You might have noticed that Ice Spice songs tend to have one thing in common: On the track, she will at some point early in the song say, “Stop playing with ’em, Riot.” Well, why does she do that?
Why Does Ice Spice Say ‘Stop Playing With ‘Em, Riot’?
That reused audio clip is actually what’s called a “producer tag” for Riot, a producer who has worked closely with Ice Spice. A producer tag is essentially a brief audio signature for producers, which they include on songs they produce as a way to let listeners know that they’re responsible for the track’s production.
In a 2023 interview with Billboard, Riot explained how the tag came to be, saying, “I originally had [a] tag that was recorded by me, and I put a couple effects on it. But I outgrew it, and I was looking for something new and fresh. I was like, ‘Why not ask Ice to record me a tag?’ — and I didn’t tell her what to say. The first thing that she had sent me back was, ‘Stop playing with ’em, Riot.’ I took it, pitched it a little bit, I threw in some reverb, and the rest is history.”
Some other recognizable producer tags include those of Metro Boomin (“If young Metro don’t trust you, I’m gon’ shoot you”), Tay Keith (“Tay Keith, f*ck these n****s up”), and Harry Fraud (“La musica de Harry Fraud”).
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