 13, 2009 |last=Peisner |first=David |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020606031005/http://well-rounded.com/music/interviews/vanillaice.asp |archive-date=June 6, 2002 |year=1998 |publisher=Well Rounded Entertainment}} He had wanted to perform more hip hop-influenced rock music, but the band "didn't know how to play this sound that I was looking for."

Monte Lipman, a founder of Republic Records and former SBK Records promoter, told Vanilla Ice that Ross Robinson, who had worked with bands such as Korn, Limp Bizkit, Sepultura and Deftones, was interested in working with him. Vanilla Ice stated that he and Robinson were "totally clicking right off the bat" when it was discovered that they both shared an interest in motocross racing.

According to Robinson, others had attempted to persuade him not to produce the album. "People kept saying to me, 'It might hurt your name, it might hurt your reputation. I said, 'Then I'm doing it.' It's the most punk-rock thing you could do."{{cite news |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C04EFD8173AF931A2575BC0A96E958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all |title=THE POP LIFE; He's Back Back, Baby: A New (Improved?) Ice |access-date=February 18, 2008 |last=Strauss |first=Neil |date= August 12, 1998|newspaper=The New York Times}}

Vanilla Ice stated that "It's unbelievable how this whole thing just came about. I really believe that it was an action of God. God pushing my wave and riding it. And Ross is one of those people and Monte is one of those people that God put in front of me and I'm being blessed right now."

Initial publicity claimed that the album would feature guest appearances by Lenny Kravitz and members of Korn and the Bloodhound Gang.{{cite news |url=http://www.avclub.com/content/node/23202 |title=Interview with Vanilla Ice |access-date=February 18, 2008 |last=Thompson |first=Stephen |date=May 6, 1998 |newspaper=The A.V. Club}} Only the latter band's lead vocalist, Jimmy Pop, appeared on the final album. "Freestyle" features an appearance by Cyco, a founding member of the influential horrorcore group Insane Poetry.{{cite web |url=http://www.rapreviews.com/archive/2004_02_faithinchaos.html |title=Review of Faith in Chaos |access-date=August 5, 2008 |last=Jost |first=Matt |publisher=Rap Reviews}} Preceding the release of the album, executives at Republic Records compared Vanilla Ice's career direction to the revival of actor John Travolta as a result of the success of Pulp Fiction, and believed that Vanilla Ice would be similarly successful.{{cite web |url=http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1435113/19981027/vanilla_ice.jhtml |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030727162022/http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1435113/19981027/vanilla_ice.jhtml |url-status=dead |archive-date=July 27, 2003 |title=Vanilla Ice Explains His "Skate Rock" Comeback |access-date=February 5, 2008 |date=October 27, 1998 |publisher=MTV News}}

Drummer Shannon Larkin said of the album "I'm proud of that one. That was a killer record. Producer Ross Robinson is very demanding when it comes to drums in the studio. Everything had to be 110% for that guy, and I love him for that."{{cite magazine |url=http://www.moderndrummer.com/updatefull/200001380 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060328004423/http://www.moderndrummer.com/updatefull/200001380 |url-status=dead |archive-date=March 28, 2006 |title=Shannon Larkin: Showman |access-date=June 24, 2008 |last=John Farinella |first=David |magazine=Modern Drummer}} Vanilla Ice stated of working with Robinson, "The vibe was totally so cool. We had the album finished in a month and a half because we kept the vibe."

