Vanilla Ice Claims He Bought “Under Pressure” From Queen

Reed Saxon/Getty Images

Vanilla Ice Claims He Bought “Under Pressure” From Queen

Reed Saxon/Getty Images

Vanilla Ice got famous on the back of the monstrously huge 1990 single “Ice Ice Baby,” a song that was recorded when you could still get away with releasing rap songs with uncleared samples. “Ice Ice Baby” famously sampled David Bowie and Queen’s 1981 classic “Under Pressure.” Once upon a time, Ice famously attempted to explain that the two basslines were slightly different:

Ice now admits that he was being “a jackass” when he made that claim. And in a recent interview on Dan Patrick’s sports-talk radio show, Ice claims he got out of the “Under Pressure” lawsuit issue by just straight-up buying “Under Pressure” from Queen. As in: He didn’t pay them off. He bought the song. Here, listen:

A spokesman for Queen, however, tells Ultimate Classic Rock that Vanilla Ice’s statement is inaccurate: “An arrangement was made whereby the publishing in the song was shared.” I guess we’ll all just have to reckon with the fact that maybe Vanilla Ice doesn’t know what the fuck he’s talking about.

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