“How can I lose if I’m already chose, like…”
With those nine words, Ice Spice all but took over the internet when her latest single, “Bikini Bottom,” came out last fall. It wasn’t the first time: Born Isis Gaston, the 23-year-old Bronx native has found a thriving mainstream audience over the last two years, garnering more than 3 million followers on Instagram, a number-one video slot on YouTube, and a campaign for Ivy Park x Adidas since her low-key debut. Yet what may seem like an overnight success story is far from Ice Spice’s reality.
As a student at SUNY, Gaston wasn’t short on talented peers. Many of her friends were creative hopefuls in their own right, spanning the worlds of painting, writing, and producing—yet few took her seriously as a rapper. (Never mind the fact that she had been penning lyrics since she was six.) It wasn’t until one student producer, who goes by the stage name RiotUSA, bought into Gaston’s vision that she released her first song, “Bully Freestyle,” in 2021. The two have been inseparable since. “We ended up clicking, and now having so much success with ‘Munch,’ I think that just makes us closer,” says Gaston, referring to her TikTok-viral hit from last summer. (She now refers to her fanbase as the “Munchkins,” a nickname selected via Twitter poll.)
Now, with the recent release of Like..?, her surprise, six-song EP, Gaston has little to prove in the talent department. “I definitely have a natural hustle and a drive to want to be successful, and be able to take care of myself and depend on myself,” she says. On Like..?, she offers a fiery mix of her characteristic even-toned style and the kinds of incredible one-liners that have made her an online phenomenon. “I did work really hard to get to where I am now, and I still am working really hard, every day,” Gaston adds.
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