By now we’ve probably all heard up-and-coming rapper Ice Spice’s viral hit “Munch (Feelin’ U).” The song, released roughly two months ago, has amassed over 16 million views on YouTube, 21 million plays on Spotify and has been used in more than 500,000 TikTok videos. Ice Spice’s breakout single has prompted numerous remixes by her rapper peers and has
even garnered co-signs by megastars Drake and Cardi B alike. In a recently released interview with Genius, the rapper and Bronx native described her inspiration and reasoning for the song.
“A fun fact about ‘Munch’ that I don’t think everybody knows is that I recorded it in my room, and it took me like an hour. I was like ‘I’m not gon’ to think too hard on this one. Imma just have fun,’” she said.
And what fun it has been. With an earworm of a hook and a bevy of boastful and caption-worthy lyrics, the song is definitely in the running for the female empowerment anthem of the year. However, shadowing the immense success of Ice Spice’s single and quick ascent into the limelight has been a constant barrage of online hate, including but not limited to ableist attacks ridiculing her intelligence and rapping ability, reducing her to a sexual object and posting revenge porn.
To be fair, “Munch (Feelin’ U)” as a song is rudimentary at best. Overall, it lacks the lyrical complexity, metaphors, double entendres and aphorisms that people typically search for in rap music. But what’s necessarily wrong with that? By Ice Spice’s own admittance, the song is supposed to be fun and not serious. Considering that rap as a music genre has been historically vilified and denoted as a “less complex” form of music by our white counterparts, is it necessary that we do the same? Music, rap especially, does not have to be timely, serious or thought-provoking to deserve validity – it can just be fun. Whether you agree or disagree on the legitimacy of the rapper’s music, I think we can all agree that the use of personal distaste for Ice Spice’s music as justification to launch ableist attacks against the rapper is inherently wrong. Insults have been levied at the rapper via Twitter calling her “slow” and an “idiot,” with some going as far as to say she looks like she has down syndrome. Lack of musical complexity, seriousness or favor amongst audiences does not equate to invalidity, and these comments are a serious affront to both Ice Spice and the disabled community.
Besides just attacks on her intellectual ability, the rapper has also suffered numerous attempts by social media users to both reduce her to solely a sexual object and subject her to revenge porn. Like many prominent female rappers today, Ice Spice has capitalized on her sexuality and made it a component of her overall image – something that is well within her rights as both an artist and a woman. However, as we’ve historically seen time and time again, a woman’s daring ownership of her sexuality has been utilized to justify a wide range of attacks against her.
Users across social media platforms have reduced the rapper to her body by making lewd and ludicrous descriptions and claims about her genitalia, in-depth descriptions of sexual actions they’d commit against her and claims that the only way to watch her music videos is on mute. They are implying the only thing worthwhile about the rapper are her dance moves, which include twerking. Even worse, the rapper has been the victim of numerous attempts to attribute leaked nude images and sex tapes to her. In one viral instance amongst many, a year-old photograph of Sophia Urista, the frontwoman for the New York-based cover band Brass Against, urinating on a male fan was falsely and purposely attributed to the rapper. While women or anyone in the spotlight can expect to draw the inevitable ire of some onlookers, the memes, tweets, commentary, etc. directed towards Ice Spice amount to nothing less than full-on sexual harassment.
At first glance, it is hard to find the origin or rationale for the vitriol constantly directed at Ice Spice. Albeit her sex symbol status, the rapper is hardly by today’s standards a controversial figure, and she hasn’t drawn the ire of other artists or their fanbases. Furthermore, as a conventionally attractive light skin woman who has societal standards on her side, one would think she would garner more admiration than the opposite. Consequently, the reasoning for the hate and abuse the rapper is constantly on the receiving end of can only be attributed to misogynoir.
Misogynoir, the term coined by Black feminist Moya Bailey in 2010, refers to misogyny directed toward black women in American visual and popular culture. Although only recently coined as a term in 2010, misogynoir has long been observable in hip-hop, which since its inception in the 1970s has remained a male-dominated genre. Prominent spaces and representation for female rappers within the mainstream are often far and few in between, and on the off chance that they receive it, they can expect to be subjected to the harshest and unfairest of criticism.
The greatest arguments currently surrounding Ice Spice are that her success is undeserved and unwarranted, her music is remedial and overtly sexual and she has only gained notoriety because of how she looks. Even if these things did have credence—do they even matter? How many male artists have we let slide being mediocre? Why do female rap artists have to check every box? Sometimes fun music is just that—fun music. The vitriol, hate and abject harassment directed at Ice Spice is not only unnecessary but uncalled for. If people don’t like her music, instead of attacking her for it, they can simply not listen.