Ice Spice’s ‘Y2K!’: Songs Ranked Review

If there’s any verifiable dud on Y2K!, it’s “Lots Solar.” By itself advantage, it’s removed from a foul observe, however solely too predictable, which renders it one of many least fascinating songs on the album. With manufacturing that’s immediately in keeping with the 2 previous tracks and lyrics that tread acquainted floor relating to her plaques and her man “munching first,” “Lots Solar” veers far too near redundancy for an album that isn’t that lengthy to start with.

The Y2K! run of “Did It First” by “Fart” is the album’s most dance-leaning pocket, and “BB Belt” suits properly in between these two singles. Extra within the house-inflected lane of 2023’s “Deli,” “BB Belt” narrowly escapes the pitfalls of drained lyrical tropes by specializing in an enrapturing, hip-rocking beat and a subtly animated circulation. “And I’m thick however I don’t acquired a waist/ Suppose she fairly by altering her face,” she taunts. She additionally finds a while to handle those that have questioned her Blackness, rapping, “Lightskin, however I’m Black/ You may inform by my hair.”

Ice tapped Travis Scott for the album’s first collaboration, and the shared manufacturing is pristine: the 2 rappers commerce bars over a brooding drill beat that well begins to include an intergalactic lure really feel by the point Travis begins spitting. Whereas the beat is top-notch, Ice and Travis spend the tune’s length saying a bunch of nothing. Between a comparatively lazy hook that’s primarily a smorgasbord of trademark Ice Spice-isms (she’s as soon as once more doing her dance and toting her knock and displaying her thong) and a visitor verse from Travis that actively avoids being memorable, “Oh Shhh…” feels prefer it doesn’t fairly fulfill its potential.

Upon its Might 10 launch, “Gimmie A Gentle” earned a surprisingly tepid response. Even with a Coachella premiere, folks weren’t connecting with the Sean Paul-indebted tune. Constructed round a pattern of Paul’s 2001 dancehall crossover smash “Gimme the Gentle,” Ice takes it again to New York drill’s earliest iterations, bellowing her most braggadocious bars over skittering snares and distorted 808s. “And, no, I don’t acquired any opps/ Like, why would I beef with a flop?/ Like let’s discuss drill/ Who larger than she?” she contends.

Ice is loud on “Gimmie A Gentle,” and she or he hasn’t been this amplified since her pre-“Munch” days on tracks like 2022’s “Euphoric.” However that’s New York drill for you; loudness is the secret. Within the context of Y2K! — it’s slotted because the penultimate observe, in the end giving approach to the album’s most drill-forward providing — “Gimmie A Gentle” performs significantly better than it did as standalone single a couple of months in the past. Whereas it could not have been the very best industrial guess for a lead single, it well re-positions Ice as a drill rapper first, pop star second.

From Doja Cat to Flo Milli, Gunna is arguably essentially the most dependable male rapper on the subject of collaborating with the women. With “B—h I’m Packin,” the second of three collaborations on the LP, Gunna delivers one of many file’s finest verses over an electrical, Yeat-evoking beat. The economic glitches within the background play properly towards Ice’s voice, which she contours with a tone that’s someplace between hoarse and seductive. Gunna’s presence overwhelms this observe: he skates over the beat with a degree of consolation that outpaces Ice’s, however there’s sufficient juxtaposition between their tones to make for an fascinating listening dynamic. Nonetheless, nothing tops Gunna’s alphabet bars with traces like “Get an AP for my apology” and “…My high off/ Bought my shirt off, she will see the V.”

It’s not simple to show a playground-level insult right into a danceable diss-adjacent banger, however Ice in some way pulled it off with “Suppose U The Shit (Fart).” Nonetheless her highest-peaking unaccompanied Sizzling 100 hit, “Fart” encompasses all of the issues we love about Ice Spice — hilariously infantile jabs (“She all on the ground, instructed her rise up!”), flirtations with a number of the extra ingenious wings of up to date hip-hop (take a look at that hypnotic synth line), and immediately quotable one-liners.

