Prince ICE is a local Seattle Hip Hop // Rap music producer & artist. He began his music career by first learning to play piano and then started exploring and learning to make beats/instrumentals using Garage Band and then progressed to Logic Pro X. After high school prince studied MIDI music production for a little over a year at a community college in Seattle and then decided to drop out and work full time on his own personal music career. Currently Prince just released his self titled debut mixtape out now on all major music streaming platforms, and the OFFICIAL Roll It Up music video is being released April 20th.

Music Review

Exposed Vocals Score 8.8/10

Prince ICE creates chilled-out party vibes with the playful flow of his self-titled effort. Grooves feel incredibly nimble, for the melodies embrace an electro sort of style, one that has a loose, freewheeling quality to it. The production values make everything so crisp. By far the highlight of the album, and what ties all of it together, is Prince ICE’s impeccable vocals. His storytelling abilities cover topics as diverse as Xanax, relationships, and ambition. Embracing all of this together results in a full-bodied, joyous album one that positively teems with a lust for life.

A sample opens the album on the dreamy “Intro”. Harder rhythms reign supreme on the tense atmospherics of “iKnow”. Things slow down considerably on the luxurious “New”. Prince ICE explores the concept of avoiding Xanax with “No Xanax”. Tenderness imbues “All Night” with a delicate, fragile quality to it. Easily the highlight comes with the infectious melodies of “Buss A Move”. Everything works, with Prince ICE’s flow tapping into a wild, unhinged sort of spirit. From the beats to the incredibly lyricism, the whole thing possesses a tremendous power. Neon hues give “UP” a spacious quality to it. Following up on that style is the nostalgic tinged approach of “Lonely”. Layer upon layer of sound comes into the mix on the constantly evolving “Get High”. Bringing the collection to a close is the glowing work of “iKnow Part 2”.

“With their self-titled debut, Prince ICE explores a life lived to the absolute fullest.”

Exclusive Interview

Tell Us Your Story. Where Do you grow up ? Why did you decide to become an artist ?

So I grew up in a city right outside of Seattle called Bellevue. Its a very wealthy city, I went to school with lots of people who had big money in their family but that wasn’t really the case for me. I originally got into the Hip Hop culture way back in middle school maybe I think around 6th or 7th grade when I started to get interested in dancing.

The song Your A Jerk had just dropped and the “Jerking” dance had become really big and I got interested in that, I really liked the fast paced dance music and uptempo beats/instrumentals and I think you can definitely hear that in some of my music today. Once the interest in jerking throughout the Hip Hop culture died down I still stayed interested in it for some time but eventually I moved on and just became more interested in following relevant music artists and hip hop blogs you know staying up with recent news and shit. One of my friends from middle school who I will refer to as his artist name JONE$, he began rapping back when we were in middle school you know and him and I were always friends since back in the day. He really influenced and encouraged me to get involved in the music business you know and I was already really interested in the Hip Hop culutre but I never really thought about being able to live a dream like that and actually be an artist, I always just liked to follow other big artists. Eventually I really bought into this idea that I really could actually do this myself an live my dream of being an music artist. I joined my big bro JONE$ music group Higher ENT sometime in high school, I think that was 2013, and from there the rest is history. I started with helping with promotion and networking and eventually I started playing piano and learning to make beats and then I progressed to where I am at today you know, making my own beats and rapping, making my own songs as well as collaborating making beats for other artists and things like that. The biggest thing for me about being an artist is that I want to bring in a positive influence and change the world, you know make music about positive things not negative things like drugs or violence. One day I hope to change the world and make music people can relate to and help them get through things in life that I also may have faced.

Tips for smaller artists or bands.

Right now I am really still on the come up, so I don’t have too many tips on this because I am still learning myself and networking making my own connections. Although I will say it is really important to not loose faith in yourself. Keep faith in your vision ! Work hard and don’t let people who are hating get to you. Like I always like to say in my songs “I do my own thing” just do you, be yourself and not someone that other people want you to be.

Do you ever make mistakes during performances? How do you handle that ?

Of course. Everybody makes mistakes at some point. I think its really important that if you fuck some words up or miss the beat drop, you gotta just keep going! It won’t ruin the whole performance you know and people paid to come out to see you, that has to mean something. Its all about being an entertainer while your on stage and keeping people interested, sometimes you can even make a mistake and be able to pull it off and people wont notice easily or even roll with it and make it seem planned.

Do you tour ? Any interesting touring stories ?

At the moment I have not been on a tour yet so not much to say about this. However I am looking at booking some type of smaller West Coast tour at some point this summer. Starting in Seattle heading South and making stops/performances along the way probably ending in San Diego or LA. Maybe even make it to Arizona or Vegas.

Any planned studio upgrades? What are you working with now ?

Currently I use a iMac desktop computer as well as an Apple laptop for use on the go. My favorite DAW to use when producing music is definitely Logic Pro X. I also have a machine studio beatpad/ beat machine that I use when producing. For speakers right now I am currently bumping with some KRK ROKIT 6 G3 monitors. I love the way they sound man. One studio upgrade that I do need is a bigger MIDI keyboard cause the one I have now is small and is just easy to transport or take places with me but I want a new keyboard that has more keys.

How do you find ways to promote your music ?

For me there is a lot of different ways I look to promote my music. Anywhere from using my social media accounts like Twitter and Instagram or even getting sound cloud reposts or reaching out to new people and networking online. I also sometimes use fiverr to help with my music promotion. I have also learned that it is really important to pay

attention what your investing money in because somethings can be fake and they are just scamming you basically trying to steal your money.

If you could perform anywhere and with any artist dead or alive where and who would it be with? Why ?

Haha wow this is a good one. I think for me I would perform at the Fox Theatre in downtown Detroit with Big Sean. I know that place would be sold out BIG liiittttt. My parents are originally from Detroit and I have lots of family there still so I got a strong connection to Detroit. Sometimes I even refer to it as my hometown hah. I really like Big Sean just because of his originality and his variety in music he makes. I go back home to Detroit frequently and every time I am there I make sure that I make it downtown I love the city nightlife. I have always had dreams of performing at the Fox theatre there in Detroit in front of my family and a sold out crowd. I know 1 day imma make this happen and I can’t wait !

So, whats next ?

I just dropped my self titled debut project Prince ICE, out now on all major music streaming

platforms ! So I’m not in the a rush to put out new music right now but I will for sure drop some new slaps in April/May. Currently I am promoting and in the process of releasing the OFFICIAL Roll It Up music video, drops April 20th !

If you weren’t making music, what would you be doing ?

To be honest man I really don’t know. Some other things in life I was really interested in was cooking and playing football. To be real I never can see myself doing anything else. I ain’t giving up on myself, I’m all in with my music.

What should fans look forward to in the next year or so?

More new music and visuals !! Definitely keep a look out for live performances coming up. Like I said before I just dropped my debut project so I am super excited to get that out there and see which songs people really fuck with. I think the direction I go from here will definitely depend on the reactions I get from this most recent project you know based on which type of songs people like the most. I am also super excited to collab with new artists.

Any shout-outs ?

Much love to my big bro JONE$, we fam forever and y’all also need to check his music out.
Shoutout to my recording engineer Colin, he is dope as fuck I love working with him.
Shoutout my guy CTSbeats he is nice with the production I love working with him on beats and he also does some nice cover art.
Also shout out to my guy Neiko, he is like a big brother and a mentor to me.
And last shoutout to my girl Z, I love you shawty.