Ice Spice has become one of the hottest new stars in Hip-Hop, with a growing legion of fans expressing their fondness of the Bronx-bred beauty on various platforms. The 23-year-old rapper recently revealed how her affinity for creating clever captions on social media served as the genesis of her foray into rap.
In a NYTimes profile on her meteoric rise, Ice Spice recalled gaining inspiration from New York drill artists like Pop Smoke and Sheff G and attempting to flip their lyrics to properly convey her own mood and sentiments.
“I like to hear catchy stuff and I always be thinking like, Damn, what should I caption this? So I just started coming up with mad captions,” the rapper, born Isis Gaston, told the publication. Drill rap may be the driving influence in her artistry, however, Ice Spice also makes it clear that her aspirations outweigh its borders, as she hopes to crossover and garner the accolades and respect reserved for a household name.
“For me personally, I think I have passed that,” she said. “I do want to be a mainstream artist. I want diamond records and plaques and Grammys. So I think in order to get that, you do have to surpass just one subgenre.”
Ice Spice caught her big break in summer 2022 with her hit “Munch (Feelin’ U)”, which became a viral sensation and peaked at No. 5 on Billboard’s Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles chart.
Releasing her follow-up single “Bikini Bottom” in October, and “In Ha Mood” on Christmas Day, the spitter unleashed her debut EP Like…? this past Friday. The 6-track project features the standout “Actin a Smoochie” and includes a guest appearance from Lil Tjay.