2023 has brought in many successes for new drill artist Ice Spice.
By now, everyone, especially people from New York, MUST know about Ice Spice. She rose to fame in August of 2022 with her single “Munch (Feelin’ U.)” Now, Ice Spice, A.K.A Isis Gaston, has already pulled together her army of munches! Her fan base has grown tremendously since she’s come out, but what is making her so popular?
The Rise of Spice
Ice Spice was born and raised in the Bronx, New York, as the oldest of five siblings. New York, especially the Bronx, can be a tough place to grow up in and requires a lot of backbone. That backbone is shown in Ice’s music with her confidence. She doesn’t care about what anybody says.
When she first came out, she was constantly criticized for her looks, the way she raps, the way she acts and more. However, she never let the haters get to her. In her Genius interview, she says, “Everyone’s trying to be like ‘oh she’s a one hit wonder’… but it’s like, now what? Two hit wonder?” Her confidence is what has brought her up and to center stage! She’s even knocking down the male drill rappers one by one and showing that women can dominate the drill rap scene as well.
Celebrity Ties
Drake was one of Ice’s first supporters; he played “Munch (Feelin’ U)” on his Sirius XM radio station, as well as messaged her to compliment her song. Along with him came Lil Nas X, who dressed as her for Halloween in 2022 and brought more attention to the “Bikini Bottom” rapper.
With all of the support and new fans, she dropped her debut EP Like…? in January of 2023. It peaked at No. 37 on the Billboard 200 and No. 19 on the Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart. The EP features Bronx rapper Lil Tjay in the EP’s single “Gangsta Boo.”
With her newfound stardom, she’s collaborated with some bigger names and it seems her star keeps shining brighter! She was featured in the remix of singer PinkPantheress’s song “Boy’s a Liar Pt. 2” and also recently released the remix for the song “Princess Diana” on her EP with Nicki Minaj.
Princess of Rap?
With her iconic orange afro, long nails and banging body, her look as well as her sound is what is bringing Ice Spice such success so quickly. Naming herself the “Princess Diana” of New York is super appropriate for the attention she’s been receiving. Many people don’t understand her music, but if you listen deeper, you see how she uses her music to embrace self-love, romantic disinterest and misandry. These empowering lyrics are introducing a whole new world of female rap.
Most recently, the rapper won Best New Artist at the 2023 MTV VMAs. She also received four GRAMMY nominations: two for the song “Barbie World,” one for her feature on Taylor Swift’s “Karma,” and one for Best New Artist.
