Ice Spice

Isis Naija Gaston (born January 1, 2000), known professionally as Ice Spice, is an American rapper. She grew up in the Bronx, New York City, and began her career in 2021 after meeting record producer RiotUSA.

Ice Spice rose to prominence in late 2022 with her song "Munch (Feelin' U)", which achieved viral popularity on TikTok. She followed it up with singles "Bikini Bottom" and "In Ha Mood", leading up to her debut extended play, *Like..?* (2023). She achieved her first entry on the US *Billboard* Hot 100 chart with the Lil Tjay collaboration "Gangsta Boo". Her collaborations "Boy's a Liar Pt. 2" (with PinkPantheress), "Princess Diana" (with Nicki Minaj), "Karma" (with Taylor Swift), and "Barbie World" (with Minaj and Aqua) have all peaked within the top 10 of the Hot 100; as such, Ice Spice became the artist with the most Hot 100 top-five singles in 2023.

Music journalists have noted Ice Spice's relaxed rapping style. In 2023, *Time* described her as a "breakout star". Publications such as *The New York Times* and *Billboard* have dubbed her "rap's new princess". She has been honored with the MTV Video Music Award for Best New Artist, and the Impact Award from the BMI R&B/Hip-Hop Awards.

### Early Life

Isis Naija Gaston was born on January 1, 2000, in the Bronx, New York City, where she was raised in the Fordham Road neighborhood. She is the oldest of five siblings. Her father, Joseph Gaston, who was a former underground rapper, is African-American, while her mother, Charina Almanzar, who worked at a car dealership and gave birth to Gaston at age 17, is Dominican. The two first met at a McDonald's and divorced when Gaston was two years old.

Because her parents were frequently busy working, she spent much of her childhood with her grandparents and cousins. She went to school in the Bronx until she was sent to Sacred Heart High School, a Catholic high school in Yonkers. At age seven, she took a liking to hip hop after listening to rappers like Lil' Kim, Nicki Minaj, and others and wrote poetry and freestyle raps from elementary school to high school. In an interview with *Billboard*, Ice 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. "When I saw Nicki [Minaj], I was so mesmerized," Ice Spice explained. "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.

Ice Spice graduated from Sacred Heart High in 2018 and attended State University of New York at Purchase, where she was a defensive specialist on the school's volleyball team and studied biology. In seven matches, she had two kills and nine digs in the 2018 season.

Around her sophomore year, Ice Spice dropped out of SUNY Purchase, explaining that she did not believe the school was the right fit for her and attributing her "strenuous commute" for leaving college.

As the eldest sister of her four siblings, Ice Spice was their *de facto* protector. She supported herself as a cashier at Wendy's and The Gap.