Mad TAX REFUNDS: Vanilla Ice RAPS for TurboTax

Vanilla Ice, the white rapper and all-around clown who sold over 10 million copies of "Ice Ice Baby" and then quickly became the punchline to countless jokes, has teamed up with TurboTax to create a Tax Rap contest.

Now take a deep breath and read that sentence again. As hard as it may be to believe, it is true.

When I first learned about this, I assumed it was a joke. Then I went through the usual cycle -- denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance. But now I am at peace with this latest evidence of America's deeply troubled condition. In fact, I have come to embrace it, as proof that creative genius dwells even in the darkest sewers of a money and celebrity obsessed culture.

Some of you may be wondering why TurboTax, owned by Intuit Inc. (NASDAQ: INTU), would stoop so low as to associated itself with Vanilla Ice, or Robert Matthew Van Winkle as his parents call him. But the people at TurboTax obviously understand the most basic law of American culture: there's no such thing as bad publicity. And there's a bright side to the whole story. Some of the videos submitted in the contest, which invites people to create raps about taxes and the many joys of using TurboTax, are actually pretty funny. I particularly liked these lines, courtesy of the Big Dog Refund:

Nothing feels better than kickin' a fat rhyme
And nothin' feels better than winnin' at tax time

Vanilla Ice's TurboTax video is below. For hours (or at least minutes) of further entertainment from the hundreds of rap videos made by the tax-paying citizenry of this great country, go to the Tax Rap site.