ICECOLDBISHOP is exactly what his name embodies, and he’s here to make a lasting impact on the rap game. Born and raised in Los Angeles, the rising star recently unleashed his new single and visual titled “THE GOV’T GAVE US GUNS,” which yields a bold statement addressing society’s obsession with guns and violence — marked by his own experiences growing up in the city of Angels.
In describing himself, ICECOLDBISHOP states, he’s ”a young, responsible young man from Los Angeles, California. I’m just an artist in all capacities: music, film. A rapper first though.”
Currently signed to Epic Records, ICECOLDBISHOP first broke out with his debut single titled “Porch.” Soon after, he blessed the world with a captivating performance of “IRATE” on COLORS, showcasing his introspective lyricism and undeniable energy on the mic.
And if there’s one thing he wants to take away from his music, it’s motivation.
AllHipHop caught up with ICECOLDBISHOP in downtown Los Angeles, to discuss his sound, his roots, love for 50 Cent, his new release, relationship with Alchemist, forthcoming album, and more!
AllHipHop: How would you describe your sound?
ICECOLDBISHOP: My sound is a medley of everything that I’m inspired by. I’m inspired by G-funk. I’m inspired by Southern artists. Some of my favorite artists are from New York: Pusha, 50 Cent. Wayne. But I’m inspired by a medley of things. I love soul music a lot, and funk. A lot of genres inspire me.
AllHipHop: What part of Los Angeles are you from?
ICECOLDBISHOP: I’m from South Central. I grew up off the Adams area, South Central too. My grandmother lived on 39th Street and Budlong, so I grew up over there. I used to go stand on the corner, hearing the USC games and hearing the whole crowd. I could stand on the corner, you can see USC just as clear as that building right there in front of us.
I used to hear the crowd roaring and hearing all the games, hearing everything. Right by the Coliseum, my family had a spot over there. Just all up and down Kings. I grew up like West LA too, that’s where I lived at. A medley of South Central/West LA, so Crenshaw, Jefferson, all the way over here. I was moving around all over LA, but I’m LA/South Central fasho.
AllHipHop: When did you realize you wanted to do music?
ICECOLDBISHOP: I found a passion for at least trying to start writing music. When I heard 50, I said I think I want to do this. I was a Ludacris fan before 50 Cent, but once I heard 50, I think I can do this. That’d be end of 2002/2003, because I had this mixtape that leaked before that.
Then Get Rich Or Die Tryin’ came out, so I said I want to try to do this. I was a big Hot Boys fan before that too. ‘97, ‘98, ‘99, 2000: I was a super big Hot Boys fan. Super. [laughs]
AllHipHop: Obviously you love Wayne then?
ICECOLDBISHOP: I love Wayne, so it started right there. Once Wayne did his individual thing, oh s###. Okay, yeah. He started to holler out that best rapper alive and I believed him.
AllHipHop: You got a favorite Carter of his?
ICECOLDBISHOP: 2, out of all of them. Out of 1, 2, 3, 4, 5… 2.
AllHipHop: How’d you get your name?
ICECOLDBISHOP: Bishop is my middle name. Ice Cold, just ice cold with it. It just sounds good. My name gave me that vibe of 1970’s monikers, like Superfly. It had a ring to it, it felt prolific just hearing it all together. It felt like something you want to hear. If you hear ICECOLDBISHOP dropping a rap album, you probably gonna listen to it. If you hear ICECOLDBISHOP dropping a rage album, you’re probably gonna listen to it. If you hear ICECOLDBISHOP is about to drop a funk album, you’re probably gonna listen to it. The name attached to any genre still makes sense to me, so that’s what made me go with that name.
AllHipHop: “THE GOV’T GAVE US GUNS” is a very powerful record. What were you going to recording this one?
ICECOLDBISHOP: I was just reflecting. I was having a lot of conversations with people in my community about what was going on in the community. One of the things that was talked about was how we feel like weapons probably got into the community. It was a conversation, and turned into a whole song. But the conversation thematically fit what I was already doing at the time when I was making this project, so it was almost a conversation turned song.
But these are the conversations we have all the time too, then just getting information. Understanding how LA works and how s### works period. That’s how that song came about: real life experiences, others’ experiences. Inside of that one record.
AllHipHop: What inspired the music video?
ICECOLDBISHOP: So I wrote the treatment myself. I pretty much write all the treatments for my videos.
