Ice Spice

2022Person / catchphrase / reaction contentactive

Also known as: The Munch Queen Ā· Princess Diana (self-referential nickname)

Ice Spice is a Bronx rapper who went viral in 2022 with "Munch (Feelin' U)", introducing mainstream internet culture to the slang term "munch" while becoming iconic for her distinctive ginger hairstyle and laidback persona.

Ice Spice is a Bronx-born rapper whose viral tracks, quotable lyrics, and distinctive ginger hairstyle turned her into one of the most memed musicians of the 2020s. Born Isis Naija Gaston, she broke through in 2022 when "Munch (Feelin' U)" took over TikTok and Twitter, introducing the slang term "munch" to mainstream internet culture5. Her rapid rise from SUNY Purchase dropout to chart-topping artist, combined with her laidback persona and SpongeBob obsession, made her a constant source of meme content across social media platforms.

ny drill memesfemale rapper memesmilitary meme adoption2022 memes2025 memes

TL;DR

Ice Spice meme format based on rapper Ice Spice and her distinctive aesthetic, featuring her characteristic style and catchphrases.

Overview

Ice Spice memes draw from multiple wells: her instantly recognizable curly orange hair (frequently compared to Ronald McDonald), her deadpan delivery of quotable bars, and her ability to turn internet criticism into self-promotion6. The phrase "You thought I was feelin' you? That n---a a munch" from her breakout single became a widely used dismissal format online12. Her public persona, oscillating between effortless cool and absurdist SpongeBob fandom, gave meme creators endless material to work with. The rapper leaned into it, regularly using memes to clap back at critics and promote her music9.

Ice Spice first brushed with internet virality in early 2021 when a video of her doing the Erika Banks "Buss It" challenge circulated on TikTok2. But that was a warm-up act. The real meme explosion came in August 2022 with the release of "Munch (Feelin' U)," a drill track she recorded almost on impulse. "I was recording in my room and I was like, 'Let me make a song fast. As fast as possible,'" she told Rolling Stone11. The accompanying music video, distributed by WorldStarHipHop and filmed in her home turf of the Bronx, went viral on TikTok when a snippet took over the platform5.

The song introduced "munch" as slang for a desperate, obsessive person. As Pitchfork's Alphonse Pierre put it, the word worked as "a more amorphous term for a loser, a hater, a fool, a certified bozo"12. Drake played the track on his Sirius XM station Sound 42, giving it a major co-sign, and the song charted on Billboard's Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs5. Ice Spice had met her producer RIOTUSA, son of Hot 97's DJ Enuff, while both were students at SUNY Purchase3.

Origin & Background

Platform
TikTok, Twitter (viral spread)
Key People
Ice Spice, RIOTUSA
Date
2022
Year
2022

Ice Spice first brushed with internet virality in early 2021 when a video of her doing the Erika Banks "Buss It" challenge circulated on TikTok. But that was a warm-up act. The real meme explosion came in August 2022 with the release of "Munch (Feelin' U)," a drill track she recorded almost on impulse. "I was recording in my room and I was like, 'Let me make a song fast. As fast as possible,'" she told Rolling Stone. The accompanying music video, distributed by WorldStarHipHop and filmed in her home turf of the Bronx, went viral on TikTok when a snippet took over the platform.

The song introduced "munch" as slang for a desperate, obsessive person. As Pitchfork's Alphonse Pierre put it, the word worked as "a more amorphous term for a loser, a hater, a fool, a certified bozo". Drake played the track on his Sirius XM station Sound 42, giving it a major co-sign, and the song charted on Billboard's Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs. Ice Spice had met her producer RIOTUSA, son of Hot 97's DJ Enuff, while both were students at SUNY Purchase.

How It Spread

After "Munch" broke through in late summer 2022, the meme ecosystem around Ice Spice expanded rapidly. Her detractors became content themselves: men who initially dismissed the song as riding on her looks ended up memorizing the lyrics, and Rolling Stone noted how "the people, mostly men, who tried to use Spice's sexuality against her revealed themselves to be munches". Someone on TikTok applied a vocal filter to make her earlier track "No Clarity" sound like Jay-Z, and the results went viral on their own.

In early 2023, her EP *Like..?* dropped, and tracks like "Bikini Bottom" and "In Ha Mood" generated fresh waves of TikTok content. Her collaboration with PinkPantheress on "Boy's a Liar Pt. 2" peaked at No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100. By this point, Ice Spice wasn't just producing meme-worthy music; she was being photographed with Hatsune Miku, posing next to K-Pop stars, and generally providing internet-ready moments at every turn.

