Ice Spice

Isis Naija Gaston, professionally known as Ice Spice, was born in the Bronx, New York City. Her African American father and Dominican American mother divorced when she was two years old. She grew up listening to a mix of soca, Latin pop, and hip-hop.

Ice was educated at the Sacred Heart High School, a Catholic high school in Yonkers. She graduated in 2018 and began a course in communications at Purchase College in New York with the hope of getting into broadcast journalism or podcasting. Around her sophomore year, she dropped out of Purchase College, as she felt she was in the wrong place and the commute was stressful.

Growing up, Ice loved rappers like Lil' Kim and Nicki Minaj. When she was a teenager, she began writing raps in private, inspired by Pop Smoke and other New York artists. Ice wrote lyrics in the notes section of her phone, sifting through instrumentals and rapping out loud to them.