The more popular Ice Spice gets, the more she attracts enemies. Cleopatra is the latest artist to level unflattering accusations at the “Munch” rapper. She claimed that her expenses were not covered when she opened for Ice Spice on tour. She also said that she was forced to pay for her own wardrobe and hotel rooms. Ice Spice’s manager, James Rosemond, Jr., did not like what he heard. He dismissed Cleopatra’s story, and accused the rapper of chasing clout because she’s struggling to make “hits.”
Cleopatra shared her account in a series of Instagram videos. James Rosemond, Jr., however, decided to go to Twitter to air out his grievances. He spent most of September 3 dismantling the idea that Ice Spice did anything wrong. “This is what happens when an artist’s team don’t manage their artists expectations when an opportunity comes in front of them,” he tweeted. “If you [are] not prepared for an opportunity and your team isn’t properly advancing then that’s on them.” Rosemond went on to say that rappers who complain about being mistreated are “corny” and should address their issues privately.
“Openers don’t have same things headliners has,” Rosemond continued. It’s worth noting that Ice Spice’s manager never mentions Cleopatra by name. He remains vague while addressing the situation, but given the timing and the attention that Cleopatra’s claims have gotten, it’s easy to read between the lines. Rosemond accused a certain rapper of resorting to petty drama to boost their profile, while Ice Spice has been able to maintain her popularity by releasing hit songs. The most damning comment, though, is undoubtedly Rosemond’s comment about clout chasing.
Rosemond also alluded to the fact that Cleopatra’s manager urged her to air out dirty laundry online as a means of garnering sympathy. “People know how to go viral for clout,” he explained. “And they go public with something that can be handle from a private phone call to speak on differences.” Ice Spice has also responded to Cleopatra’s claims via Instagram Live, but her comments were markedly more sympathetic than Rosemond’s. He really made sure Cleopatra looked bad for going after his artist.
All day and even going back to the wee hours of the night before, rappers Ice Spice and Cleotrapa have been airing out their dirty laundry on X. This all started because of the latter claiming to have received awful treatment while being on the roster for the Y2K! tour. Both have been making wild statements about each other and currently, Cleo has the last word. Just moments ago, she called out the “Phat Butt” MC for lying about her dad’s nationality, saying that he’s actually Hispanic. Fans have had differing opinions on this tweet, but the artist’s father is making sure that his words come across as clear as possible.
According to The Neighborhood Talk, Joseph Gaston wants to make it known right away that he doesn’t want any part of this. While doing so he sets the record straight and essentially tells Cleo to zip it. “@iamcleotrapa we met twice in the green room. We barely spoke, who said I’m Hispanic?”, he began. “Ken I’m gonna dead this right here. I’m a black man. Born and raised in the BX. Keep me out this bulls***”. What’s even wilder, some people were asking for proof and he said that he’s taken an ancestry test to confirm all of this in the past.
“More like 30% and a mix of other countries like Ghana, ivory coast, Senegal, Mali, Cameroon. Taino.” That was a response to someone who said he was even less Nigerian that. However, he doesn’t appear to be taking offense to any of this as he says he does have Latino family members. In one breath, Cleo was correct, but nowhere near 100%, kind of like some other things she claimed earlier today.
What are your thoughts on Ice Spice’s father’s response to Cleotrapa’s accusations that he’s actually Hispanic? Who do you think these two will bring into their feud next? Who is currently taking this way too far the most so far and why? We would like to hear what you have to say, so leave your thoughts in the comments. Additionally, always keep it locked in with HNHH for all of the latest news surrounding Ice Spice and Cleotrapa. Finally, stay with us for everything else going on in the music world.
In the short time Ice Spice has been in the spotlight, her career has seen huge successes thanks to hits like “Munch” and “Barbie World” and plenty of friction thanks to supposed beef with Cardi B and Latto. While she’s resolved both of those, it looks like there’s a new one on the burner — and this time, it’s with one of her Y2K Tour tourmates.
