Do we like Ice Spice?
Our score: 7 out of 10. No harmful words or company turned up, and there's real community work, but a street fight and a contested unpaid-bill lawsuit leave a few marks.
Isis Gaston grew up in the Bronx and started making music while studying communications at Purchase College. Then "Munch (Feelin' U)" went viral in 2022 and landed her a deal with 10K Projects and Capitol Records. By 2024 she had four Grammy nominations, including Best New Artist, and a debut album, Y2K!.
Then there's the money fight. Wig company Thee Bella Brand alleges she agreed to buy 25 custom wigs worth about $20,000 and never paid. It also alleges her social posts hurt its business, and it wants more than $400,000. She contests the claims, there's been no ruling, and her deposition is set for January 2027.
On the harm check, we came up empty. She told Teen Vogue "the gays love me and I love the gays", and she's been open about her own identity. Trump said on a podcast he liked her song, and the piece doesn't say she replied. We found no anti-LGBTQ+, anti-vax or climate-denial statements from her. Her recent work (the SpongeBob movie, a Yeat video, a KATSEYE remix) turned up no troubling company.
She's also been on the receiving end of ugly stuff. In 2023 Matty Healy mocked her ethnicity on a podcast, and she told Variety she was "so confused" and that he apologised and they're good. On claims that colorism helped her rise, she took it calmly, saying she tries not to feed negativity. A 2024 copyright suit over "In Ha Mood" ended in a settlement, with all parties denying the allegations.
The good stuff is local. She handed out Thanksgiving turkeys in the Bronx with Lil Tjay in 2022, and in December 2024 she visited BronxWorks to join middle schoolers at a Girls Empowerment Day. In May 2025 she surprised students at a Girls Inc. wellness summit and told them "This is home". It's not a giant charity empire, but it's consistent and aimed at young women from her own neighbourhood.
So, the verdict: would we support her? Yes. The harm test is a clean pass, and the nice test passes with an asterisk for a viral brawl and a lawsuit she is still fighting. Both are unresolved or contested, so we're not calling it a pattern. The record on her tour feud with Cleotrapa is thin on our end, so we've left it out rather than guess.