Isis Naija Gaston (born January1, 2000), known professionally as Ice Spice, is an American rapper. Born and raised in the Bronx, New York City, she embarked on her musical career while studying at college in 2021 after meeting producer RiotUSA.
Isis Naija Gaston was born on January 1, 2000, in the Bronx, New York City,[9][10][11] where she was raised in the Fordham Road neighborhood. She is the oldest of five siblings.[12] She is of mixed ethnicity: her father, Joseph Gaston, is African-American, and was once an underground rapper. Her mother, Charina Almanzar, is Dominican. Almanzar worked at a car dealership, and was 17 when she gave birth to Gaston.[13] Her parents first met at a McDonald's[14] and divorced when Gaston was two years old.[15][16][17][12]
Gaston spent much of her childhood with her grandparents and cousins.[12] She went to school in the Bronx, and to a Catholic Sacred Heart High School[18] in Yonkers, where she graduated in 2018.[17] At age seven, she took a liking to hip hop after listening to rappers like Lil' Kim, Nicki Minaj, and others. She wrote poetry and freestyle raps from elementary school to high school. In an interview with Billboard, Gaston 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.[7] She would type out lyrics in the Notes app of her iPhone, listening to hip-hop instrumentals and rapping out loud to them.[19][20][16] 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.[19]
Gaston attended State University of New York at Purchase, where she was a defensive specialist on the school's volleyball team and studied communications.[19][21][22][23] In seven matches, she had two kills and nine digs in the 2018 season.[23] 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".[19] She worked as a cashier at Wendy's and The Gap.[19]
Career
2021–2022: Career beginnings
Ice Spice started rapping in 2021 after meeting with a record producer, RiotUSA.[24] 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.[14] Her song "Name of Love" gained traction on SoundCloud, which led to her becoming popular on Instagram.[25]
2022–present: Breakthrough with Like…?
On August 10, 2022, Ice Spice released her song "Munch (Feelin' U)", accompanied with a video distributed by WorldStarHipHop,[26] 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.[15] 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.[27][28][16] In September 2022, Ice Spice appeared as a featured artist on the song "One Time" by B-Lovee.[29] Later that month, she signed a record deal with 10K Projects and Capitol Records.[30] On October 28, she released the single "Bikini Bottom".[31] 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".[32]
Ice Spice performing in 2022
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.[33] 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.[34] In April 2023, she released the remix of "Princess Diana" with Nicki Minaj.[35] 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.[36] 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).[37] 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.[38] "Karma" peaked at number two on the Hot 100, making Ice Spice the artist with the most Hot 100 top-five singles in 2023.[39] On June 26, she released "Barbie World" with Nicki Minaj which debuted at number 7 on the Hot 100.[40] The deluxe version of Like..?, featuring five new tracks, was released on July 21, 2023.[41] On November 14, 2023, she teased an upcoming project titled Y2K! slated for 2024.[4] She released the single "Think U the Shit (Fart)" as its lead single in January 2024.[5]
Artistry
Musical and lyrical style
Ice Spice's music is primarily Bronx drill.[42][43] Her name came from a "finsta" (fake Instagram account) she made at age 14.[44] She has said she writes all her own lyrics,[12] though she does not consider herself a lyricist.[45] She explained that she prefers her lyrics to be "super simple" and "digestible".[45]
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."[46]
^ abcGardner, Alex; Fife, Carter; Aguilar, Andrea (August 30, 2022). "Best New Artists of the Month". Pigeons & Planes. Archived from the original on October 1, 2022. Retrieved September 18, 2022.
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