Lil Iceberg captures the essence of conventional New Orleans rap in a bottle — he uncorks it and watches as a swarm of nostalgia captivates his audience. With a soulja rag perpetually tied around his neck, the 28-year-old rapper unleashes a homegrown flow — heavily seasoned with gritty, vivid imagery and local landmarks — behind a medley of production styles. It’s a recipe the city needs, mixing one part Cash Money with a dash of imported chic spices that provides a dynamic sound emanating from the place you’d most expect.
“Big Ballin’ Freestyle” is a classic ode to Lil Iceberg’s upbringing. The track finds him relentlessly firing braggadocio street raps from the hip behind the Big Tymers’ “Big Ballin” instrumental. The track “Average” represents a complete tone shift untethered to a single regional sound – twinkling piano chords, standard issue high-hat rolls and concrete-cracking bass. Here, Ice Biggity softly delivers lines about systemic issues, gentrification, and the people relying on his success. No matter what end of the musical spectrum Iceberg decides to give that day, it’s all uniquely him.
Iceberg admits Playboi Carti can inspire him just as much as B.G. or fellow New Orleans rapper BMG Pound. The 13th Ward rapper – who got his rap name from Lil Wayne’s character in the Cash Money indie film “Baller Blockin” – was initially focused on his clothing line and saw a potential rap career as just another source of income. Before he started recording songs, he focused on learning the business. Once he began releasing tracks and spreading his music, his popularity grew across New Orleans’ bubbling corner of underground rap. His once side hustle has ballooned into his brightest path to national acclaim.
With a classic yet contemporary take on New Orleans rap, Iceberg has earned major buzz across the city. The attention has culminated in a spot on glbl wrmng’s collaborative project, glbl wrmng vol. 1, and opening live sets for Curren$y and Fredo Bang. Record deals have landed at Iceberg’s feet, but he admits he isn’t ready to put ink on a contract just yet. He understands his roots and culture, but it’s clear Lil Iceberg wants to master the business side of the music industry. His focus is on being a regional boss like his forefathers. Iceberg still has a lot to learn, but with the blueprint and inspiration laid by his forefathers like Master P and Birdman, he’ll pick up the game in no time.
Iceberg sounds like he might’ve just woken up from an afternoon nap when he answers the phone for our interview. The grogginess in his voice quickly disappears as the conversation focuses on the infancy days of his rap career, his influences, his progression as an artist, the current NOLA rap landscape, and how he sees himself within it. Near the end of the interview, he sounds like he could talk all day about what he sees and imagines for his rap career.
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What were your interests before you got the idea to start rapping?
I wish I could’ve been an inventor. But if I wasn’t rapping I’d probably still be hustling.
What would you want to invent?
I know it’s a long shot but I wish I could make a time machine so I could go help the slaves. [Laughs]. Nah, I’d just want to invent something that people need in the world. Just [something] to help people.
What were some of those first recording sessions like when you started rapping? Did it come naturally to you or was it a struggle to find your sound?
Yeah, it was definitely a struggle. I had to learn what would sell. The first time I started rapping, I was writing like regular doll raps trying to sound like a hip hop person. Then I learned what it’s gonna take to make it out. It’s still myself, but I know what it’s gonna take to make money and what it’s going to take to make me a better rapper.
Doll Raps?
You know, just regular hip hop stuff. Something that’s just good for the ears and not – I ain’t going to say good for the ears, but something that’s just regular hip hop and not turn up hip hop.
When you were still trying to figure out your style, who were some of your early supporters?
Nobody [laughs].
Really? Nobody?
It’s crazy how the shoe gets on the other foot. I went in with no intention of being the best rapper or nothing like that, so I never expected people to gravitate to me. And then it just so happens, when I start rapping I end up getting the city to start gravitating to me. So it’s crazy how you wouldn’t even think you’d like what you’re doing and the whole time it works. Nobody in my family started liking it until other people in the city started liking it. The city didn’t start liking me until I put myself on the internet and all over the blogs.
I know it was just your mom raising you. Did she play a lot of rap music around you growing up?
Nah. With my mom, that’s where I learned my R&B side from. I kind of listened to Erykah Badu and Sade because of her. She wasn’t against me rapping, she just never took it as serious.
