On the heels of hip hop formally marking its fiftieth anniversary, the supervisor behind one of many style’s newest superstars — Ice Spice — is dishing on her meteoric rise to the highest, in addition to what recommendation he has for different artists.
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Ice Spice’s Manager Describes Not “Boxing Her In” & Valuing Her Authenticity: “You Have To Be Unique”
During a current sit-down with Complex, James Rosemond Jr. mentioned a number of the ways in which the rapper’s workforce helped her take off.
After remarking that he and Ice Spice crossed paths after “manifest[ing] each other,” he detailed what “makes her different” from a few of her different contemporaries.
“She’s very marketable. If you look at her image, it’s clear there’s no one that looks like her. And I think we’re in a time that you have to be unique.”
He added that, whereas loads of potential stars are “trying to carbon copy or just be the same as someone else,” the true magic happens when folks maintain it “authentic.”
“You have to be different. You have to be you. You got to be authentic. Because we find a lot of artists trying to carbon copy or just be the same as someone else, and that can only get you so far.”
Rosemond identified that he targeted on “empowering” Ice Spice “from the jump,” and he helped “transform” her affect into inventive “credibility.”
“I think we did a great job of not boxing her in, making sure she wasn’t boxed in as an influencer. And as you know, it’s hard for that to translate into music the way it’s doing now. So I think we did a great job doing that.”
James Rosemond Jr. Says Watching An Artist Grow Is Part Of The “Beauty” Of The Industry
While discussing Ice Spice’s profession, Rosemond additionally touched on a number of the doubts folks had about her as an artist — particularly after her notorious Rolling Loud efficiency final yr.
He famous that when powerful occasions hit, it’s his job to assist Ice Spice and her workforce know there should be “time for development.”
“It comes down to having real conversations, but I think it’s also managing expectations. And part of that conversation is like, ‘Look, “Munch” blew up so quick. There needs to be time for improvement.’ So to guarantee that she is aware of that, the workforce is aware of that. And that’s why we go into rehearsals.”
He additionally identified that social media provides an entire new layer to the state of affairs, as poor performances weren’t “really magnified” as a lot previously.
“When those things happen like Rolling Loud LA, social media, they magnify a lot of these different moments and highlight things, not knowing that there’s a lot of work that still [needs] to be done. And compared to back in the day where there wasn’t social media, if an artist had a bad show, that wasn’t really magnified.”
Nonetheless, it’s all about fostering “development” whereas “play[ing] catch up,” which Rosemond calls “the beauty of it.” After all, “Now you get to see the growth. You get to ride on this journey with us and see her evolve into the superstar that we know she is.” Period!
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