A bizarre but endearing subcurrent emerged in March 2023 when the military humor page Terminal Lance posted an image of an American flag with Ice Spice superimposed on it. Marines began posing with the Ice Spice flag, and the trend spread across military social media. Sailors got in on it too. Nobody could fully explain why, which made it even more meme-worthy.

Her real name caused its own viral moment in April 2023. When she posted on Instagram referring to herself as "Isis," the platform flagged and removed her content for violating guidelines related to violence and dangerous organizations. She screenshotted the notification with the caption "Can't type my name is ode," and fans rallied to her defense across Twitter.

Platforms

TikTokTwitterInstagramYouTube Shorts

Timeline

2023

Ice Spice's mainstream breakthrough year

2023

Meme format emerges on social media

2024

Still evolve with new music releases

2025

Remains actively used in internet circles

View on Google Trends

How to Use This Meme

Ice Spice memes come in several formats:

"Munch" dismissals: Use "You thought I was feelin' you?" or call someone a "munch" to dismiss a desperate or overly eager person. Typically deployed as a reaction to someone overestimating their importance.

SpongeBob Big Guy Pants OK: Post the phrase as a caption, reaction, or standalone statement. Often paired with confident walk GIFs, dance videos, or any situation requiring inexplicable self-assurance. The less context, the better.

Ice Spice reaction content: Use screenshots of her unbothered expressions, her SpongeBob meme clap-backs, or her gym montage to respond to haters or body-shamers.

Hair comparisons: Her distinctive ginger curls get compared to various characters and objects. Commonly used as a visual joke format.

Create Your Own

Cultural Impact

Ice Spice's crossover from rapper to meme figure happened unusually fast. Within a year of "Munch" going viral, she was collaborating with Taylor Swift and starring in a Dunkin' Donuts commercial alongside Ben Affleck. The military adopted her as an unofficial mascot, with Marines displaying Ice Spice flags in a trend that baffled everyone including, presumably, the Department of Defense.

Her influence on internet slang was significant. "Munch" entered everyday online vocabulary as a catch-all insult for overeager people. The New York Times profiled her as "Rap's New Princess," while her quotable lyrics ("How can I lose if I'm already chose?") became go-to captions on Instagram and Twitter.

The "SpongeBob Big Guy Pants OK" moment in late 2025 showed her staying power as a meme source. DJs remixed the clip alongside other viral moments, and the phrase generated its own micro-economy of fan content. Her willingness to engage with meme culture directly, using SpongeBob images to fight body-shamers rather than issuing formal statements, kept her internet-native credibility intact.

Full History

Ice Spice's path to meme stardom started well before the music. Born January 1, 2000, she grew up in the Bronx as the eldest of six siblings. Her father Joseph Gaston was an underground rapper, and she spent time in his studio as a kid, absorbing the craft. She attended Sacred Heart High School in Yonkers, where she played volleyball, and later enrolled at SUNY Purchase as a communications major and defensive specialist on the volleyball team. Old high school photos and volleyball roster images were dug up and circulated once she got famous, though she took the exposure in stride.

She dropped out of SUNY Purchase after her sophomore year, citing the commute and poor fit, and worked as a cashier at Wendy's and The Gap. Her stage name came from a "finsta" account she created at 14 because "the name rhymed" and she loved spicy food. It stuck.

The collaboration with RIOTUSA that began during her freshman year at Purchase proved decisive. Their first viral track was "Bully Freestyle" in March 2021, followed by "No Clarity" in November 2021. She admitted being nervous after online negativity following "Bully Freestyle," but eventually recognized it as a sign the music was landing: "Once other people start to love you, people have to hate to balance it out," she told The Guardian.

The "Munch" era in mid-to-late 2022 changed everything. Joe Budden, known as a tough critic, was filmed rapping along to the track in delight on his podcast, a clip that spread across social media. Drake DMed her to compliment her music and invite her to OVO Fest, an exchange she shared on Instagram with his permission. She signed with 10K Projects and Capitol Records in September 2022.

2023 was her breakout year by any measure. The *Like..?* EP, her collaboration singles "Boy's a Liar Pt. 2" with PinkPantheress, "Karma" with Taylor Swift, and "Barbie World" with Nicki Minaj and Aqua all hit the top ten of the Billboard Hot 100, making her the only rapper with four top-ten songs that year. Each release generated its own meme cycle. The "Princess Diana" remix with Nicki Minaj peaked at No. 4. Campus Times called her "Rap's New Princess" while noting the tension between her genuine artistry and her status as a walking meme generator.

