Ice Spice is a unique victim of social media, one whose rise almost felt like someone was playing an unfunny joke on hip-hop. Before her break into the mainstream, Ice had five songs to her name. She built buzz as a New York drill artist whose soft-spoken delivery contrasted with the rest of that scene. "No Clarity," a November 2021 track sampling Zedd’s "Clarity," went semi-viral, and the video briefly became a meme. A few months later, On The Radar invited her to freestyle on their show. After reaching stardom, the video became one of the most viewed on their YouTube channel.
Ice released her breakout song "Munch (Feelin' U)" in August 2022. The track trended on TikTok for the rest of the year and introduced new slang into public usage. Since "Munch," Ice has had the success of an entire career in less than two years. She received a co-sign from Drake after one popular song. In early 2023, Nicki Minaj endorsed her. Their collaboration "Barbie World" appeared on the Barbie soundtrack and received a Grammy nomination for Best Rap Song. The New York Times dubbed her "Rap’s New Princess" after an EP. She collaborated with PinkPantheress on "Boy’s A Liar, Pt. 2," a track that became one of the biggest of the year. She even became friends with Taylor Swift.
Ice Spice Fails To Show Growth As An Artist On Y2K!
All of this happened because much of the public ignored her most fatal flaw: Ice Spice is not a very good rapper. She lacks any substance as a lyricist. The beats she raps on, produced almost exclusively by former college classmate and closest collaborator RiotUSA, are virtually indistinguishable from one another. Because social media can produce a new celebrity overnight, Ice went from uploading tracks to SoundCloud to attending the Super Bowl with pop culture royalty faster than you can say "grah." But, because social media has also made music the most accessible it’s ever been, Ice had no time to develop her sound meaningfully. Her debut album makes this abundantly clear.
Y2K! is the culmination of the last three years for Ice Spice. It is the punchline to a joke that’s gone far too long. In her Rolling Stone cover story, she said that one of her goals was to prove that she can actually rap. Instead, her most glaring weaknesses take center stage, making for one of the most vapid, repetitive releases of 2024.
Y2K! Starts Strong, But Very Quickly Goes Left
Y2K! opens with "Phat Butt," which is the most interesting performance Ice puts forth on this album. She tries out a new flow, clearly taking inspiration from Nicki Minaj. The beat is also one that a younger Minaj would've flexed over. Not everything on this song lands. "Jamaican plug named Batman, pack smellin' like trash cans / Let him beat it from the back and he eat it up like Pac-Man," is especially clumsy. Even with that, this song is one of the rare occasions where anything on the album approaches "good."
"Oh Shhh…" is the next track, featuring Travis Scott. Scott sounds like he has no desire to be there. Ice raps about twerking on a rival’s baby daddy out of spite. She rhymes "clappers" with "slappers," which is not the only time she uses that scheme on the album. "B*tch I’m Packin" is another dud. She ditches her naturally subdued vocals for a raspy not-quite-whisper that sounds like it strains her to do. It sounds equally strenuous when she gets loud on “Gimmie A Light,” another song about how much money she has, her physical features, and how she’ll steal someone’s man simply because she’s better than who they’re with now. Ice must've written this album with a checklist next to her to make sure that she hit the same few topics.
On the topic of stealing a man, "Did It First," the result of Ice Spice’s and Central Cee’s months-long fake relationship stunt, is not bad. It’s less than two minutes long, much to the song’s benefit. Their verses are both about infidelity and neither of them diverts from the subject. Ice raps about cheating to get revenge on a man who did it to her. Cench is more concerned about not getting caught in the act. The beat has a Clams Casino-meets-New-York-drill feel, making it one of the more unique moments on Y2K!
Read More: Central Cee's Girlfriend Claps Back At Ice Spice's Series Of Sneak Disses Amid Cheating Rumors
One Step Forward, Several Steps Back
Unfortunately, for every moment on Y2K! that offers even a sliver of potential, there are even more moments that show there is no reason to ever expect anything more from her—the biggest example of this being the shocking amount of bars about poop on this album. Ice Spice is not the first to have lines about poop in her discography. However, she might be the worst offender.
On "BB Belt" and "Gimmie A Light," (a track with a distracting sample of Sean Paul’s "Gimme the Light") she calls herself "Miss Poopie." On "Oh Shhh…" she says she’s "standin’ on sh*t like a floor mat." "Think U The Sh*t (Fart)," the lead single and response to some shade from Latto, opens with "think you the sh*t, b*tch? You not even the fart." Every rapper is entitled to one poop bar since rappers naturally feel like they're "the sh*t." But, after the fifth one, it’s time to find new material.
Overall, Y2K! is not an inspiring debut album. It does not prove that Ice Spice is a capable rapper, nor does it prove that she is here to stay, despite the accolades she’s already received. At only 23 minutes, it feels double that runtime, made worse because she just doesn’t have anything to say. Ice became famous before becoming a worthwhile artist, and she has yet to show any growth since becoming famous. Perhaps things would be different if she had time to incubate before being thrust into the spotlight, the way her predecessors did before the internet made music discovery instantaneous. Sadly, we’ll never know.
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