Ice Spice

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 divorced when she was two years old. Gaston spent much of her childhood with her grandparents and cousins. They moved out of Davidson Ave in 2007 and moved to University. in Yonkers, where she graduated in 2018. 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. 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. ==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 Billboards Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs and Bubbling Under Hot 100 charts. 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..? concert in Brooklyn in 2024 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, She explained that she prefers her lyrics to be "super simple" and "digestible". 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". ==Personal life==

Ice Spice is bisexual. She relocated to New Jersey following her career breakthrough. Feuds and controversies Latto and Ice Spice have been compared in the media as rivals, with reports of tension between them since 2022. The origin of the feud remains unclear. The feud gained internet attention in January 2023 when fans interpreted a lyric from "Princess Diana" off of her EP Like..? as a diss aimed at Latto. A year later, the feud began to escalate after Latto released a snippet of her then-unreleased song "Sunday Service", where the music video for Ice Spice's song "Pretty Girl" could be seen on the TV in the background; just hours later, Ice Spice released a snippet of her own unreleased diss track by the name of "Think U the Shit (Fart)". In May 2024, Ice Spice received backlash from fans of former collaborator Nicki Minaj after a former close friend, Baby Storme, leaked text messages between herself and Ice Spice in which Ice Spice called Minaj "ungrateful" and "delusional". Storme later admitted to regretting what she did and claimed that a schizophrenic episode may have triggered the incident. In July 2024, Ice Spice became involved in a separate controversy when social media influencer Madeline Argy, a former girlfriend of the rapper Central Cee, accused him of cheating on her with Ice Spice. In September 2024, New York rapper Cleotrapa, who opened for Ice Spice on the U.S. leg of the Y2K! Tour, posted a six-part video to TikTok criticizing Ice Spice's treatment of her on tour, calling her a "fake friend" and alleging she was unpaid for her performances, forced to handle her own luggage, and left to arrange her own accommodations. The controversy garnered significant public attention, with artists Baby Storme and Azealia Banks voicing their support for Cleotrapa. In December 2025, Ice Spice received backlash for wearing a revealing outfit at a screening for The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants. In April 2026, she was involved in a physical confrontation at a McDonald's restaurant, after she rejected a female fan’s advances for a conversation, which escalated the situation. The incident came to light after TMZ obtained the video of the security footage and posted it online. == Discography ==

• Y2K! (2024) == Filmography ==

Headlining on the Y2K! World Tour, 2024 • Y2K! World Tour (2024–2025) Supporting • Doja Cat – The Scarlet Tour (2023) == Awards and nominations ==