The body-shaming meme wars came next. In late 2024, after noticeable weight loss, trolls scrutinized her frame online. Ice Spice responded by posting a SpongeBob meme on her Instagram Story featuring a bloated, tired version of the character captioned "Nah she mid bro". Earlier, in August, she'd shut down Ozempic rumors with a gym montage set to her own track "BB Belt," captioning it "We beatin them allegations bae". During an X Spaces chat she didn't hold back: "B---h, I wish y'all never learned the word Ozempic... It's called a gym. It's called eating healthy. It's called being on tour".

Her SpongeBob connection came full circle in November 2025 when she released "Big Guy" for *The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants* soundtrack. The chorus lyric "SpongeBob big guy pants OK" immediately became a standalone meme. The promotional video hit 2.2 million likes on Instagram and over 28.4 million views on X. People attached the phrase to everything from Bridgerton GIFs to robot army clips, and DJs began remixing it within hours. Lines like "I blow bubbles so big like Mrs. Puff" gave fans additional quotable material. The lyric's appeal lay in what Them described as being "so confident in its simplicity, and yet, confounding in its complexity". Ice Spice had previously called SpongeBob "the only animated character I've ever had a crush on".

She also expanded beyond music into film, taking roles in *Highest 2 Lowest* and the SpongeBob movie, both in 2025. Her award haul by this point included the MTV VMA for Best New Artist, the People's Choice Award for New Artist of the Year, and four Grammy nominations including Best New Artist.

Fun Facts

Ice Spice was a defensive specialist on SUNY Purchase's volleyball team, recording two kills and nine digs in seven matches during the 2018 season.

She chose her stage name at 14 for a finsta account because it rhymed and she puts hot sauce on everything.

She worked at Wendy's and The Gap after dropping out of college, and quit a street market job after a single day.

Drake personally messaged her on Instagram to praise "Munch" and invite her to OVO Fest, and she shared the DMs with his permission.

She told Them that SpongeBob was "the only animated character I've ever had a crush on" and said the character was "very integrated in my life".

Derivatives & Variations

Ice Spice Catchphrase Memes

Videos and images featuring her distinctive phrases and expressions

(2023)

Fashion Memes

Content focusing on her distinctive style and fashion choices

(2023)

Collaboration Memes

Humor about her numerous feature appearances on other artists' tracks

(2023)

Frequently Asked Questions

Ice Spice

2022Person / catchphrase / reaction contentactive

Also known as: The Munch Queen Ā· Princess Diana (self-referential nickname)

Ice Spice is a Bronx rapper who went viral in 2022 with "Munch (Feelin' U)", introducing mainstream internet culture to the slang term "munch" while becoming iconic for her distinctive ginger hairstyle and laidback persona.

Ice Spice is a Bronx-born rapper whose viral tracks, quotable lyrics, and distinctive ginger hairstyle turned her into one of the most memed musicians of the 2020s. Born Isis Naija Gaston, she broke through in 2022 when "Munch (Feelin' U)" took over TikTok and Twitter, introducing the slang term "munch" to mainstream internet culture. Her rapid rise from SUNY Purchase dropout to chart-topping artist, combined with her laidback persona and SpongeBob obsession, made her a constant source of meme content across social media platforms.

ny drill memes female rapper memes military meme adoption 2022 memes 2025 memes

TL;DR

Ice Spice meme format based on rapper Ice Spice and her distinctive aesthetic, featuring her characteristic style and catchphrases.

Overview

Ice Spice memes draw from multiple wells: her instantly recognizable curly orange hair (frequently compared to Ronald McDonald), her deadpan delivery of quotable bars, and her ability to turn internet criticism into self-promotion. The phrase "You thought I was feelin' you? That n---a a munch" from her breakout single became a widely used dismissal format online. Her public persona, oscillating between effortless cool and absurdist SpongeBob fandom, gave meme creators endless material to work with. The rapper leaned into it, regularly using memes to clap back at critics and promote her music.

Ice Spice first brushed with internet virality in early 2021 when a video of her doing the Erika Banks "Buss It" challenge circulated on TikTok. But that was a warm-up act. The real meme explosion came in August 2022 with the release of "Munch (Feelin' U)," a drill track she recorded almost on impulse. "I was recording in my room and I was like, 'Let me make a song fast. As fast as possible,'" she told Rolling Stone. The accompanying music video, distributed by WorldStarHipHop and filmed in her home turf of the Bronx, went viral on TikTok when a snippet took over the platform.