Looking back, it’s humorous that this months-long Ice-Latto spat — no, they received’t be buying and selling full-length diss tracks anytime quickly — acquired its official musical begin with a tune that prides itself on being patently un-serious. Then once more, that’s one of many key elements of the Ice Spice formulation — she doesn’t take herself too critically, however even when she does, it’s not on the expense of the levity she brings to a observe.

For the most recent Y2K! single, Ice tapped considered one of her friends from throughout the pond: Central Cee. Seemingly the album’s final shot at a real smash hit, “Did It First” casts Ice and Cench within the roles of poisonous lovers who attempt their finest to one-up one another’s dishonest escapades. “If he’s cheatin’, I’m doin’ him worse/ No Uno, I hit the reverse/ I ain’t trippin’, the grip in my purse,” she spits within the refrain earlier than Cench raps, “If I went court docket for all the occasions I acquired caught, I’d have about sixteen felons/ I hold comin’ with silly excuses like, ‘I used to be juiced and tripped and fell in.’”

Clearly that is no love tune, however the two rappers make their infidelity anthem fairly pleasing, because of each the manufacturing’s Jersey membership spine and their chemistry. Each of them make use of a considerably laid-back demeanor that performs properly with the apathetic “IDGAF” perspective they embody — and generally feign — all through the observe.

Final 12 months, Nicki Minaj coronated Ice Spice as rap’s latest princess with two collaborations — “Princess Diana” (No. 4) and “Barbie World” (No. 7, with AQUA) — each of which reached the highest 5 of the Sizzling 100. With “Phat Butt,” Ice unequivocally nails her album opener by paying tribute to Minaj with a “Beez Within the Lure”-nodding intro that transforms into rattling drill beat over which she tries on totally different Nicki-inspired flows. “Speak lots, however ain’t sayin’ s–t, I ain’t hear your tune, they ain’t playin’ it/ Sloppy hoes gon’ chat essentially the most, in case you make your mattress, higher lay in it,” she spits. Throughout each verses, Ice sounds extra venomous than she ever has — and it helps her play along with her quantity and intonation in ways in which show a marked enchancment in her rap ability from her “Munch” days.

With a trademark New York ending (“Suck my d–ok!”), “Phat Butt” is the right entry level into Ice’s Y2K! world.

With “TTYL,” Ice closes her debut album on a excessive word. Simply the toughest and most raucous drill observe on the file, “TTYL” finds Ice taking a victory lap that additionally permits her to replicate on how her degree of flexing has elevated since she first took over the scene along with her ginger fro. “5 stars after I’m lunchin’/ Unhealthy b—h, so he munchin’/ Shoot a film, I’m dunkin’/ I’m a model, it’s nothin’,” she spits, taking simply 4 traces to reference her breakout “Munch” single, her upcoming film with Denzel Washington and Spike Lee, her Ben Affleck-assisted Dunkin’ industrial and her collaborative restricted version Dunkin’ drink. She’s actually pushing her pen on this observe in a means that folks could not anticipate of her, however that’s what makes “TTYL” such an exciting experience. There’s additionally Ice’s voice; sure, she’s loud right here, however “TTYL” doesn’t sound as jarring as “Gimme A Gentle,” which is only a testomony to how properly Y2K! is sequenced.

From the hard-hitting drill beat to her project-bridging outro (“Like… Imma discuss to you later!), “TTYL” is the one. If Kay Flock beats his case, he must hop on a remix of this.

Led by triumphant horns and anchored by a surprisingly raspy voice within the hook, “Popa” is well the very best observe on Y2K! The observe sounds costly, from the crescendo of background synths to the crashing hi-hats that punctuate every of her traces within the verses. Switching up her circulation by taking a web page out of Younger M.A‘s e book, the actual victory of “Popa” is how a lot Ice is taking part in along with her intonation. She isn’t doing full-on characters like her rap mom — who she references but once more with the quip “unhealthy b—hes, I’m your chief” — however she’s including in numerous ranges of airiness and hoarseness to diversify the vocal textures of her supply.

There’s additionally the best way she raps the hook: her phrases type behind her mouth, giving approach to an ever-so-slightly nasal high quality that performs fantastically towards her rags-to-riches bars and that beautiful beat. Songs like “Popa” actually showcase how a lot Ice has honed her craft and fine-tuned her sound since her debut EP hit the charts over a 12 months in the past.