Like...? - Ice Spice: EP Review
is a New York drill rapper who blew up last year on the back of a breakout viral hit song Munch. She responded to the attention quickly with this EP which pairs a trio of singles including Munch with three new songs.
Review by Lav:
Let's get this out of the way early, I like Munch. It was one of the most divisive songs of last year as men with rap-themed Instagram accounts whined ad nauseum about any publication which gave Ice Spice credit for the hit. Even if the song was bad the backlash would be silly and it's something pretty much every female rapper deals with these days when they break out. But as I heard the track more and more times it start to grow on me and there's something entrancing about Ice Spice's presence as both a rapper and an artist.
So other than Munch, what is here. Well, firstly there are two singles which I'm split right down the middle on. In Ha Mood opens the EP on a high note and the song just sounds better and better the more Ice Spice's haters pile on. She uses her own accomplishments as a platform to elevate herself above them and even encourages their bitching, because more hate means more success for her. The other single Bikini Bottom tries to do this but isn't nearly as successful. It's much more about Spice's personality than her accomplishments but it also falls into a number of corny hip-hop cliches while doing it. At the very least the song has some bisexual representation and I gotta give it credit for that.
The biggest complaint I've seen critics give to this album is just how samey everything sounds. Like many artists before her, Ice Spice seems to think she can only do one thing well and she stick REALLY tightly to it. The biggest victim of this is Actin A Smoochie which is the most blatantly nondescript track on the project. If you told me it was an AI-generated Ice Spire song I would believe you without hesitation.
Thankfully the other songs here are better. Princess Diana is pretty much identical in format but it has a memorable hook and beat that elevate it. The instrumental here goes both lower and higher than your average drill song and I appreciate that, plus there are a number of one-liners that I really enjoy. Gangsta Boo is the only song on the EP that tries to tell a real story and I think it does a decent drop. I love the authentic horniness of it all with little details like Ice Spice asking the guy the song is about what his sign is and then mentioning that she's too nervous to invite him home. Even though Latto basically did this exact concept on her album last year I still appreciate the song and like what it brings.
It's hard to know exactly what to take away from this project. On one hand, Munch wasn't a fluke, Ice Spice really is good at this. But on the other hand, she doesn't prove, nor even attempt to prove that she can do anything else. In her first collection of songs she decided to stick really close to the sound that made her and the results are pretty consistent, just very predictable and unadventurous. While she has the potential to remain the princess of drill in 2023, her long-term success will depend on how much she can develop her artistic versatility. 6.5/10
For more rap check out my review of Megan Thee Stallion's Traumazine here