The song introduced "munch" as slang for a desperate, obsessive person. As Pitchfork's Alphonse Pierre put it, the word worked as "a more amorphous term for a loser, a hater, a fool, a certified bozo". Drake played the track on his Sirius XM station Sound 42, giving it a major co-sign, and the song charted on Billboard's Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs. Ice Spice had met her producer RIOTUSA, son of Hot 97's DJ Enuff, while both were students at SUNY Purchase.

Origin & Background

Platform
TikTok, Twitter (viral spread)
Key People
Ice Spice, RIOTUSA
Date
2022
Year
2022

Ice Spice first brushed with internet virality in early 2021 when a video of her doing the Erika Banks "Buss It" challenge circulated on TikTok. But that was a warm-up act. The real meme explosion came in August 2022 with the release of "Munch (Feelin' U)," a drill track she recorded almost on impulse. "I was recording in my room and I was like, 'Let me make a song fast. As fast as possible,'" she told Rolling Stone. The accompanying music video, distributed by WorldStarHipHop and filmed in her home turf of the Bronx, went viral on TikTok when a snippet took over the platform.

The song introduced "munch" as slang for a desperate, obsessive person. As Pitchfork's Alphonse Pierre put it, the word worked as "a more amorphous term for a loser, a hater, a fool, a certified bozo". Drake played the track on his Sirius XM station Sound 42, giving it a major co-sign, and the song charted on Billboard's Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs. Ice Spice had met her producer RIOTUSA, son of Hot 97's DJ Enuff, while both were students at SUNY Purchase.

How It Spread

After "Munch" broke through in late summer 2022, the meme ecosystem around Ice Spice expanded rapidly. Her detractors became content themselves: men who initially dismissed the song as riding on her looks ended up memorizing the lyrics, and Rolling Stone noted how "the people, mostly men, who tried to use Spice's sexuality against her revealed themselves to be munches". Someone on TikTok applied a vocal filter to make her earlier track "No Clarity" sound like Jay-Z, and the results went viral on their own.

In early 2023, her EP *Like..?* dropped, and tracks like "Bikini Bottom" and "In Ha Mood" generated fresh waves of TikTok content. Her collaboration with PinkPantheress on "Boy's a Liar Pt. 2" peaked at No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100. By this point, Ice Spice wasn't just producing meme-worthy music; she was being photographed with Hatsune Miku, posing next to K-Pop stars, and generally providing internet-ready moments at every turn.

A bizarre but endearing subcurrent emerged in March 2023 when the military humor page Terminal Lance posted an image of an American flag with Ice Spice superimposed on it. Marines began posing with the Ice Spice flag, and the trend spread across military social media. Sailors got in on it too. Nobody could fully explain why, which made it even more meme-worthy.

Her real name caused its own viral moment in April 2023. When she posted on Instagram referring to herself as "Isis," the platform flagged and removed her content for violating guidelines related to violence and dangerous organizations. She screenshotted the notification with the caption "Can't type my name is ode," and fans rallied to her defense across Twitter.

Platforms

TikTokTwitterInstagramYouTube Shorts

Timeline

2023

Ice Spice's mainstream breakthrough year

2023

Meme format emerges on social media

2024

Still evolve with new music releases

2025

Remains actively used in internet circles

View on Google Trends

How to Use This Meme

Ice Spice memes come in several formats:

"Munch" dismissals: Use "You thought I was feelin' you?" or call someone a "munch" to dismiss a desperate or overly eager person. Typically deployed as a reaction to someone overestimating their importance.

SpongeBob Big Guy Pants OK: Post the phrase as a caption, reaction, or standalone statement. Often paired with confident walk GIFs, dance videos, or any situation requiring inexplicable self-assurance. The less context, the better.

Ice Spice reaction content: Use screenshots of her unbothered expressions, her SpongeBob meme clap-backs, or her gym montage to respond to haters or body-shamers.

Hair comparisons: Her distinctive ginger curls get compared to various characters and objects. Commonly used as a visual joke format.

Create Your Own

Cultural Impact

Ice Spice's crossover from rapper to meme figure happened unusually fast. Within a year of "Munch" going viral, she was collaborating with Taylor Swift and starring in a Dunkin' Donuts commercial alongside Ben Affleck. The military adopted her as an unofficial mascot, with Marines displaying Ice Spice flags in a trend that baffled everyone including, presumably, the Department of Defense.

Her influence on internet slang was significant. "Munch" entered everyday online vocabulary as a catch-all insult for overeager people. The New York Times profiled her as "Rap's New Princess," while her quotable lyrics ("How can I lose if I'm already chose?") became go-to captions on Instagram and Twitter.

