Ice Spice’s Y2K! is a fun, if not substantive, ride

After her mostly-successful EP Like…?, she released a string of singles that (for better or for worse) highlighted the fact that she’s in creative control. The excellent “Deli” featured the bizarre and indicative line, “I’m the shit, I’m that bitch, I’m Miss Poopie,” followed by her lead single for her debut album, “Think U The Shit (Fart),” and the hyper “Gimme A Light,” where she declares, “I’m Miss Poopie like I need a diaper.” Thankfully, she keeps up the storyline on “BB Belt,” where she assures, “I’m Miss Poopie but I never smell.” Lest you think this is the work of an infantile and hyperfixated co-writer, she declares on the record’s opening track, “And I really write, like fuck a ghost.”

All of this to mention that Ice Spice’s oeuvre, and Y2K!, her anticipated debut record, is usually synonymous with a more carefree style of music. Much of the hate for “Munch” and her follow-up, “Bikini Bottom,” was met with urges to keep rap fun instead of holding itself to such a high standard (the difference between Kendrick Lamar’s recent assaults on Drake, “meet the grahams” and “Not Like Us” serve as good examples).

Y2K!, for the most part, sticks to familiar territory. She has a nice butt, she has a lot of money, she can get whatever man she wants, she’s the queen of drill. Even though the album is full of good one-liners – “She gettin’ loud, but nobody moved!”, “How the fuck I’m still chewin’ bitches in plain grey shorts and a plain tee?”, “Hard knock life, no Annie”, “Bitches switchin’ but they wasn’t trans” – it runs disastrously low on material, evidenced by its 23-minute runtime. It’s no secret why she has no haters, like she says on “Gimme A Light” – she doesn’t go so far to diss people. She attempts to, but somehow it comes out kindly: “She could be rich, but I’m richer,” still a compliment in its own way.

Despite acting as a crucial promise to the album’s themes, the only thing turn-of-the-century about Y2K! is its title. Even though Ice was born on January 1, 2000 and Y2K is deliriously trendy, there really isn’t an effort to pull from the digitized pop of the era – even the cover, the most upfront way to deliver an album’s aesthetic, doesn’t match. The closest she gets to the era would be its lead single, “Think U The Shit (Fart),” which has a playful, friends-messing-around-on-Garage-Band energy, which brings people like Jon Lajoie or Joey Valence & Brae to mind, but that’s a generous read. She could have easily linked with her friend and collaborator PinkPantheress for a masterclass on how to invoke a certain era, but it’s a completely missed opportunity.

To her credit, Ice does attempt new angles to her signature drill flow here – on “Phat Butt,” her cool demeanour brings to mind the delivery of the “Queen” who deemed her the “Princess” – Nicki Minaj. “Think U The Shit (Fart)” and “BB Belt” both bounce with rapid energy, same with the childish cheat-off on “Did It First.” She rap-yells on “Gimme A Light,” but on other cuts like “Bitch I’m Packin” or “Plenty Sun,” she moans her lines, devoid of charisma and phoned-in, almost like she Zoomed into the studio session.

Ice Spice is here for a good time, not a long time. Take what you want from Y2K! – its best cuts are silly, high-energy, and genuinely flow well: “Phat Butt,” “Gimme A Light,” “BB Belt,” and “Think U The Shit (Fart),” and the record is at its best when we’re having fun with Ice, which seemed to be her initial ethos. But much of the record is unfortunately underbaked: output for the sake of it without innovation or clear direction. Or, in terms that the self-minted Miss Poopie might appreciate: shit or get off the pot.