Vanilla Ice and M.C. Hammer haven't performed on the same stage together in nearly 20 years, but the two hip-hop stars of the early 1990s will reunite Friday in a one-night-only event.

In Orem.

Orem?

In an interview, Vanilla Ice -- who identified himself by his real name, Robert Van Winkle -- said it simply was an offer they couldn't refuse. "Me and him, we set the world on fire," Ice said. "We're going to do it up in Utah."

Both rappers were once on top of the world. Hammer and his Hammer Pants ascended with his first hit, 1988's "Turn This Mutha Out," but his 1990 album "Please Hammer Don't Hurt 'Em" made him a household name. With the hits "Have You Seen Her," "Pray" and his biggest, "U Can't Touch This," which sampled the bass line from Rick James' "Super Freak," Hammer was at his commercial peak. His follow-up, "Too Legit to Quit," wasn't as successful, and he hasn't landed a single chart inside the Top 100 since 1994.

Ice can be considered more of a one-hit wonder. In 1990, "Ice Ice Baby," which sampled the bass line and other instrumentation from the Queen and David Bowie 1981 collaboration "Under Pressure," shot to the top of the charts. He became a punchline soon thereafter when it was discovered that his middle-class background belied the hard-knocks gangster lifestyle he had claimed.

The success of the two artists helped move hip-hop and rap to the mainstream. Or as Ice tells it: "Eminem can use my career as a guideline."

In November, after years spent on the reality-TV circuit, Ice released "Vanilla Ice Is Back: Hip Hop Classics," a compilation of classic songs that he re-recorded, such as Public Enemy's "Fight the Power," Sir Mix-A-Lot's "Baby Got Back" and Cypress Hill's "Insane in the Brain." "It turned out pretty entertaining," said Ice, who counts Public Enemy and EPMD as his biggest influences.

Ice promised to raise the entertainment level at the McKay Events Center. "I'm going back to the old school, with cannons and pyrotechnics."

Please, Ice, don't hurt 'em.