Los Angeles, Dec 20 (IANS): Rapper Vanilla Ice recently said he once palled around with drug lord Pablo Escobar, but didn't know he was a major drug kingpin.

The rapper made the revelation in a VladTV interview, saying he used to party with the Colombian gangster during his heyday in the 1990s but insists he didn't even realise how big a deal Escobar was back then.

Vanilla Ice, whose real name is Rob Van Winkle, says he hosted Pablo several times at his Florida home at the time. On Tuesday he joined 'TMZ Live' to elaborate on what exactly they had in common as buddies, reports tmz.com.

He says they shared love of speed boats actually drew them together at first, and he even gives credit to Pablo for fueling innovations in boat racing.

As for when/how he came to learn that Pablo wasn't actually a great guy and might've been mixed up in drug business, Vanilla Ice says it dawned on him when the FBI questioned him.

Vanilla Ice noted that this was before Google, so lots of people were in the dark about Pablo’s activities. Pablo was tracked down in Colombia in 1993, where he was killed on a rooftop while being pursued by the authorities.