Isis Gaston (born January1, 2000), known professionally as Ice Spice, is an American rapper. She grew up in

the Bronx The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Y ...

, New York City, and began her career in 2021 after meeting record producer RiotUSA while attending

State University of New York at Purchase The State University of New York at Purchase (commonly Purchase College or SUNY Purchase) is a public liberal arts college in Purchase, New York. It is one of 13 comprehensive colleges in the State University of New York (SUNY) system. It was fo ...

. She rose to prominence in late 2022 with her song "

Munch (Feelin' U) "Munch (Feelin' U)" is a song by American rapper Ice Spice, released on August 10, 2022. A music video accompanied. The song trended on TikTok. Composition "Munch (Feelin' U)" is a drill song. Lyrically, Ice Spice expresses her disgust toward a ...

". The release of her singles "

Bikini Bottom ''SpongeBob SquarePants'' (or simply ''SpongeBob'') is an American animated comedy television series created by marine science educator and animator Stephen Hillenburg for Nickelodeon. It chronicles the adventures of the title character a ...

" and " In Ha Mood", preceded her debut

extended play An extended play record, usually referred to as an EP, is a musical recording that contains more tracks than a single but fewer than an album or LP record.

'' Like..?'' (2023). In 2023, she achieved her first ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart entry with the

Lil Tjay Tione Jayden Merritt (born April 30, 2001), known professionally as Lil Tjay, is an American rapper and singer-songwriter. He rose to prominence in 2017 with his song "Resume", and then the release of his breakthrough song "Brothers" which led h ...

collaboration "

Gangsta Boo Lola Chantrelle Mitchell (born August 7, 1979), better known by her stage name Gangsta Boo, is an American rapper, who was born and raised in Memphis, Tennessee. She was the second female member (after K-9) of the Memphis-based hip hop group Thr ...

", and her remix single " Boy's a Liar Pt. 2" with

PinkPantheress PinkPantheress (born 2001) is an English singer, songwriter, and record producer. PinkPantheress's songs, which are frequently short in length and include samples of music from the 1990s and 2000s, span a number of genres, including bedroom po ...

reached the top three. Ice Spice was hailed by

Jon Caramanica Jon Caramanica (born 1975) is an American journalist and pop music critic who writes for ''The New York Times''. He is also known for writing about hip hop music. Biography Born in Brooklyn, New York (state), New York, Caramanica received his ba ...

of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' as "rap's new princess", and was named a "breakout star" by ''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...

'' magazine.

Early life

Isis Gaston was born on January 1, 2000, in

, New York City, where she was raised in the

Fordham Road Fordham Road is a major thoroughfare in the Bronx, New York City, that runs west-east from the Harlem River to Bronx Park. Fordham Road houses the borough's largest and most diverse shopping district. It geographically separates the North Bron ...

neighborhood. She is the oldest of five siblings. Her father, a former underground rapper, is African-American, while her mother, who gave birth to Gaston at age 17, is Dominican. The two first met at a

McDonald's McDonald's Corporation is an American Multinational corporation, multinational fast food chain store, chain, founded in 1940 as a restaurant operated by Richard and Maurice McDonald, in San Bernardino, California, United States. They rechri ...

and divorced when Gaston was two years old. Because her parents were frequently busy working, she spent much of her time with her grandparents and cousins growing up. She went to school in the Bronx until she was sent to Sacred Heart High School, a Catholic high school in

Yonkers Yonkers () is a city in Westchester County, New York, United States. Developed along the Hudson River, it is the third most populous city in the state of New York, after New York City and Buffalo. The population of Yonkers was 211,569 as enu ...

. At age seven, she took a liking to hip hop after listening to rappers like Lil' Kim,

Nicki Minaj Onika Tanya Maraj-Petty (; born December 8, 1982), known professionally as Nicki Minaj ( ), is a Trinidadian-born rapper based in the United States. She is known for her musical versatility, animated flow in her rapping, alter egos and accent ...

, and others and wrote

poetry Poetry (derived from the Greek ''poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meanings i ...

and

freestyle rap Freestyle is a style of improvisation, with or without instrumental beats (Mystrodamus), in which lyrics are recited with no particular subject or structure and with no prior memorization.Kevin Fitzgerald (director), '' Freestyle: The Art of Rhyme' ...

s from elementary school to high school.

Career

Ice Spice started rapping in 2021 after meeting with a record producer, RiotUSA, while they were attending

, from which she eventually dropped out. He produced her debut song, "Bully Freestyle", released in March 2021 after a video of Ice Spice doing the "

Buss It "Buss It" is a song recorded by American rapper Erica Banks. Written by Banks and produced by Sgt. J, the song was released on May 15, 2020, through 1501 Certified Entertainment and later through Warner Records as the lead single from Banks's se ...

" challenge went viral on

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

. Her song "Name of Love" gained traction on

SoundCloud SoundCloud is an online audio distribution platform and music sharing website that enables its users to upload, promote, and share audio. Founded in 2007 by Alexander Ljung and Eric Wahlforss, SoundCloud is one of the largest music streaming se ...

, which led to her becoming popular on

Instagram Instagram is a photo and video sharing social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. The app allows users to upload media that can be edited with filters and organized by hashtags and geographical tagging. Posts can ...

