Ice Spice

Isis Naija Gaston (born January 1, 2000), known professionally as Ice Spice, is an American rapper and songwriter. Born and raised in the Bronx, New York City, she began her musical career during college in 2020, after meeting record producer RiotUSA. Her rapping style has been noted by music journalists, who have described her as a "breakout star".

Ice Spice gained major recognition in late 2022 with her song "Munch (Feelin' U)", which went viral on TikTok. After signing with 10K Projects in a joint venture with Capitol Records, she released the singles "Bikini Bottom" and "In Ha Mood" to promote her debut extended play (EP), Like..? (2023). The EP spawned the Billboard Hot 100-top ten single "Princess Diana" (with Nicki Minaj), and peaked at number 15 on the Billboard 200. She saw continued success with her collaborative singles released that same year: "Boy's a Liar Pt. 2" (with PinkPantheress), "Karma" (with Taylor Swift), and "Barbie World" (with Nicki Minaj and Aqua), all of which peaked within the top-ten of the Billboard Hot 100. This made Ice Spice the only rapper to release four songs that achieved top-ten status in 2023. Her 2024 single, "Think U the Shit (Fart)" preceded the release of her debut studio album, Y2K! (2024).

She is the recipient of several accolades, including the MTV Video Music Award for Best New Artist, the People's Choice Award for New Artist of the Year, and the Impact Award from the BMI R&B/Hip-Hop Awards. She has received four Grammy Award nominations, including Best New Artist. Outside of music, she had roles in the films Highest 2 Lowest and The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants (both 2025).

Early life and education

Isis Naija Gaston was born on January 1, 2000, in the Bronx, New York City. She is mixed ethnicity; her father—Joseph Gaston—is African American, while her mother—Charina Almanzar—is Dominican. The two met at a McDonald's in New York; Joseph was an underground rapper, and Charina worked at a car dealership. Charina was seventeen when she gave birth to Gaston. The two divorced when she was two years old. Gaston has five younger half-siblings: three sisters from her mother's side, as well as another sister and only brother from her father.

Gaston spent much of her childhood with her grandparents and cousins. They moved out of Davidson Ave in 2007 and moved to University. She went to school in the Bronx until the 5th grade, and to a Catholic Sacred Heart High School in Yonkers, where she graduated in 2018. At age seven, she took a liking to hip-hop after listening to rappers like Lil' Kim, Nicki Minaj, and others. French Montana used to visit her elementary school when Isis was in the fourth grade. She wrote poetry and freestyle raps from then to high school. In an interview with Billboard, Isis explained that she grew up listening to the likes of Jay-Z, 50 Cent, and Wu-Tang Clan because of her father's rap background. She would type out lyrics in the Notes app of her iPhone, listening to hip-hop instrumentals and rapping out loud to them. Gaston explained: "When I saw Nicki [Minaj], I was so mesmerized. She's the first female rapper that I seen. And ever since then, I was kinda set on what I wanted to be." She chose Ice Spice as her stage name while she was a freshman in high school.

Gaston attended the State University of New York at Purchase, where she was a defensive specialist on the school's volleyball team and studied communications. In seven matches, she had two kills and nine digs in the 2018 season. Around her sophomore year, Gaston dropped out of SUNY Purchase, later explaining that she did not believe the school was the right fit for her, and attributing her leaving college to the "strenuous commute". She worked as a cashier at Wendy's and The Gap. She also attempted to work at a local street market in the Bronx area, but quit after one day of working.

Career

2020–2022: Career beginnings

Ice Spice started rapping in 2020 after meeting with a record producer, RiotUSA. He produced her debut song, "Bully Freestyle", released in March 2021 after a video of Ice Spice doing the "Buss It" challenge went viral on Twitter. Her song "Name of Love" gained traction on SoundCloud, which led to her becoming popular on Instagram.

