Wiz Khalifa Responds After Vanilla Ice Criticizes His 'TMNT' Song
Vanilla Ice isn't a big fan of Wiz Khalifa's newest "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles"-inspired track and wasn't shy about saying so. The '90s rap star said Wiz's "Shell Shocked" sounded "artificial" and that "the corporate world put it together."
Well, Khalifa heard the critique, and he has absolutely no hard feelings toward Ice. "I felt like his opinion was super-valid, from his standpoint," Wiz told MTV News, giving two reasons: "Because A) he's passionate about this music and B) he did have something to do with... 'The Secret of the Ooze' so he's allowed to have personal involvement, he was in on it."
Ice wrote and performed "Ninja Rap" for the 1991 film "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze" and even appeared in the film. Khalifa's "Shell Shocked," which also features Juicy J, Ty Dolla $ign and Madsonik, was recorded for the soundtrack to the newly released "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" reboot.
"With respect to all of the artists, the song doesn’t really do it for me," the 46-year-old told GQ. "It feels a little artificial — what I mean by that is that it sounds like a bunch of executives in the corporate world put it together. It really does not fit the theme of the Ninja Turtles legend. I think you have to understand, and be a true Ninja, to possess the Magic to really pull off the secret sound."
While another MC could've easily taken offense to the comment, Wiz looked at things differently. "He said, 'With all respect due to the artists' and I'm one of those people, I'm very, very particular about words," Khalifa explained. "So just those words right there let me know where he was coming from. He wasn't hating at all."
On August 19, Khalifa will drop his third major label LP Blacc Hollywood, but fans can go and stream it now on Wizkhalifa.MTV.com.