The "SpongeBob Big Guy Pants OK" moment in late 2025 showed her staying power as a meme source. DJs remixed the clip alongside other viral moments, and the phrase generated its own micro-economy of fan content. Her willingness to engage with meme culture directly, using SpongeBob images to fight body-shamers rather than issuing formal statements, kept her internet-native credibility intact.

Full History

Ice Spice's path to meme stardom started well before the music. Born January 1, 2000, she grew up in the Bronx as the eldest of six siblings. Her father Joseph Gaston was an underground rapper, and she spent time in his studio as a kid, absorbing the craft. She attended Sacred Heart High School in Yonkers, where she played volleyball, and later enrolled at SUNY Purchase as a communications major and defensive specialist on the volleyball team. Old high school photos and volleyball roster images were dug up and circulated once she got famous, though she took the exposure in stride.

She dropped out of SUNY Purchase after her sophomore year, citing the commute and poor fit, and worked as a cashier at Wendy's and The Gap. Her stage name came from a "finsta" account she created at 14 because "the name rhymed" and she loved spicy food. It stuck.

The collaboration with RIOTUSA that began during her freshman year at Purchase proved decisive. Their first viral track was "Bully Freestyle" in March 2021, followed by "No Clarity" in November 2021. She admitted being nervous after online negativity following "Bully Freestyle," but eventually recognized it as a sign the music was landing: "Once other people start to love you, people have to hate to balance it out," she told The Guardian.

The "Munch" era in mid-to-late 2022 changed everything. Joe Budden, known as a tough critic, was filmed rapping along to the track in delight on his podcast, a clip that spread across social media. Drake DMed her to compliment her music and invite her to OVO Fest, an exchange she shared on Instagram with his permission. She signed with 10K Projects and Capitol Records in September 2022.

2023 was her breakout year by any measure. The *Like..?* EP, her collaboration singles "Boy's a Liar Pt. 2" with PinkPantheress, "Karma" with Taylor Swift, and "Barbie World" with Nicki Minaj and Aqua all hit the top ten of the Billboard Hot 100, making her the only rapper with four top-ten songs that year. Each release generated its own meme cycle. The "Princess Diana" remix with Nicki Minaj peaked at No. 4. Campus Times called her "Rap's New Princess" while noting the tension between her genuine artistry and her status as a walking meme generator.

The body-shaming meme wars came next. In late 2024, after noticeable weight loss, trolls scrutinized her frame online. Ice Spice responded by posting a SpongeBob meme on her Instagram Story featuring a bloated, tired version of the character captioned "Nah she mid bro". Earlier, in August, she'd shut down Ozempic rumors with a gym montage set to her own track "BB Belt," captioning it "We beatin them allegations bae". During an X Spaces chat she didn't hold back: "B---h, I wish y'all never learned the word Ozempic... It's called a gym. It's called eating healthy. It's called being on tour".

Her SpongeBob connection came full circle in November 2025 when she released "Big Guy" for *The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants* soundtrack. The chorus lyric "SpongeBob big guy pants OK" immediately became a standalone meme. The promotional video hit 2.2 million likes on Instagram and over 28.4 million views on X. People attached the phrase to everything from Bridgerton GIFs to robot army clips, and DJs began remixing it within hours. Lines like "I blow bubbles so big like Mrs. Puff" gave fans additional quotable material. The lyric's appeal lay in what Them described as being "so confident in its simplicity, and yet, confounding in its complexity". Ice Spice had previously called SpongeBob "the only animated character I've ever had a crush on".

She also expanded beyond music into film, taking roles in *Highest 2 Lowest* and the SpongeBob movie, both in 2025. Her award haul by this point included the MTV VMA for Best New Artist, the People's Choice Award for New Artist of the Year, and four Grammy nominations including Best New Artist.

Fun Facts

Ice Spice was a defensive specialist on SUNY Purchase's volleyball team, recording two kills and nine digs in seven matches during the 2018 season.

She chose her stage name at 14 for a finsta account because it rhymed and she puts hot sauce on everything.

She worked at Wendy's and The Gap after dropping out of college, and quit a street market job after a single day.

Drake personally messaged her on Instagram to praise "Munch" and invite her to OVO Fest, and she shared the DMs with his permission.

She told Them that SpongeBob was "the only animated character I've ever had a crush on" and said the character was "very integrated in my life".

Derivatives & Variations

Ice Spice Catchphrase Memes

Videos and images featuring her distinctive phrases and expressions

(2023)

Fashion Memes

Content focusing on her distinctive style and fashion choices

(2023)

Collaboration Memes

Humor about her numerous feature appearances on other artists' tracks

(2023)

Frequently Asked Questions