I wanted to perfectly capture exactly what I was saying. I didn’t want to do too much, I didn’t want to not do enough. But I definitely wanted to make sure I was capturing everything that I was saying. Putting the imagery behind the words made the song a little bit more powerful as well. I’m one of those artists that even if you don’t have a video for it, you can almost see everything that I’m saying. Because I try to that descriptive.
AllHipHop: How’d you find your way to Epic Records?
ICECOLDBISHOP: Really, working with Ceremony of Roses and AG Club. Coming out doing a song with AG Club, the “NOHO” song. We connected on that feature. I came out and performed my set at the Roxy. When I performed my set at the Roxy, Sylvia Rhone from Epic was there. She tapped in on us.
I came out, did my six. That was even before my Day N’ Vegas. So yes, it was that performance. They seen it, they tapped in. Heard the music, seen the vision. Understood where I was coming from and where I wanted to go, and it made sense for both parties.
AllHipHop: What is it you want fans to get from your story?
ICECOLDBISHOP: The most important thing I want to do with my story is motivate. I’m from LA, I don’t gangbang. I’m not familiar, but I’ve been through a lot of the same stuff everybody’s been through. But I’ve also been very smart about the decisions that I’ve made, that I definitely didn’t let my area growing up define me type s###.
I did what I did, but I don’t let that be what I introduce myself as. I don’t let my problem with the way I’m introducing myself. I try to be a beacon of light for s### in different situations. I’m an artist, I’m not coming in here to be the biggest nothing but artist. I’m trying to be the greatest artist. My story will unfold as it happens, but for right now, I want m############ to know I’m here to give everybody great music and art to talk about. Even 10 years from now.
AllHipHop: What’s your relationship with Alchemist?
ICECOLDBISHOP: Big Alc! S###, the relationship with Alchemist really comes from my guy Chuck Inglish. Chuck my boy. I had a session with Chuck and Slade Da Monsta, we made a bunch of s###. Me and Chuck have a great working relationship, still do have a good working relationship. We was chopping it up. He knew I wanted to work with Alch, he told me to pull up on him and Alc. I pulled up on Alc, and Boldy was there. The rest was history. I pulled up something and we got to work. It was pretty dope, Alc’s a cool dude too.
AllHipHop: What can we expect from the album?
ICECOLDBISHOP: Dope music. “THE GOV’T GAVE US GUNS” is definitely a sample size of where we’re going with direction wise for this project. I played for a lot of people, I haven’t gotten any bad responses. It’s been pretty, pretty positive. Extremely positive, almost too good to be true. I’m excited for everybody to hear it.
It’s a lot of different vibes on there. I try a couple different things out. People get to hear all the voices that I can do and all this s### I’m capable of, at least up until that point. I’ve grown more even since I’ve recorded this project. I made this project 2018/2019. It’s been done for some years now, so I’m just ready to finally let people hear it.
AllHipHop: Do you feel you outgrew it?
ICECOLDBISHOP: Nah, not at all. Not at all. I feel like it’s right on time. I’m growing as an artist so once people hear and they hear what I’m growing, they’ll appreciate the progression. They’ll appreciate how much I have grown as an artist, once we get to that point. Where we’re at with this album right now, we’re still pushing the envelope.
Those expectations or everything that I’m saying, that’s what I’m putting on myself. Everyone else says “bro, you already…” That’s how it feels, at least what they’re saying. At least musically, with this project. I definitely feel it’s going to be an album that’s talked about throughout the rest of this year.
AllHipHop: One thing fans may not know about you?
ICECOLDBISHOP: Let me see. When I was seven, my PlayStation 2 broke. This before Google and all that s###, I know what to do. So I took that m########### apart. [laughs] I put that b#### back together and it started working again. I got a picture too. When I was seven or eight, I fixed my own PlayStation without the help of nobody.
AllHipHop: Do you have any goals for yourself?
ICECOLDBISHOP: Yeah, I just want to be consistent. People want to see more consistency for me. I just want to be consistent. That’s the goal that I have for myself, is to continually make the people that support me happy and satisfied as consumers. Because at the end of the day, that’s what we do it for: the people.
AllHipHop: Anything else you want to let us know?
ICECOLDBISHOP: Album coming out first quarter. Album of the year. Once this comes out, you don’t need anything else coming out the rest of the year.