On August 10, 2022, Ice Spice released her song "Munch (Feelin' U)", accompanied with a video distributed by WorldStarHipHop, as the lead single from her then-untitled debut EP, Like..?. The song gained popularity after getting support from Drake, who played the song on his Sirius XM radio station, Sound 42. It subsequently went viral on Twitter and TikTok, and charted on Billboard's Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs and Bubbling Under Hot 100 charts. In September 2022, Ice Spice appeared as a featured artist on the song "One Time" by B-Lovee. Later that month, she signed a record deal with 10K Projects and Capitol Records. On October 28, she released the single "Bikini Bottom".

2023–present: Breakthrough with Like..?

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 Lil Tjay on the tribute single "Gangsta Boo" 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 PinkPantheress'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. In April 2023, she released the remix of "Princess Diana" with Nicki Minaj. The song peaked at number four on the Hot 100, earning Ice Spice her second top-ten hit on the chart and the twenty second top-ten hit for Minaj.

On May 24, 2023, a remix of Taylor Swift's "Karma" featuring Ice Spice, was announced for release on May 26, 2023. The remix is a bonus track on the special editions of Swift's tenth studio album, Midnights (2022). A music video for the remix, featuring Swift and Ice Spice, was released on May 27. Pitchfork described 2023 as the breakout year of Ice Spice. "Karma" peaked at number two on the Hot 100, making Ice Spice the artist with the most Hot 100 top-five singles in 2023. On June 26, she released "Barbie World" with Nicki Minaj which debuted at number 7 on the Hot 100. The deluxe version of Like..?, featuring five new tracks, was released on July 21, 2023.

On November 14, 2023, she teased an upcoming project titled Y2K! slated for 2024. She released the single "Think U the Shit (Fart)" as its lead single in January 2024. Y2K!, was released on July 26, 2024, and sold 28,000 copies for its first week. The project received mixed reviews from fans and critics, with Variety noting Ice Spice's contribution to the drill subgenre, stating that Y2K! "struck the right equilibrium between street and pop sensibility — just hard enough for rap purists, softened around the edges for broader appeal — and set the table for what was leaning toward a mainstream breakthrough with her debut album." NPR described the album as "almost crudely basic" and that Ice Spice "presses into syllables and pulls them apart like Play-Doh...she can make rapping itself feel like an afterthought, so trivial to her day-to-day routine that putting in the minimum effort makes a weirdly intuitive sense." On August 1, 2024, Ice Spice added a bonus track to the album titled "Gyat". On December 25, 2024, a deluxe version of Y2K! was released, with features from BB Trickz, DaBaby, NLE Choppa and Anuel AA.

On November 1, 2024, Ice Spice, along with Snoop Dogg, performed in Times Square to promote the "Chapter 2 Remix" season in Fortnite, with outfits and stylized cosmetics based on Ice Spice being available for purchase in the game. On New Year's Eve of 2024, Ice Spice arrived 25 minutes late to her Wildlands Festival set in Brisbane. Despite being the headline act, her microphone was cut off five minutes into the performance.

Artistry

Musical and lyrical style

Ice Spice's music is primarily Bronx drill. Her name came from a "finsta" (fake Instagram account) she made at age 14. She has said she writes all her own lyrics, though she does not consider herself a lyricist. She explained that she prefers her lyrics to be "super simple" and "digestible".

Influences

In a 2022 feature for Rolling Stone titled "My Life in 10 Songs", Ice Spice included Coldplay's song "Yellow" and the 1975's song "Sex" on her list. She stated, "When I was 13 or 14, I was playing The 1975 all the time. It was my shit, I think it's because they're from Europe and he Matty Healy has that British accent. It was a thing for me."

Ice Spice was first inspired to start rapping by Sheff G and Pop Smoke, and has listed Lil' Kim, Nicki Minaj, Cardi B, Foxy Brown, and Remy Ma as musical influences due to their New York roots. She has also called Erykah Badu, Rihanna, Taylor Swift, and Lauryn Hill inspirations because of their "graceful angelic vibe of timeless beauty".