What is Ice Spice’s ethnicity? All about her parents

Ice Spice

Rapper Ice Spice (real name Isis Gaston) is a New York artist who rose to fame on her 2022 single Munch (Feelin’ U). The song earned her an audience with Drake at the OVO Festival, but it seems like the pair didn’t click. Drake unfollowed Spice on Instagram and appeared to diss her on his joint album with 21 Savage. 

“She a ten tryna rap, it’s good on mute, yeah,” Drake raps in BackOutsideBoyz. Ice Spice chose to see the glass half full, tweeting, “At least I’m a 10.” The spat has benefited Ice Spice by exposing her to a broader audience. 

Ice Spice was raised in the Bronx by her Dominican mom and Black dad

Ice Spice was born on 1st January 2000, in the Bronx. She is half-Dominican and half-Black. Spice spent most of her young life indoors due to the area’s high crime rate. Nevertheless, she learned how to survive in the New York borough. 

“You gotta be tough,” Spice told DJ Booth. “You can’t be pussy. You gotta just put on your gangsta face, especially if you’re by yourself.”

Spice told Billboard that her young, attractive mother turned heads in the Bronx. The rapper said she learned from her mother how to be a bad bitch:

“My mom’s a bad bitch and she raised me to be just like her. You already know Latina girls have that sass. I remember she would always have her nails done so that trickled down to me. She was just always looking so good. I was that kid in the class who had the good-looking mom.”

Ice Spice said that after middle school, her parents sent her to a Catholic school in Yonkers; they feared exposing Spice to bad influences in Bronx schools. Spice said the Catholic school had negative influences, but the move was beneficial. She said on No Jumper:

“I probably would have been pregnant if I went to school in the Bronx,” Ice Spice said on No Jumper. “It’s really just a bunch of bad kids in uniform. It’s bad everywhere. When you in Catholic school, you come out more sneaky. We did shit, we just didn’t get caught doing it.”

Spice’s father was an underground rapper who introduced her to rap

Ice Spice

“My father used to be a rapper, so I’ve been hearing how to rap type shit,” Ice Spice said. “He inspired me to [rap].” Spice added that her entire family is supportive of her career. 

Spice has faced accusations of being an industry plant due to her father’s background as a rapper. An industry plant is an artist who fakes being a ‘homegrown start-up’ despite having the backing of a major or indie label. 

Ice Spice denied the industry plant allegations, saying her dad was merely an underground rapper. “He was an underground rapper. I wanna make that clear, ‘cause they tryna say that I’m a plant, and I’m not,” Spice told DJ Booth.

The rapper said her father advises her on how to survive in the rap industry. “He just basically tells me to continue to be myself and to be careful, ‘cause it can get grimey,” she said.