Ice Spice Overcomes Nerves to Dazzle with Sean Paul Sample in ‘Gimmie A Light’

Ice Spice has been building up excitement for her latest single “Gimmie a Light,” but the Bronx rapper confesses that she was battling nerves during the creation of the track. In an interview with Apple Music’s Zane Lowe ahead of the song’s release on Friday, Ice Spice admitted to feeling anxious about sampling Sean Paul’s iconic 2002 hit, “Gimme the Light.”

“I was really nervous because we really wanted to have a very authentic Y2K sample in there, and Sean Paul, he’s legendary,” she expressed. “And that song alone, his ‘Gimme the Light,’ is so iconic that I was so nervous to sample it, because I’m like, ‘This isn’t going to get cleared, so what’s the point?’”

The rapper shared her sense of relief when her sample clearance request was approved, praising Sean Paul for being receptive to her homage. “Thankfully we got it cleared. Shouts to Sean Paul. He’s so real,” she added.

“Gimmie a Light” is the latest track from Ice Spice’s highly anticipated debut album, Y2K, which will mark her second full-length release after last year’s EP, “Like..?”. Her previous single “Think U the Shit (Fart)” solidified Ice Spice’s status as a hitmaker, landing in the top 20 of Billboard’s Hot Rap Songs chart and accumulating over 25 million plays on YouTube alone.

Named after her birth year and the turn-of-the-millennium computer programming scare, Y2K is set to be unveiled later this year. Ice Spice shed more light on the inspiration behind the title during the conversation with Zane Lowe, revealing that her mother was a significant influence on her Y2K aesthetic.

“Thankfully, I had my mom, so growing up I’d see her really embody the Y2K aesthetic in its truest form,” she shared. “[To me, the aesthetic is] duck nails. It’s a tramp stamp. It’s brown lip liner no matter where you go. So thankfully I had her [my mom] as my inspo growing up. And of course just like the internet, you feel me? Just like anyone else.”