Does any of her music influence your music?
Yeah, you could say that. In one of my songs I talk about gentrification. In [another] song I say something about my third eye. But listening to people like [Badu and Sade], they influenced my personality. Who really influenced my music [was] BMG Pound.
Yeah, I’m familiar with Pound.
Once he stopped rapping and went to jail, that’s when I started rapping cause that was my favorite rapper from the city.
What about BMG Pound influenced you as opposed to what you’d get from Birdman or B.G.?
It was new New Orleans; after Katrina New Orleans. It was my teenage generation growing up. He was basically speaking for the [people] in my age bracket. It was a different authenticity from what New Orleans was regularly getting.
Some of the first records I found from you were “Say When” and “Paperchaser.” Even though you are so New Orleans with your style, the production on those songs don’t sound like New Orleans at all.
Facts.
How do you juggle staying true to your style when doing records that can sound foreign at first?
Those beats aren’t New Orleans, but they got a lil’ bop to it. I can’t really make a song unless I can do the Beenie Weenie to it. That’s what it takes for me to get the New Orleans flow in it. If it’s not a New Orleans sounding beat, it’s going to have a bop to it for me to get on it.
As long as it has that little bit you need, you can turn it into a New Orleans record whenever you want.
Yeah! As long as it has the right drums. It has to have the beat pattern. It’s really the Magnolia Clap beat pattern. That’s how I catch those beats.
You’ve said before that rapping was more of a side hustle for you and that clothing was always first. But now that you’ve been rapping for about four years now, have you been learning more musical theory and song structure?
Yeah. I played in the band when I was young, so I always had a passion for music. I just started hustling when it came to the industry with clothing first. Everything [I make] has to be in sync, and the beat has to be in sync with my flow. And I’m learning how to write better songs. I’m turning into more of an artist, and [music] hustle has been taking more of my focus than the clothing hustle.
Have you noticed your progression as an artist?
If I had the same type of money I had I could’ve made it by now. I feel like the journey I’m taking is shaping me to be the person that I think I want to be. I’m smart enough to run my own label, so I feel like the time I’m taking is just getting me prepared for when I get in the game, to own myself right and be a top artist. I’m learning how to put my personal life into music [and] make good music.
You clearly tap into Nola nostalgia in your music while also having your own style embedded in it. Are you ever concerned about your style being put in a box as a New Orleans rapper and reaching a larger audience?
Most definitely. The Playboi Carti-type beats are what I favor. But I like rapping in New Orleans. I just be myself on those records. What I’m not scared of is the outside world. I’m scared about New Orleans not [liking] it. [I’m] scared that certain generations are not [liking it] – the youth not [liking it]. But the outside world [like me] fasho! I aint even worried about that. I already know that I can make it just off the outside world.
What gives you so much confidence that everyone else would embrace it?
Nobody big from New Orleans talked to me first. Everyone big who has reached out has been from other cities; they showed me they appreciate it and told me I have a shot. I could have already been on a label. By me coming in the game by myself, I didn’t know what I needed. I had to pass up on things because I didn’t know what I was doing.
A lot of your body of work so far has been singles and features. You’re working on your debut album now. Has it been difficult to go from only focusing on singles to now working on a full-length project?
Only because of my regular life. If my regular life wasn’t so hectic, maybe I’d have more time to work on my body of work. But I’m learning that pushing one single around the world will blow you up, too. A lot of the music I have, I feel like is good music, and I feel like it’s timeless music. I can push [singles] around the world and run it up, it’ll boost me up If I can blow up on this song and then let them blow up my other songs.
New Orleans rap is still a big influence for outside artists. Do you think the New Orleans rap scene has been able to evolve the sound enough to capture its essence while also staying fresh and relevant?
Us having a nice gumbo mixture of artists now, we can stand with all the big cities. You got [Stone Cold] Jzzle with his swag. You got Rob49 with his swag. You got Kenneth Brother with his swag. I don’t know too many people that sound like them or Neno [Calvin] or me. I feel like all of us together, that’s a threat.
To keep up with Lil Iceberg, follow him on Instagram and Twitter. Check out his Spotify and YouTube for more music.
