• Vanilla Ice says he was friends with Pablo Escobar but wasn't aware that he was a drug lord.
• The rapper told VladTV he hung out with Escobar and the Cocaine Cowboys "many, many times" in Miami.
• "I thought they were businessmen," Vanilla Ice said.

Rapper Vanilla Ice says that he was friends with Pablo Escobar but wasn't aware that he was a drug lord.

In an interview with VladTV, the 56-year-old rapper revealed that he hung out with the Colombian drug lord and the Cocaine Cowboys "many, many times" in Miami because they "were all friends."

"They would land helicopters in my house constantly on Star Island, come into my house," Vanilla Ice told VladTV. "I had food just for them in the refrigerators."

The rapper added that they would also fly him about in their helicopters and race boats together. Beyond going to events and racing with Escobar and his crew, Vanilla Ice said he did not know who they were and "never questioned."

"We didn't have Google. I don't know who these people are. I thought they were businessmen," Vanilla Ice said.

When asked what the drug kingpin was like in real life, the rapper described him as a "great person," but acknowledged that he sounded ridiculous for saying that. He added that it was not common practice to ask people what they did.

"First of all, like, I had no Google. You don't go up to people and go, 'What do you do for a living?'" he added. "I have no idea, bro."

In a separate interview with TMZ, the "Ice Ice Baby" rapper said it was their mutual love of speedboats that drew them together.

He even added that the Medellín Cartel leader inadvertently "did a lot of great things for the boat industry," because the money from trafficking drugs ended up in the racing boat community — who then used it to improve their boats.

Vanilla Ice revealed to TMZ that it only started to dawn on him that Escobar was involved in some shady business when the rapper was questioned by the FBI.

Escobar was shot and killed on a rooftop in Medellín, Colombia, in 1993.

Representatives for Vanilla Ice did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider sent outside regular working hours.

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