You might not know who Ice Spice is but you’ve definitely heard her. The up-and-coming rapper is featured on PinkPantheress’ hit song “Boy’s a liar Pt.2,” a remix of the original, and her verse is soundtracking millions of videos on TikTok as we speak. The new single has blown up in just a few weeks after its release with nearly 100 million streams on Spotify and it’s well on its way to topping the Billboard Hot 100 chart, reaching the fourth spot on the chart after only two weeks of eligibility.
This isn’t the first time Ice Spice made waves with her self-assured style of rap; in August of last year, she dropped the song “Munch (Feelin’ U)” and what could’ve been just a TikTok trend immediately garnered attention when Drake shared the track on Sound 42, his Sirius XM radio station. With the newfound notoriety a Drake cosign brings, Ice Spice was able to release her first EP Like..? to critical and commercial success. Songs on the EP like “Bikini Bottom” might have some polarizing lyrical choices (“How can I lose if I’m already chose?” is definitely a standout) but have also helped the rapper cultivate a rabid fanbase who will happily listen to her self-aware rhymes.
If you’re not terminally online, it might seem like Ice Spice’s musical success came out of nowhere but the rapper didn’t become a hit-maker overnight.
Ice Spice’s origins
Ice Spice, whose legal name is Isis Gaston, was born and raised in the Bronx, N.Y. as the oldest of five siblings. Her parents divorced when she was two years old and worked long hours, leading her to spend a lot of her time with her grandparents as a child. Ice Spice’s father is a former rapper of Nigerian descent and her Dominican mother is, in Ice Spice’s words (via Billboard) “a bad bi**h.” During her childhood, she listened to rappers like Nicki Minaj and spent her time writing poetry and raps, but had no intention of turning music into a career until she entered college.
She spent her teenage years playing volleyball at Sacred Heart High School in Yonkers, N.Y. and continued playing the sport when she went to State University of New York at Purchase. While she was a student (she’d end up dropping out as her music career started to take off), she had a hard time getting other would-be creatives to take her passion for rap seriously until she met producer and fellow SUNY student, RiotUSA. In an interview with Vogue, she says the two “ended up clicking, and now having so much success with ‘Munch,’ I think that just makes us closer.” The pair have proved to be a good fit together, and RiotUSA produces Ice Spice’s signature drill beats.
The duo worked on her debut song, “Bully Freestyle,” which was released to some success in March 2021, but the songs she released immediately after were “serious flops,” according to Ice Spice’s interview with The Cut. The rapper believes returning to her roots and being more authentic to herself helped her music career take off, and if the recent success of her latest offerings is any indication, she has a point.