In the early stages of the album's development, it was promoted as an album of "high-energy hip-hop."{{cite web |url=http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1435114/19980521/vanilla_ice.jhtml |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010701093913/http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1435114/19980521/vanilla_ice.jhtml |url-status=dead |archive-date=July 1, 2001 |title=Vanilla Ice Lands New Deal |access-date=February 5, 2008 |date=May 21, 1998 |publisher=MTV News}}{{cite magazine |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/artists/vanillaice/articles/story/5921192/to_the_extreme_and_back |title=To The Extreme and Back: A clean-and-sober Vanilla Ice returns again with Hard to Swallow |access-date=March 23, 2008 |last=Fischer |first=Blair R. |date=March 12, 1998 |magazine=Rolling Stone |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060509133342/http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/vanillaice/articles/story/5921192/to_the_extreme_and_back |archive-date=May 9, 2006 |url-status=dead }} Republic Records later described the album's musical style as "aggressive rock" in the stages preceding the album's release. Vanilla Ice referred to the album's musical style as "skate rock." The album's dark and thick sound fuses elements of heavy metal, punk rock and hip hop.{{cite news |first=Kristi |last=Singer |title=A new start for Vanilla Ice: Rob Van Winkle struggled with image and depression but now embraces the new Ice |url=http://kristi_singer.tripod.com/id77.htm |newspaper=Wilmington Morning Star |date=August 4, 2000 |access-date=June 24, 2008 }} Vanilla Ice stated that "I wanted to express myself in a very intense way, and there was no way it was going to happen with a drum machine. Basically, I'm bored with drum machines and samples and stuff. With a band, they can build the energy around me."{{cite news |url=http://www.iowastatedaily.com/articles/1998/10/29/import/19981029-archive3.txt |title=Survival of the phattest - Old school rap returns (part II): The Iceman under pressure |access-date=June 24, 2008 |last=Moss |first=Corey |date=October 29, 1998 |newspaper=Iowa State Daily }}{{Dead link|date=July 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} Many critics have noticed a similarity between the style of music present on Hard to Swallow and that of bands such as Korn and Limp Bizkit.{{cite book |last=Hess |first=Mickey |title=Is Hip Hop Dead? |year=2007 |publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group |isbn=978-0-275-99461-7 |page=[https://archive.org/details/ishiphopdeadpast00hess_0/page/128 128] |chapter=White Rappers |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/ishiphopdeadpast00hess_0/page/128 }}{{cite news |first=Robert |last=Wilonsky |author-link=Robert Wilonsky |title=Korn holed: It's Hard to Swallow, but Vanilla Ice goes...metal? |url=http://www.dallasobserver.com/1998-10-22/music/korn-holed/ |newspaper=Dallas Observer |date=October 22, 1998 |access-date=November 10, 2007 }} Vanilla Ice stated that although he knew of the bands, he "didn't even listen to [...] any of them" before he made the album, and he was not trying to imitate the musical style of the bands. "It's just we have the same producer, and some of the guitars between that and Limp Bizkit are gonna sound similar. That's what happens when you've got the same guy producing them. [...] I had heard the Deftones more than any of them."

style="font-size:80%" align="right" border="0" color="black" width=130px | {{Listen|filename=Vanilla Ice Stompin' Through the Bayou.ogg|title="Stompin' Through the Bayou" (sample)|description=|format=Ogg}}

The album features a noticeably darker sound and lyrical subject matter than Vanilla Ice's previous albums, such as To The Extreme and Mind Blowin. The album was described by CNN as a "shrill confessional" on which Vanilla Ice "flays his '80s persona, his fractured family and Attention Deficit Disorder, which he has."{{cite news |first=Donna |last=Freydkin |title=Vanilla Ice rolls the dice: The Iceman resurfaces with new rap-metal album |url=http://www.cnn.com/SHOWBIZ/Music/9901/08/vanilla.ice/index.html |publisher=CNN Interactive |date=January 8, 1999 |access-date=November 10, 2007 }} Vanilla Ice explained that the album "just comes out dark because that's the way I feel I've been treated" and that the album "wasn't intended to be so dark. I opened up to Ross and I told him a lot of things that happened to me in the past. It was like, really deep conversation, and he was like, you should write about that. And I was like, dude, I didn't want people to judge me for that. But he was right. It was like total therapy."

The subjects focused on in the album's lyrics include Vanilla Ice's abusive childhood and drug addiction. He stated that "I wrote 'Fuck Me' 'cause I know how I've been perceived. "I can look back at the whole Vanilla Ice thing, and it was played way out. It was just an image thing. I was always real to the music. But it built a huge hurdle for me to get over musically. A lot of people didn't even want to admit they bought a Vanilla Ice record." "Too Cold" is a rap rock remake of Vanilla Ice's biggest hit, "Ice Ice Baby".{{cite book |last1=Hess |first1=Mickey |editor=Hess, Mickey |title=Icons of Hip Hop |year=2007 |publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group |isbn=978-0-313-33903-5 |page=[https://archive.org/details/iconsofhiphopenc0000unse/page/94 94] |chapter=Vanilla Ice |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/iconsofhiphopenc0000unse/page/94 }} Vanilla Ice stated that he remade the song because "I wanted to let people know that I'm not running from anything. This is me. This is what I'm about. I think the music speaks for itself. If the music was whack, nobody'd even care to hear anything about no Vanilla Ice. I just think the music is so strong people are kinda comin' out of the closet. It's like, 'You know, hey, I bought it back in the day, and the new stuff is slammin'.' I think there's some hip-hop influenced, stage-diving, body piercing, tattooed white boys out there who are embracing this new sound." "Too Cold" was originally intended to be released as a hidden track or B-side.

