Ice Spice Wouldn’t Be As Successful If She Was Dark-Skinned – Rory And Mal

Ice Spice defamation these days merits a scoff in the face of all her success, hits, and obvious talent, whether you believe she capitalizes on it or not. However, Rory and Mal recently began a crucial but difficult discussion about the circumstances driving her spectacular rise.

Furthermore, the podcast hosts questioned if her popularity was solely due to her lighter skin color when compared to other similarly talented performers. Demaris, their producer, even stated that she isn’t talented enough to merit all of this attention.

“If we saying that colorism doesn’t exist, a dark-skinned girl could never soar the way that fucking Ice Spice did off having zero to no talent,” she stated. “Ice Spice has no talent?” Rory replied. “You think Ice Spice is a talented rapper?” Demaris clapped back. “I think she’s a talented person,” he said after a pause. “Rap wouldn’t be it, but there’s a talent there.” Further on, Demaris said that she’s not trying to hate on the “Princess Diana” hitmaker, just that she doesn’t like her music. “If she was dark-skinned she would not be as big as she is,” she maintained. “That’s what I said. That’s not taking anything away from her.”

Rory & Mal Discuss Colorism & Ice Spice’s Success

Regardless of your take, it was quite the interesting debate that nonetheless had people advocating for her talent and skill. However, this wasn’t something that just came out of the blue during their conversation in the podcast episode. They addressed comments made online speculating on Ice Spice’s invite to the Met Gala as Anna Wintour’s special guest. Also, they brought up her recently formed relationship with Kim Kardashian. While it’s tough to toe these lines, there’s certainly a way to talk earnestly of the social and cultural context of the Bronx star’s success (especially when compared to other female rappers) while also not taking away from her positive and musically talented traits.

Meanwhile, we’re sure that such comments won’t faze the 23-year-old. In fact, even if she “doesn’t have talent,” she certainly has the will and ability to fix that. “He definitely inspired me to want to record,” she told Paper of his father, who was an underground rapper. “I remember being in the studio with him. I was a toddler, probably. And I remember little flashes. Of course, not every detail, but small things like that being shown to you at such a young age make an impression on you. Subconsciously, I ended up becoming an artist because I saw my father be one first. He’s a music lover himself. He’s a true hip-hop head, beyond me, honestly. He knows everything. He’s always educating me on hip-hop and s**t like that.”