Iceberg Black is not quite like the rest of his contemporaries in the underground. Just one visit to his Twitter page makes that clear. His profile picture is a photoshopped mashup of 6ix9ine and Bobby Hill. His header photo is a screenshot from the Fallout video games about being shunned, and despite all of this, his music is anything but a joke.
His SoundCloud, with over nine thousand followers, has tracks dating as far back as 2013. Ever since his first upload, there has been a constant flow of new music. Throughout the years, Black’s music has transformed and taken different styles, yet throughout all of the changes, it has remained distinctly Iceberg Black.
When asked to describe his own style, Black responded with “I wouldn’t describe my style if it was my choice, but to oblige the readers I’ll say my style is unique. All I attempt to do is express myself through whatever I do.” He also added that he is not a fan of being categorized whatsoever. The 26-year-old Brooklyn native (who wanted readers to be told that he’s 2.6 million years old “because that’s when the last ice age was”) started rapping in the eighth grade when he and his friend made a remix of 50 Cent’s “I Get Money” rapping about “bummies” and “those tropical fantasy sodas for 50 cents that supposedly mess your sperm up.”
From then on, the young artist was hooked, and became enveloped with the world of hip-hop. Once Black decided to become serious about his music, he proceeded to provide fans with as much music as possible, without ever sacrificing quality. There are 10 unique projects on Black’s SoundCloud alone, all together showing the incredible versatility that he has as an artist. For instance the track “Is U Dumb?” off of the B.C. (Before Da Clout) Vol. 1 tape features Black in a relaxed, humourous state as he raps hilarious lines like “She wanna treat me like the Excalibur // Told her to watch it, I might damage her!” Alternatively, Black takes a much darker route on the track “She Only Pop It If The Molyneux” from the project Tombstone 3, as he raps over sombre strings with lyrics like “Back up on my grimy shit. // Tell whoever beefing, come and find me bitch.”
Despite knowing when to explore sounds and try to keep his music original, he also told Underground Underdogs about the one thing that he looks for in all of his beats. “That slap!!! Than, an amazing melody.” He explained further by stating “I love flipping samples, it’s way more entertaining than any video game I’ve ever played. It’s a passion, often I’ll create instrumentals on the spur to relax to and never release them.” He continued, breaking down his creative process, “Sporadic. When the inspiration hits me I have to lock in and get to work. Any time I get a rush of inspiration, it’s a blessing to me, no matter how it happens.”
In a world saturated with rappers trying to make it with gimmicks, Iceberg Black stands out for always prioritizing the sound of his music above everything else. The thousands of plays that he has garnered on his tracks are all a result of quality taste and fantastic work ethic, not viral videos or collaborations with bigger artists. Iceberg Black went on to say that his new project Iceberg is hands down his best yet, which comes as no surprise from an artist who has always worked to improve his music. Black finished by stating “I’m just super glad that I’m able to create such things, people are around to hear it, and a few people actually give a shit about it.” Stream Iceberg down below.