Cleotrapa is a New York-based artist who has seen moderate success over the past year with her songs “Rockstar” and “Von Dutch.” Apparently, she was well-enough acquainted with Ice Spice for the “Think U The Sh*t” rapper to add Cleo to her tour. However, it seems their relationship soured while on the road, as Cleo posted a video to her social channels disparaging Ice Spice as a “fake friend” who only brought her along to do damage control after allegedly falling out with Nicki Minaj.
In the video, Cleo says she wasn’t given enough time to prepare for the tour, wasn’t paid for her performances, and had to pay for her own room and board after being assured by Ice that she would be taken care of.
Ice responded during a chat with fans on Twitter Spaces, saying, “The scary part of fame honestly is the moment that somebody feels like they can no longer use your platform or like they’re not getting exactly what they want out of a situation the way that they want it … That’s when they decide to crash out every single time. I’m noticing a pattern.”
So, in summary, the two friends appear to have fallen out because either A) Ice Spice mistreated Cleo on the tour, or B) Cleo had big expectations, that weren’t met. Either way, they seem to be more interested in hashing it out in public than in private, so don’t be surprised if we see this thing escalate.
On Sunday, September 1st, New York City rapper Ice Spice brought her signature vibrant energy to LIV Miami for the holiday weekend. The performance saw several celebrities in attendance, including 2 Chainz, Johnny Dang, Yella Beezy, and Errol Spence Jr., making it a memorable night at Miami’s top nightlife destination. Ice Spice captivated the crowd with hits like “Deli,” “In Ha Mood,” “Princess Diana,” and “Fisherrr (Remix),” with producer Cash Cobain joining her on stage.
However, the rising hip-hop star is facing controversy with fellow NYC rapper Cleopatra. Rumors circulating online suggest that Ice Spice allegedly did not pay Cleopatra for her participation in the recent Y2K! tour, creating tension between the two artists.
Things between Cleotrapa and Ice Spice are continuing to heat up. Over the last few hours, it’s becoming clearer and clearer that the artists’ friendship is beyond repair. Both have traded some pretty nasty and personal insults, and we can only expect things to unravel further as time passes. According to reports, Cleotrapa was the one to start this by calling out Spice over poor treatment during the Y2K! tour. However, the latter has since dismissed these claims and diagnosing this as Cleotrapa “crashing out”.
Overall, the hitmaker feels that Cleo was essentially acting entitled. Ice Spice also went on to call her former friend a “f***ing vacuum” after supposedly eating a lot of food at an Italian restaurant. Cleo responded to that by bringing back the Ozempic allegations that have been hurdled in Spice’s direction amid her weight loss journey. “Imagine being called big by someone that was just big. I’m going to bed bro ozempic got yall gassed & fatphobic now? BET”. But Cleotrapa is far from done because now she’s claiming that Ice Spice was “shaking” over Cardi B, according to theJasmineBrand.
She shared on X that while heading back to her tour bus, a mother and her kids were looking to get an autograph from Spice. However, for whatever reason, she thought Cardi B had sent some goons to jump her. With all of this information now out in the open, bystanders online have so many questions. Some are taking sides, but others are remaining neutral by questioning the authenticity of their relationship. “Yall was never friends… cause the way yall be AIRING EACHOTHER OUT ”, one jokes. “Those definitely not real friends, because whatever you encounter with a friend the public shouldn’t hear about”, another adds. If Cardi B enters the chat though, things are about to even spicier.
What are your thoughts on Cleotrapa bringing Cardi B into her ongoing mess with Ice Spice? Do you agree the fans who say these two were never friends, why or why not? Are both artists taking their beef too far? We would like to hear what you have to say, so leave your thoughts in the comments. Additionally, always keep it locked in with HNHH for all of the latest news surrounding Ice Spice, Cleotrapa, and Cardi B. Finally, stay with us for everything else going on in the music world.
