Stop!
Collaborate and listen!
I Love the ’90s
7:30 p.m. Friday, Verizon Arena, North Little Rock
Tickets: $65-$85
(800) 745-3000
Ice is back with a brand new edition!
Think back to 1990. It's late fall. School's back in session. You're driving around in a sleek second-hand Datsun, bumping Vanilla Ice's "Ice Ice Baby," and life is good. The world's changing, too. This guy Nelson Mandela just got out of prison in South Africa. The first McDonald's opened in Moscow, and the first Wal-Mart opened in California. And the government just banned smoking on cross-country flights, which, to be honest, you're pretty disappointed about, because Marlboro Reds look pretty sweet with your denim jacket. In the glove box, you've got cassette tapes from some of the other top groups of the time: Salt-N-Pepa, Tone Loc, Young MC.
Fast-forward. It's 2016. You've got two kids and a mortgage. Katy Perry's on the radio and 1990 seems like a looong time ago. But what if you could go back? Just for one night?
On Friday, just about every Gen Xer's dream lineup comes to Verizon Arena in North Little Rock for the I Love the '90s concert, starting at 7:30 p.m.
Headliners Vanilla Ice and Salt-N-Pepa lead the star-studded crew. Here are the artists, and their backgrounds.
Vanilla Ice
Famous for: The hit single "Ice Ice Baby" helped To the Extreme sell 7 million units. Vanilla Ice became the second white rapper ever to have a No. 1 hit. He also inspired kids everywhere to shave lines into their hair and eyebrows.
Last seen: Vanilla (real name Robert Van Winkle) never stopped making music, but he hasn't had another hit like his first. Nonetheless, since 2010 he has starred in The Vanilla Ice Project, a reality television show on the DIY Network in which he fixes up and flips run-down houses.
Salt-N-Pepa
Famous for: tracks such as "Shoop," "Whatta Man" and "Let's Talk About Sex." With hits as far apart as 1986's "Push It" to 1998's "Gitty Up," Salt (Cheryl James) and Pepa (Sandra Denton) enjoyed a long run at the top of the charts. Together with DJ Spinderella, Salt-N-Pepa was the first female rap group to achieve platinum status, selling more than 12 million records.
Last seen: Group members were honored this month by VH1's Hip Hop Honors for their careers as three of hip-hop's "leading ladies."
Tone Loc
Famous for: hit singles "Wild Thing" and "Funky Cold Medina," which were rapped in his signature deep, scratchy voice. He also made an appearance in the 1994 comedy Ace Ventura: Pet Detective.
Last seen: Loc has worked as a voice actor for television. He continues to rap, and in 2012 released Tone Loc & Friends.
Kid 'n Play
Famous for: The hip-hop duo is probably best known for the 1990 film House Party, the funky Charleston dance and the distinctive high-top fade haircut of Christopher "Kid" Reid. The New York duo also produced an album in 1988, 2 Hype, which went gold.
Last seen: Reid appeared sporadically on television in series and films in the 2000s, and made an appearance in the 2012 hit music video, LMFAO: Sorry for Party Rocking. Christopher "Play" Martin has taught courses about hip-hop culture at North Carolina Central University and at Florida A&M University.
Rob Base
Famous for: Along with partner DJ E-Z Rock, Base made the multi-platinum hip-hop hit "It Takes Two" in 1988.
Last seen: Base has popped up in several documentaries and television shows about classic hip-hop through the years, and in 2013 was a musical guest on the Queen Latifah Show. Rock died in 2014 of complications from diabetes.
Young MC
Famous for: Young MC's 1989 track "Bust a Move" was one of the biggest hits of the era.
Last seen: He has continued to make music, releasing his eighth album, Relentless, in 2009. That same year, he appeared as himself in the critically acclaimed George Clooney movie Up in the Air. In 2006 he competed successfully on VH1's Celebrity Fit Club, dropping more weight than anyone else on the show.
Weekend on 07/28/2016