. Her song "

", released on August 10, 2022, with a video, and also produced by RiotUSA and distributed by

WorldStarHipHop WorldStarHipHop is a content-aggregating video blog. Zurawik, David.Worldstarhiphop.com makes a name for itself with shocking viral videos". ''The Baltimore Sun''. March 23, 2012. Retrieved on April 22, 2012Alternate link to the same article fro ...

, gained popularity after getting support from

Drake Drake may refer to: Animals * A male duck People and fictional characters * Drake (surname), a list of people and fictional characters with the family name * Drake (given name), a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * ...

, who played the song on his

Sirius XM Sirius XM Holdings Inc. is an American broadcasting company headquartered in Midtown Manhattan, New York City that provides satellite radio and online radio services operating in the United States. It was formed by the 2008 merger of Sirius Sat ...

radio station, Sound 42. It subsequently went viral on Twitter and

TikTok TikTok, known in China as Douyin (), is a short-form video hosting service owned by the Chinese company ByteDance. It hosts user-submitted videos, which can range in duration from 15 seconds to 10 minutes. TikTok is an international version ...

, and charted on ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

''s

Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs The Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart ranks the most popular R&B and hip hop songs in the United States and is published weekly by '' Billboard''. Rankings are based on a measure of radio airplay, sales data, and streaming activity. The chart had 100 ...

and

Bubbling Under Hot 100 Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles (also known as Bubbling Under the Hot 100) is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. The chart lists the top songs that have not yet charted on the main ''Billboard'' Hot 100. Chart ...

charts. In September 2022, Ice Spice appeared as a featured artist on the song "One Time" by

B-Lovee Qwayshawn Cannon (born December 12, 2000), known professionally as B-Lovee, is an American rapper. Born in Maryland, he began his music career in 2015, pausing it until 2020, when he released his debut EP, ''Courtlandtbaby''. He went viral after ...

. Later that month, she signed a record deal with

10K Projects 10K Projects (also known as ''Ten Thousand Projects'') is an American independent record label founded in 2016. Distribution is handled by Virgin Music Label & Artist Services, a division of Universal Music Group. History 10K Projects was fou ...

and

Capitol Records Capitol Records, LLC (known legally as Capitol Records, Inc. until 2007) is an American record label distributed by Universal Music Group through its Capitol Music Group imprint. It was founded as the first West Coast-based record label of note ...

. On October 28, she released the single "

". Ice Spice's debut EP, '' Like..?'', was released on January 20, 2023, and included the singles "Munch (Feelin' U)", "Bikini Bottom", and " In Ha Mood". In February 2023, Ice Spice collaborated with

on the tribute single "

" to the late rapper of the same name, which became her first song on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 at No. 82. On February 3, 2023, the remix of singer

's song, " Boy's a Liar Pt. 2" featuring Ice Spice and the corresponding music video were released. The song peaked at No. 3 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, the highest charting position for either artist at the time.

Musical style

Ice Spice's music is primarily Bronx

drill A drill is a tool used for making round holes or driving fasteners. It is fitted with a bit, either a drill or driverchuck. Hand-operated types are dramatically decreasing in popularity and cordless battery-powered ones proliferating due to ...

. Her name came from a "finsta" (secret Instagram account) she made at age 14. She has said she writes all her own lyrics. She was first inspired to start rapping by

Sheff G Michael Kyle Williams (born September 23, 1998), known professionally as Sheff G, is an American rapper from the Flatbush section of Brooklyn, New York. He rose to fame with his single "No Suburban" in 2017 which was a response to the song "Subu ...

and Pop Smoke, and has listed

Lil' Kim Kimberly Denise Jones (born July 11, 1974), Those giving 1974 include: * * * * * better known by her stage name Lil' Kim, is an American rapper and reality television personality. Born and raised in Brooklyn, New York City, she lived much of he ...

Cardi B Belcalis Marlenis Almánzar Cephus (, ; born October 11, 1992), known professionally as Cardi B, is an American rapper and songwriter. She first gained popularity as an influencer on Vine and Instagram. From 2015 to early 2017, she appeared as ...

, Foxy Brown, and

Remy Ma Reminisce Mackie ( Smith; born May 30, 1980), known professionally as Remy Ma, is an American rapper. Discovered by Big Pun, she came to prominence for her work as a member of Fat Joe's group, Terror Squad. In 2006, she released her debut stu ...

as musical influences due to their New York roots. She has also called

Erykah Badu Erica Abi Wright (born February 26, 1971), known professionally as Erykah Badu (), is an American singer-songwriter, record producer and actress. Influenced by rhythm and blues, R&B, Soul music, soul, and hip hop, Badu rose to prominence in the ...

and

Lauryn Hill Lauryn Noelle Hill (born May 26, 1975) is an American singer, songwriter, rapper, and record producer. She is often regarded as one of the greatest rappers of all time, as well as being one of the most influential musicians of her generation. ...

inspirations because of their "graceful angelic vibe of timeless beauty".

Discography

Extended plays

Singles

Other charted songs

Music videos

Notes

References

External links

* {{Ice Spice 2000 births Living people 21st-century American rappers 21st-century African-American musicians 21st-century LGBT people 21st-century women rappers African-American women rappers American LGBT songwriters American people of Nigerian descent American rappers of Dominican Republic descent Drill musicians East Coast hip hop musicians Hispanic and Latino American rappers LGBT people from New York (state) LGBT rappers Pansexual musicians Queer songwriters Rappers from the Bronx State University of New York at Purchase alumni