{{Album ratings

| rev1 = AllMusic

| rev1Score = {{Rating|2|5}}{{cite web|url={{AllMusic|class=album|id=r379869|pure_url=yes}}|title=Hard to Swallow:Review|author=Childers, David M.|work=AllMusic|publisher=All Media Network|access-date=August 23, 2009}}

| rev2 = Entertainment Weekly

| rev2Score = D−{{cite magazine|url=https://ew.com/article/1998/11/13/hard-swallow/|title=Hard to Swallow:Music Review:Entertainment Weekly|author=Mirkin, Steven|magazine=Entertainment Weekly|date=November 13, 1998|access-date=August 23, 2009}}

| rev3 = Iowa State Daily

| rev3Score = (favorable){{cite web|url=http://www.iowastatedaily.com/articles/1998/09/28/import/19980928-archive.txt|access-date=September 9, 2009|date=September 28, 1998|author=Moss, Corey|work=Iowa State Daily|title=Swallow this - Ice returns}}{{Dead link|date=July 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}

| rev4 = MSN

| rev4Score = {{Rating|1.5|5}}{{cite web|url=http://music.msn.com/music/album/vanilla-ice/hard-to-swallow/|title=Hard to Swallow[Explicit Version][Explicit] by Vanilla Ice on MSN Music|work=MSN|access-date=August 23, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110621082037/http://music.msn.com/music/album/vanilla-ice/hard-to-swallow/|archive-date=June 21, 2011|url-status=dead}}

| rev5 = New York Times

| rev5Score = (unfavorable)

| rev6 = Rolling Stone

| rev6Score = {{Rating|2|5}}

| rev7 = The Rolling Stone Album Guide

| rev7Score = {{Rating|3|5}}

| rev8 = Wall of Sound

| rev8score = 62/100{{Cite web |last=Mar |first=Kathy |date= |title=Wall of Sound Review: Hard To Swallow |url=http://wallofsound.go.com/archive/reviews/stories/4077_78Index.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010210233700/http://wallofsound.go.com/archive/reviews/stories/4077_78Index.html |archive-date=2001-02-10 |access-date=2024-03-09 }}

}}

"Too Cold" became a radio hit in some markets. Reviews of the album were generally mixed to negative. A reviewer for the New Times in Los Angeles referred to the album as "stupid, exploitive {{sic}}, derivative rap-metal by the man who once did nearly irreparable damage to hip-hop." Jon Pareles of The New York Times wrote that "If history is any guide, Vanilla Ice's adoption of rap-metal means that hard rock is about to move on."{{cite news |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D07EFDF113DF930A15753C1A96E958260 |title=POP REVIEW; Ditching Rap for More Hardcore Metal |access-date=March 13, 2008 |last=Pareles |first=Jon |date=October 23, 1998 |newspaper=The New York Times}} Richard Torres of Rolling Stone gave the album two out of five stars, writing that while "nothing, however, can redeem Ice's wack boasting," the album "isn't half-bad."{{cite magazine|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/artists/vanillaice/albums/album/118944/review/5945083/hard_to_swallow |title=Hard to Swallow Review |access-date=November 10, 2007 |last=Torres |first=Richard |date=November 13, 1998 |magazine=Rolling Stone |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071013031429/http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/vanillaice/albums/album/118944/review/5945083/hard_to_swallow |archive-date=October 13, 2007 |url-status=dead }} The New Rolling Stone Album Guide gave the album three out of five stars.{{cite book |last=Kemp |first=Rob |editor=Brackett, Nathan |editor2=Hoard, Christian |title=The New Rolling Stone Album Guide |url=https://archive.org/details/newrollingstonea00brac/page/843 |edition=fourth |year=2004 |publisher=Simon and Schuster |isbn=0-7432-0169-8 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/newrollingstonea00brac/page/843 843–844] }} The Iowa State Daily called the album "the greatest pop culture comeback of all time".{{cite news |url=http://www.iowastatedaily.com/news/1998/09/28/UndefinedSection/Swallow.This.Ice.Returns-1074778.shtml |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130126163736/http://www.iowastatedaily.com/news/1998/09/28/UndefinedSection/Swallow.This.Ice.Returns-1074778.shtml |url-status=dead |archive-date=January 26, 2013 |title=Swallow this - Ice returns |access-date=November 10, 2007 |last=Moss |first=Corey |date=September 28, 1998 |newspaper=Iowa State Daily}} The album did not chart.{{cite magazine |url={{BillboardURLbyName|artist=vanilla ice|chart=all}} |title=Artist Chart History for Vanilla Ice |access-date=June 23, 2008 |magazine=Billboard}} The album appeared on The A.V. Club's list of the "Least Essential Albums of the '90s,"{{cite news |url=http://www.avclub.com/articles/least-essential-albums-of-the-90s,1384/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090221014951/http://www.avclub.com/articles/least-essential-albums-of-the-90s%2C1384/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=February 21, 2009 |title=Least Essential Albums of the '90s |access-date=March 28, 2008 |last=Phipps |first=Keith |author2=Rabin, Nathan |author3=Thompson, Stephen |date=December 22, 1999 |newspaper=The A.V. Club }} at number 24 on Maxim's list of the "30 Worst Albums of All Time",{{cite magazine |url=http://www.maxim.com/articles/index.aspx?a_id=3245 |title=30 Worst Albums of All Time |access-date=June 24, 2008 |magazine=Maxim}} {{Dead link|date=November 2010|bot=H3llBot}} and number 26 on Q's list of the "50 Worst Albums Ever!"{{cite news |title=The 50 Worst Albums Ever! |url=http://www.rocklistmusic.co.uk/qlistspage3.htm#50%20Worst%20Albums |work=Q238 |publisher=Q |date=May 2006 |access-date=February 22, 2008 |archive-date=October 13, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181013220837/http://www.rocklistmusic.co.uk/qlistspage3.htm#50%20Worst%20Albums |url-status=usurped }} Vanilla Ice released a follow-up album, Bi-Polar, in 2001, which continued his artistic and career direction.{{cite news |url=http://dir.salon.com/story/ent/music/feature/2002/01/03/ice/index.html |title=Ice capades |access-date=June 19, 2008 |last=Vontz |first=Andrew |date=January 3, 2002 |work=Salon.com |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071121221641/http://dir.salon.com/story/ent/music/feature/2002/01/03/ice/index.html |archive-date=November 21, 2007 }}

