Ice Spice has shared a few of her musical influences, shocking fans with the inclusion of Kendrick Lamar and his To Pimp a Butterfly album.
In an interview with Elle, the Bronx native was asked about the music she listened to during her younger years, with her listing Kendrick’s critically-acclaimed effort among her favorites at one point in time.
“I was listening to To Pimp A Butterfly religiously on the way to school. It was like a phase,” the 23-year-old said in the clip, which also saw her name-checking fellow New Yorkers Azealia Banks’ 2012 mixtape Fantasea and Nicki Minaj’s third studio album The Pinkprint, which was released in 2014.
Given Ice Spice’s music leans closer to drill than the jazz-infused sound captured on Lamar’s lyrically-inclined 2015 effort, fans’ reaction to her fandom of the album ranged from disbelief to amusement.
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The “In Ha Mood” rapper is primed to expand her popularity after enjoying a breakout 2022. Her hit single “Munch (Feelin’ U)” put her on the rap world’s radar, peaking at No. 5 on Billboard’s Bubbling Under Hot 100 and No. 34 on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs and becoming one of the more infectious tracks of the year. After unleashing the follow-up “Bikini Bottom,” Ice Spice unveiled her debut EP Like..? earlier this month, which is expected to move approximately 14,500 album-equivalent units in its first week.
The pint-sized beauty recently drew headlines after sharing that she became a rapper through creating catchy social media captions inspired by New York drill artists like late Brooklyn rapper Pop Smoke and Flatbush rep Sheff G. “I like to hear catchy stuff and I always be thinking like, ‘Damn, what should I caption this?’ So I just started coming up with mad captions,” she told the NYTimes.
Listen to Ice Spice Like..? below.
