Capricorns aren’t renowned as the zodiacs party animals. It’s right there in the symbolism: the sure and steady mountain goat. A sign split by New Year’s Eve, there’s something different about January Capricorns, though – it’s as though the chains of responsibilities have loosened up a little. Born on the first day of January 2000, Bronx rapper Ice Spice is blessed with both worlds – she has the hustle of the Capricorn, but there’s something more extroverted, too. Debut album ‘Y2K!’ seals her rise, a compact, often cartoonish, but ridiculously entertaining record that – though slight – underlines her precocious powers.
Born Isis Naija Gaston, the Bronx rapper has worked on a plethora of collaborations, ranging from PinkPantheress to Taylor Swift. Her own output hits different, though – brash and colourful, she channels the peaks scaled by Lil Kim and Nicki Minaj into something bubbly and neon-tinted. What ‘Y2K!’ does best, however, is reinforced her status as a technically gifted rapper – those light-speed flows leave rivals in the dust.
Though it’s certainly diminutive by streaming era standards – a mere 10 tracks – ‘Y2K!’ packs a hefty punch. Opener ‘Phat Butt’ is deliriously explicit, a slice of renegade pop music that could only come from the imagination of one person. ‘Oh Shhh…’ places Ice Spice against Travis Scott, the first in a series of mammoth team-ups. She holds her own, however, pushing back against his style with a few of her own verbal switch-ups.
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‘Papa’ is ruthlessly, with Ice Spice leaving the listener gasping – “bad bitches I’m your leader”. ‘Bitch I’m Packin’ places the Bronx artist against Gunna, reinforcing her rap credentials amid a plethora of pop ideas. ‘Plenty Sun’ is all crunching low-end electronics and heavyweight verses; “damn, diamonds on me look ridiculous…”
Even with its compact 10 tracks, however, not everything here connects. ‘Think U The Shit (Fart)’ is juvenile in a manner she feels beneath her; the way ‘Gimmie A Light’ crunches that Sean Paul sample feels a little naff – at least until the production cranks it up a notch.
There’s enough here, however, to display why so much attention is place on her name. Central Cee link-up ‘Did It First’ remains a titanic moment, with real-life bleeding through to the final mix. By contrast ‘BB Belt’ is eerie – the playful paranoia setting your nerves jangling.
From its title down, this is the Ice Spice testament. Often, it’s not what’s she’s saying, but how she’s saying it – fast, hard, and dosed in ultra-colourful tones, ‘Y2K!’ is as expertly balanced as her astrological charts. What shines through most, though, is her undaunted ambition – as she puts it on‘TTYL’: “No rock, no scissors / Just getting that paper…”
7/10
Words: Robin Murray