{{tracklist

| total_length = 49:46

| all_writing = Rob Van Winkle, Ross Robinson, Ordito, Casey Chaos, Scott Borland, Shannon Larkin, Mayo, Holoman and Johnson

| title1 = Living

| length1 = 3:45

| title2 = Scars

| length2 = 4:56

| title3 = Ecstasy

| length3 = 0:09

| title4 = Fuck Me

| note4 = featuring Casey Chaos

| length4 = 4:32

| title5 = Valley of Tears

| length5 = 0:12

| title6 = Zig Zag Stories

| length6 = 5:26

| title7 = Too Cold

| length7 = 3:24

| title8 = Prozac

| length8 = 4:27

| title9 = S.N.A.F.U.

| note9 = featuring Jimmy Pop Ali

| length9 = 4:46

| title10 = A.D.D.

| note10 = featuring Casey Chaos

| length10 = 5:14

| title11 = Stompin' Through the Bayou

| length11 = 3:24

| title12 = The Horny Song

| length12 = 4:33

| title13 = Freestyle

| note13 = featuring Cyco of Insane Poetry, 2-Hype & C-Note

| length13 = 4:58

| title14 =

| length14 =

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| length15 =

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}}

S.N.A.F.U.

• "The Big Beat" by Billy Squier

Freestyle

• "Powerhouse" by Raymond Scott

{{col-begin}}

{{col-2}}

Band

• Vanilla Ice – lead vocals
• Shannon Larkin – drums
• Sonny Mayo – guitar
• Doug Ardito – bass
• Scott Borland – keyboards, bass
• DJ Swamp – scratches

Additional musicians

• Casey Chaos – guest vocals on "A.D.D." and "Fuck Me"
• Insane Poetry, C-Note, Jimmy Pop Ali, and 2Hype – additional vocals

{{col-2}}

Production

• Ross Robinson – producer, mixing
• Chuck Johnson – recording engineer, mixing
• Rob Agnello – sound engineer
• Eddy Schreyer – mastering
• Gene Grimaldi – editing, assembly

{{col-end}}

{{Reflist|30em}}

{{Vanilla Ice}}

{{Authority control}}

{{Good article}}

Category:1998 albums

Category:Albums produced by Ross Robinson

Category:Nu metal albums by American artists

Category:Rap metal albums

Category:Universal Records albums

Category:Vanilla Ice albums