More than 30 years after Pablo Escobar was killed during a shootout with police, rapper Vanilla Ice recalls the “accidental friendship” with the infamous drug lord.
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During a recent in-depth interview with VladTV, the musician revealed he used to party with the Colombian gangster in the early ‘90s. However, he insisted he didn’t realize how big Escobar was. He recalled hosting the drug lord several times at his Florida home as well. The duo had a keen interest in speedboats and he said that’s really what started the unexpected friendship.
“We were all friends,” the Ice Ice Baby hitmaker explained. “They would land helicopters in my house constantly, on Star Island. [They would] come into my house. I had food just for them in the refrigerators.”
Vanilla Ice also pointed out that Escobar and his crew would take him in the helicopter where they would go to great events and race boats. “And I never questioned,” he admitted. “We didn’t have Google. I don’t know who these people are. I thought they were businessmen. They liked to race boats like I did.”
Vanilla Ice then said that Pablo Escobar was “great” in his eyes. “This sounds ridiculous. First of all, like, I had no Google,” he continued. “You don’t go up to people and go, ‘What do you do for a living?’ I have no idea, bro. Guy’s loaded… We’d go out and race boats. We were always on boats. There was always a bunch of bikinis floating around everywhere.”
Vanilla Ice added that he didn’t realize who Escobar was until the FBI questioned him.
Vanilla Ice Says Pablo Escobar Did ‘Great Things’ For the Boat Industry
While continuing to speak out about his friendship with infamous drug lord, Pablo Escobar, Vanilla Ice stated that Escobar had some “good qualities,” this included helping the boating industry.
“He really did a lot of great things for the boat industry,” the rapper explained. “Because the money he spread around too, I guess, traffic the drugs also spread into the racing boat community. All that money and stuff was going into the boat racing community, which I was a part of.”
Vanilla Ice also bragged about beating Escobar’s Ferrari Testarossa with his fortified Porsche one time. “I smoked him,” he recalled.
According to the DailyMail, Escobar made a name for himself after entering the cocaine trade in the early ‘70s. By the mid-‘80s, he had an estimated net worth of $30 billion. More than 15 tons of cocaine was reportedly smuggled each day on his watch, which netted the Cartel as much as $420 million per week.
The drug lord was killed at 44 years old by Medellín, Colombia authorities during a shootout in 1993.