Ice Spice has long shown that she’s proud of her body, as her figure is commonly referenced in her songs (“Phat Butt,” for example) and flaunted in her videos. Now she’s showing off what it takes to take care of her body by unveiling a new workout video.
In the 18-second clip (find it here), Ice is in a gym, rocking a tight bodysuit and a crop-top hoodie as she stretches, lifts weights, uses various pieces of workout equipment, does planks, and runs. She captioned the post, “we beatin them allegations bae [laughing emoji][heart emoji][100 emoji].”
Presumably, “them allegations” refers to recent accusations she has faced, of using Ozempic to help her lose weight. She addressed that previously: During an X Spaces broadcast on August 19, Ice said, “I wish y’all never learned the word ‘Ozempic.’ That’s one thing I wish. Oh my god, like, what even is Ozempic? What the f*ck is that? Like, genuinely, what is that, bro? Like, you lazy [expletive] never heard of a gym? It’s called the gym, it’s called eating healthy, it’s called being on tour. Like, what the hell? Maybe if I was sitting home all day, it would be easier to stay big.”
Where did all the new rap superstars go? It’s beginning to appear that the genre’s mainstream struggles are deeper than taking nine months last year to produce its first No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. While that wasn’t a problem this year, it’s somewhat telling that the most dominant rapper chart-wise is Kendrick Lamar, a 15+ year veteran, who would be releasing his sixth album this year. So, what happened? Did all the kids finally figure out what Cypress Hill was talking about 20 years ago (pretty much the same thing Chappell Roan said this year) and decide it didn’t sound all that attractive to be a rap superstar? Big house, five cars, sure, but looking over your shoulder constantly? Meh.
It isn’t like there is a dearth of new artists. 310babii, BossMan Dlow, Cash Cobain, Ice Spice, GloRilla, Hunxho, Lola Brooke, Luh Tyler, Rob49, Skilla Baby… The list goes on and on. But while these names and others have been anointed by <em>XXL Freshman columns and viral hits on TikTok, we’ve yet to see their early buzz translate into the kind of instant name recognition that used to follow rappers who could parlay ravenous underground fanbases into massive groundswells of support — and the sort of mainstream coverage that turned folks like Nicki Minaj, Kanye West, or Jay-Z into household names.
Like most problems these days, the answer is likely a bit too complex and nuanced to be distilled to one big issue with a single solution. However, if we’re doing a pie chart of the reasons it seems no new rappers have reached maximum mainstream saturation the way, say, Cardi B did in 2018, or Drake did in 2013, or hell, Snoop Dogg did during this year’s Olympics, the biggest slice is going to belong to “the labels.” This isn’t a new problem; in fact, it’s a familiar one in the recording industry, but what is new is the overall climate in which the industry exists.
So, quick history lesson: Long before rap music was the utter juggernaut that it has been for the past 20 years, major labels considered it somewhat of a fad. Therefore, it wasn’t really “worth” pouring a lot of marketing money into. I feel like I bring up Dan Charnas‘ book The Big Payback in a feature once a quarter, but it really is a treasure trove of insights into the early rise of rap music and hip-hop culture through marketing, advertising, and corporate investment. Simply put, many of your favorite canon classics, like Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers), Low End Theory, 2Pacalypse Now, and more, needed someone to fight for them — to secure the budgets not just to record them, but to properly advertise them so they could actually sell.
This means long rollouts — which are essentially awareness campaigns — with press releases, listening events, traditional advertising, press tours, and more. All of which requires money — and no guarantees of a return on that investment. This is why you see so many truncated rollouts from rap artists these days. Since labels can’t guarantee profits, they instead cut their expenses. Rap is usually the first on the chopping block, because that early impression of rap as limited in its audience reach and staying power has proved to be annoyingly pernicious, even in light of the genre’s tremendous successes over the intervening decades. Worse, a lot of those early advocates have since moved on; labels have been restructured as a response to changing times, and in many cases, the teams left over to work rap releases are stripped-down, operating on shoestring budgets with skeleton crews.
