Ice Spice: (Photo by Joseph Okpako/WireImage) Nicki: (Photo by Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images) Latto: (Photo by Prince Williams/WireImage)
Ice Spice didn’t hold her tongue while speaking to Rolling Stone last month about her music and the internet’s obsession with who her rap peers are. Yup, she cleared up where she stands with Nicki Minaj. She also cleared the air about whether she actually has an “issue” with Latto.
The newly published article was released hours before her album ‘Y2K.’ As with most things Ice Spice, social media is eating it up and picking it apart!
Spice confirmed that some leaked text messages in which she expressed frustration about working with Nicki were real. Both their fanbases had been speculating a fallout for months. As for Latto, Spice claims it’s “no issue” on her end, and she thinks the Atlanta rapper is dragging out a moment!
At one point, it seemed like Nicki Minaj had crowned Ice Spice the princess to her QUEEN. But as of late—and thanks to some leaked text messages—their fanbases have been online chatting about a potential fallout. As of June, the rapper said she and Nicki are all good and “mutuals.”
“We don’t have the closest relationship, you know? But we’re definitely good,” she tells me. “We’re mutuals. We had smash records together. I love us together. I think the world does, too,” Spice told RS.
Nicki Minaj and Ice Spice had a niceeee chunk of 2023 on lock with their ‘Princess Diana’ and ‘Barbie World’ collabs! Princess Diana’ went on to become Spice’s first number-one on Billboard’s ‘Hot Rap Songs.’ It was the first song by two women in the chart’s history to earn that. By August, ‘Barbie World’ had also claimed No. 1 on Billboard’s Rhythmic Airplay.
It turns out that months before that, Ice Spice had already been experiencing some frustrations from Nicki Minaj behind the scenes. Earlier this year, her former friend Baby Storme leaked text messages from May 2023 of Ice venting about ‘Barbie World’ contract negotiations with Minaj.
In the messages, Spice asserted that Nicki was likely “jealous” because she owns her masters. She also claimed that Minaj’s contract offerings were like “working backward” when she was already signed. See the screenshots for yourself below.
The Bronx bombshell previously discussed the messages, but this is the first time she’s confirmed they were real.
“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,” she said. “So that was the saddest part really, just feeling used, basically.”
As for what’s tea with Nicki now, Ice Spice asserted that Minaj doesn’t “care” about the texts. Instead, she pointed to her peer’s hectic schedule, including her sold-out ‘Pink Friday 2’ tour shows.
“She’s busy as hell. I don’t really think she cares about sh*t like that coming from a random girl. But what I said in those texts was just in a moment of frustration around contract negotiations. I could have chose different words. But at the end of the day, regardless of how I felt in that moment, [Nicki] is still somebody I respect as an artist, and I’m always going to admire everything she’s done for me and the culture,” Ice shared.
Nicki has yet to respond to the leaked messages or Ice Spice’s Rolling Stone comments.
So, it seems Minaj is paying talks of a Barbz-Munchinks riff dust. Meanwhile, Latto has playfully engaged in throwing shade Ice Spice’s way. From flipping Ice’s “Think you the sh*t b***h? You not even the fart!” bar to using a pile of sh*t cake to celebrate a major moment.
Spice claims that, in reality, it’s “friendly competition,” while Latto is dragging out a jokey joke.
“I feel like if we ever spoke and I asked her, ‘What’s the issue?’ it’d be like a blank stare. It’d really be no issue whatsoever. Especially from me,” Ice says. “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. 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.”
Keep in mind that this sit-down with Rolling Stone’s Jeff Ihaza happened in June. Most recently, Latto opened up about whether she’d rap battle Ice. She also asserted that she and Ice Spice aren’t taking things THAT seriously.
