Isis Naija Gaston (known as Ice Spice) is an American songwriter and rapper whose internet virality helped launch her musical career. She has collaborated with artists like Taylor Swift, Nicki Minaj, and PinkPantheress.
Born and raised in the Bronx, New York City, Ice Spice is the oldest of five siblings. Her father was a rapper, and she has credited watching him work on his music and hustle with helping spark her own interest in rap. She grew up listening to artists like Lil’ Kim, Nicki Minaj, 50 Cent, Jay-Z, and other contemporaries before beginning to make music herself while attending SUNY Purchase. Working with RIOTUSA, she released her first song, “Bully Freestyle,” in 2021.
Her career started to really take off in 2022, with the release of her song “Munch (Feeling U)”. The song went viral on TikTok, and its success led to a deal with 10k Projects and Capitol Records. In January 2023, she released her debut EP Like..?, which included “Munch”, “Princess Diana”, and “In Ha Mood”. That same year, she had a long run of collaborations. Ice Spice joined PinkPantheress for “Boy’s a Liar Pt. 2”, which reached No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100. She also appeared on Taylor Swift’s remix of “Karma”. She also collaborated with Nicki Minaj for the song “Barbie World”, recorded for the Barbie soundtrack. The song debuted at No. 7 and earned Grammy nominations for Best Rap Song and Best Song Written for Visual Media. She also won her first MTV Video Music Award that year for Best New Artist.
In July 2024, she released her debut album Y2K!, which included songs “Think U The Sh*t”, “Gimme a Light”, and collaborations with artists like Travis Scott, Central Tee, and Gunna.
Ice Spice has been open about her attraction to more than one gender even before her mainstream debut. In September 2021, she asked her followers on X:
What’s it called when you’re attracted to masculinity in women and femininity in men?
When a follower responded with bisexuality, she simply responded “Purr”. She later made her attraction to both women and men more explicit in an interview with Ebro Darden, stating that she likes “good boys and girls”. The topic later resurfaced on the Baby It’s Keke Palmer podcast with fellow bi Keke Palmer, where they also joked, and Keke asked Ice Spice if she was her type.
Her music has also reflected her bisexuality as well, with songs like “Bikini Bottom” mentioning that she likes men and women. In an interview with Genius, she summed it up as,
We’re here and we’re queer!
Her casual openness about her sexuality has carried into the way she talks about her fans and audience. When Teen Vogue asked who she makes her music for, she said,
I wouldn’t say girls, specifically, because the gays love me and I love the gays.
By 2026, Ice Spice had expanded her work outside of music. In August 2026, she launched her first fragrance, In Ha Mood, in collaboration with Revlon, while also hinting that new music was in the works behind the scenes. Although her rise to fame has been fast, her success has extended beyond her viral start, and her matter-of-fact openness about her sexuality has made her bi-ness a natural part of her public identity without requiring it to become a defining part of her career.