It doesn’t help that modern technology, particularly streaming and social media, can “break” stars so quickly — and wash them away just as fast. It’s harder than ever to tell what will connect with rap’s still mostly young audience, or when that audience will lose interest in a new star and move on. Look at how quickly Ice Spice rose to the heights of recognition; a year later, fans seemed bored with her by the time she released her debut album. This process has repeated over and over in the past decade and only seems to be accelerating. A hit on TikTok is no guarantee of a sustained career, and in some cases, those hits have come along before the artist in question is even ready for the limelight, forcing them to learn how to perform and market themselves on the fly.
Modern technology has also contributed to the end of monoculture, the concept that we’re all watching and reading and listening to the same things, more or less at the same time. In the cable TV era, shows like Total Request Live and 106 & Park could show us what “the whole country” was listening to. There were only a handful of main options for music discovery, so music fans ended up listening largely to the same stuff. Even in terms of what you would consider “underground,” there were only a few avenues to become a fan of an El-P or a Mos Def, and so, those names were able to stick in a way that modern artists never get a crack at.
Today, there are so many hyperpersonalized playlists and social feeds, and advertising is so targeted, that breaking out of one person’s bubble into another’s is nearly impossible. Let’s say the algorithm determines that you’re Lil Uzi Vert fan. It’ll show you Playboi Carti and Trippie Redd, maybe Lil Yachty, perhaps some Future. But unless an artist very specifically falls under that sound or aesthetic, you might never see anything else. So Anderson .Paak is probably out of the question, as would be a Cordae, Chance The Rapper, Kota The Friend, or Leikeli47. Let’s say you love GloRilla and Flo Milli; would the algorithm ever suggest anything outside that particular wheelhouse? Probably not.
So, yeah, it’s hard to be a rap superstar in the vein of a Ludacris or a 50 Cent or a Missy Elliott these days. But on the bright side, it’s easier to find an audience — even one that’s big enough and enthusiastic enough to support a sustainable, long-running career. It may not come with the big house and five cars, but it’s a living.
Nicki Minaj had quite a bit to say on August 21. The rapper didn’t name names, but she made lots of statements that all felt based around a few specific people. The people in question? The pair she went and unfollowed on Instagram the same day: JT and Ice Spice. Minaj cut ties with the up-and-coming rappers. She then proceeded to criticize younger rappers who go and sign with white owned record labels over her own Heavy On It imprint. THEN she wagged her finger at her fans and claimed she’s through talking about “other people.”
There’s obviously a lot to unpack here. We already covered Nicki Minaj’s comments about labels, which you can check out here. The rant about “other people,” however, was perhaps the most intriguing piece of content that Minaj generated on Wednesday. The rapper addressed her fanbase directly, and said she has no plans to discuss people who are outside of her inner circle. “Don’t ask me about nobody,” she asserted. “If you don’t see someone around me, don’t ask me about them.” Nicki Minaj then advised curious parties to direct any questions at these other people.
“Go and talk to them,” the rapper added. “The truth of the matter is that y’all don’t want to know the truth of the matter.” The last line reads a bit like a Minaj bar, but it does also suggest that there’s more to the story than fans are getting to see. It’s not a stretch to infer that the rapper is talking about JT and Ice Spice. Nicki Minaj has had very public falling outs with both of these artists. In the case of Ice Spice, the relationship went from mutually supportive and collaborative to contentious in the span of a year. Minaj and Spice worked together on “Princess Diana” in 2023, and now they don’t even follow each other on Instagram.
In May 2024, texts claiming to belong to Ice Spice leaked online. The texts saw the “Munch” rapper complain about Nicki Minaj, calling her “ungrateful and delusional” and likening Minaj to her mother. From there, the alleged Ice Spice texts blasted Minaj for being “jealous” of the fact that the younger rapper owned her masters. Real or not, these leaked texts were seemingly the straw that broke the camel’s back. Minaj and Spice are on the outs. Don’t ask Minaj about it though, per her request.
