Erykah Badu Talks Hip-Hop With Bronx Rapper Ice Spice

Joined by her eldest daughter Puma Curry, Erykah Badu interviewed Ice Spice on what a "munch" is, Bronx hip-hop culture and more.

Erykah Badu and her eldest daughter Puma Curry talk music and more with rising artist Ice Spice in a new Interview profile. For the publication, Badu and Curry joined the "Bikini Bottom" rapper on Zoom to grasp her knowledge of hip-hop culture, talk about her familial origins and favorite rappers, both female and male.

Spice, real name Isis Gaston, name-dropped Nicki Minaj and Doja Cat two of her favorite female rappers and dream collaborators. The Bronx native also mentioned Ruby Rose, Cardi B, GloRilla, A Boogie with da Hoodie, Lil Tjay, Lil Durk and Drake as current favorites.

Cardi B was featured on an unreleased remix of Ice Spice's breakout "Munch (Feelin' U)."

When Badu asked Ice Spice about women dominating in hip-hop, the 22-year-old gushed about her fellow artists.

"Because we’re beautiful as f***," she said. "Girls are just easier to look at. If there’s ten guys in the room, but one girl, we’re all going to look at the girl. We just have this goddess energy about us and the guys don’t have that extra sense. They’re cool, though."

Ice Spice also broke down the popularity of Drill music, which has midwest origins.

"Drill is defined by the beats and the high-hat pattern and the 808 slides and stuff like that," she said. "But drill is expanding like crazy. It started in Chicago and it was Chief Keef and that whole movement. And then it went to the U.K. for a while and now that it’s back in New York, it’s in its final form. I just love the beats. For me that’s the most important aspect."

Elsewhere in the conversation, Badu spoke about her early fascination with hip-hop when it was burgeoning from New York City in the late '80s. Ice Spice was recently a part of a 50th anniversary of hip-hop campaign for Nike Air Force 1's.

"Even in hip-hop we, as B-boys and B-girls, consider ourselves artists. The teacher from the Boogie Down Bronx, KRS-One, he’s kind of like the prime minister of hip-hop," Badu said. "He keeps the culture informed and the guidelines in place. He once said, “Rap is something you do and hip-hop is something you live.” Hip-hop was break dancing, graffiti art, backpacking, DJing, MCing. And it came up out of a necessity. We didn’t have the entertainment industry to back that art. It was just something that we loved and did."