Earlier this year, a collection of text messages Ice Spice sent to a once-close friend surfaced online. In them, the Bronx rapper vented about a frustrating process she was experiencing while negotiating contract details with Nicki Minaj. She called the rap veteran “ungrateful” and expressed needing to prioritize her mental health. Neither of the rappers publicly acknowledged the leak when it happened. Still, the internet theorized endlessly about where they stand with one another. In her Rolling Stone cover story, Ice finally clears the air.
“We don’t have the closest relationship, you know? But we’re definitely good,” she says. “We’re mutuals. We had smash records together.” Ice and Minaj collaborated on “Barbie World” for Greta Gerwig’s Barbie and the “Princess Diana” remix. The rapper adds: “I love us together. I think the world does too.” Minaj herself has even referred to Ice as the princess to her queen of rap.
The only relationship to truly crumble in the wake of the leaked messages was that of Ice and her former friend. “I think that the saddest part of the whole situation, it’s somebody I knew for so many years and called my friend had me open up and be vulnerable with them, and then took complete advantage of that for her own benefit,” the rapper says. “So that was the saddest part really, just feeling used, basically.”
The 24-year-old has gotten fairly used to people attempting to use her as a launching pad for conversations that could stir up drama — especially about women in rap. “I just feel like that narrative is so dead,” she says. “There are so many rap girls that have just done so many big things simultaneously. It’s not like one or the other. There’s so many different flavors to choose from now.”
Just like with male rappers, women in the genre span regions, sounds, flows, and alliances. We’ve witnessed a historic rap feud this year, with Kendrick Lamar and Drake going head-to-head over traded diss tracks. Ice entered into a far less heated back and forth as she and Latto volleyed jabs at each other in their music. Fans speculated that Ice’s Y2K single “Think U the Shit” is about the Atlanta rapper, who appeared to fire back on her own single “Sunday Service,” rapping: “Jesus walked on water, I got ice boiling though.”
“I feel like if we ever spoke and I asked her, ‘What’s the issue?’ it’d be like a blank stare,” Ice says, dismissing the feud. “It’d really be no issue whatsoever. Especially from me.” But the tension spilled outside of the booth, too. Last month, Latto’s friends got her a poop-shaped cake in celebration of her headlining slot at a local radio station’s Birthday Bash. When she posted it online, she captioned the photo: “Think I’m the shit, bitch ?????”
“I can understand a friendly competition, but I just feel like at this point it’s a joke that she’s just dragged out, and it’s just not even funny. Like, bro, ‘Think U the Shit’ is from January,” Ice says. “You’re going to post a piece of shit cake to announce something that’s good news for you? But it is kind of a compliment because you’re taking something that’s supposed to be a fun moment for you and you’re making it about me … again.”
Latto recently addressed the feud herself in a cover story with Billboard. When asked if she had any interest in engaging in a true rap battle — like Drake and Lamar — with the Bronx rapper, she responded: “If I was to do [a battle], it would have to be with somebody I feel like Imma go tit for tat with. I really don’t mean it as shade. Would she even want to do that?”
She added: “I feel like she’s doing her in her lane. It’s two different types of vibes. I don’t even think she gives me like, ‘Oh, she wants to engage in an actual rap beef.’ Everybody gon’ take their lil jabs in the music, and it’s not even that serious to me; I feel like you should do that. Continue to! But as far as actual whole diss records to each other, I don’t think she would even want to do that. I feel like… would it even make sense? It wouldn’t.”