Nicki Minaj had a bone to pick on Wednesday night. The rapper decided to hop on social media and air out her frustrations with the upcoming generation of artists. She initially made headlines for unfollowing the likes of JT and Ice Spice on Instagram, but Minaj had bigger fish to fry. The Young Money icon had a serious issue with the fact that so many African American artists are choosing to sign with record labels owned by white people. Minaj went on to contrast this pattern with the label she owns, Heavy On It.
“Motherf*cker tell somebody they don’t want to sign with Heavy On It,” she noted. “But then they’ll go and sign with the white peoples. And guess who the white peoples finna call?” Nicki Minaj then names herself. “They always get the attention of the Barbz.” The rapper took things a step further by claiming that the upcoming version of her album, Pink Friday 2, will be limited to Heavy On It signees. The names she considers worth spotlighting. “You will be surprised,” Minaj noted. “And I’m not talking about doing ad-libs on any songs. If your name is not on Pink Friday 2, they’re not a Heavy On It artist.”
The Heavy On It connection seems somewhat connected to Nicki Minaj’s problems with Ice Spice. It was widely speculated that Ice Spice was signed with Heavy On it in 2023. It was later confirmed, though, that the “Munch” rapper had inked a deal with Virgin Records. Spice’s debut album, Y2K, was just put out through Virgin. Nicki Minaj and Ice Spice experienced joint success with their single “Princess Diana.” That said, there has been nothing but tension between the two since. The fact that Minaj unfollowed Ice Spice on IG is further proof that things are not friendly between them.
It’s worth zooming out and looking at Nicki Minaj’s record deal. The rapper signed to Young Money in 2009. Lil Wayne and Birdman were the figureheads of Young Money, but the label is part of Universal Music Group. Who owns UMG? Lucian Grainge. The same Lucian Grainge Kanye West ranted about when he was dissing Drake on the “Like That” remix. Nicki Minaj may be frustrated with the decisions that younger artists have made, but she’s technically guilty of the same sin she’s accusing them of.
Ice Spice has truly become a major force in hip-hop. Some are absolutely in love her blunt and unapologetic tracks, while others just simply don’t see the hype. No matter what camp you’re in, she’s here to stay for the long haul. Fellow rappers are taking notice, as she continues to make more and more connections. For instance, she was able to pull some pretty big guests for her debut album Y2K!Travis Scott, Gunna, and Central Cee were all included in the 10-song tracklist and we can only imagine that’ll she will be able to work with even more fellow superstars on subsequent LPs and singles.
One of those could be Wiz Khalifa as he recently gifted Ice Spice a blunt with his unique Khalifa Kush strain. On his Instagram Story recently, the “Black and Yellow” let his followers know that he sent it to her, saying, “I gave Ice Spice a joint last night. I hope she smoked it”. Not too long after, Spice would hit Wiz back indirectly on her Story, replying, “lmaooooo savin this for after the show thx wiz”.
Of course, the “show” she is referring to is for her Y2K! Tour, which is in its final third. It makes why Wiz was at Spice’s show last night (August 20), as the “Phat Butt” MC was in Oakland, California and in Los Angeles on the 19. Spice has just five more tour stops to go, in case you were wondering. She has stops in Tempe, Arizona, Dallas and Houston, Texas, Atlanta, Georgia, and finally Miami Beach, Florida.
What are your thoughts on Wiz Khalifa gifting Ice Spice a blunt while on her tour? Is this something you would expect him to do, why or why not? We would like to hear what you have to say, so leave your thoughts in the comments. Additionally, always keep it locked in with HNHH for all of the latest news surrounding Wiz Khalifa and Ice Spice. Finally, stay with us for everything else going on in the music world.
(@nojumper)