Emirati producer Icekream on adding spice to the music world

Emirati music producer Issam Freiha, professionally known by his cool moniker Icekream, has a fresh new song out called ‘Ablaze’ featuring rapper Tully. Its slick beats and classic hip hop groove are a testament to Icekream’s talent, and this artist says he’s just one part of an already rich Arab music tapestry.

“Arabic hip hop has been around for a long time... and metal music, so what we’re doing right now is just spicing it all up and adding a bit of an oud to it,” he said in a Zoom interview with Gulf News, when asked if he felt he was breaking barriers in the music world. “The Middle East is so large and diversified.”

Icekream, who was in Miami at the time of the interview, has released a string of singles and his last EP was the five-track effort ‘Night Feel’. In our interview, the musician opened up about whether he has plans for a full-fledged album, the state of world music and how his once-sceptical dad is now his biggest supporter.

It feels like the song was recorded for the music video... because it’s like a 1920s speakeasy type of hip hop, trappy setting/vibe. It’s quite minimal, just a nice baseline, a nice beat. My friend Tully did a good job rapping over it with his flow. I think the whole thing is suited quite well for what is a winter track for all the Londoners out there and all the people in that part of the world. It’s a bit hotter in the UAE and in Miami, but yeah it’s kind of a cool little track.

I do think that’s true. Sometimes you can just make the beat and be on your way. In my situation, I’m kind of like a creative controller/creative director from start to finish. It’s very hands on, as much as possible. Sometimes it’s a little too remote when we’re not all in the same countries and cities... But I made it a point to get a visual for every song that I make. Because I want to give a visual identity, not just a sonic audio identity to my music as well.

Yes, it’s kind of weird. It’s like, my name is actually Icekream for a reason. Turns out that the many different flavours [are] basically part of my DNA as a music producer, and the kind of beats that I dish out and offer are like a variety of flavours.

The new generation of music producers, like myself, that started in the 2010s — where everyone had access to everything they needed via their one and only laptop — spurred what you see today, which is what we’re doing; sending things around via email, doing things quickly, DIY. It’s a very mobile business, for us at least.

I like it. I was used to that kind of situation before. It gives the producer more control when he’s working with vocals. If we can’t physically be together with the vocal artist. For hip hop, it’s a little more simple. There’s usually the rapper, who writes everything themselves. And then I supply the beats. Together, those two concepts marry. And then we have a song.

That’s a very good question. The answer is no, the music wasn’t really blasting in my household. It was kind of around me, the moment that I left the household. Now, of course, you’d hear Arabic music here and there. I did grow up in France so I was more accustomed and kind of attuned to French music. But music was really more outside of the house, on the radio, etc.

It was really, I’d say, in my early teens that I became a fan of it on a deeper level. And I started understanding what the artists were saying, whether it be Arabic or English. And I started asking questions of ‘what do they mean by this? Is that what they mean? Is that a pun? Is this kind of a metaphorical phrase?’ That’s when I started to really question the meaning of music.

Yeah... it was 50/50 to start with — it was one parent versus the other. But to be quite honest, my father was a supporter of music as a hobby. But the moment I said, ‘Hey, I would love to do this professionally, please’, they said no... Because it’s an old school type of mentality within our culture. For him, certainly [he questioned] why would you want to bank on something that is so volatile and insecure... So it was too much of a gamble from his point of view. And I understand that... I had to I had to prove it. I [felt like] it would be so sweet if I were to make anything out of myself and he was present to enjoy and understand what it means. And he did and he became a huge fan and cheerleader — he talks about me to his friends.

Every industry has its ups and downs and set of challenges. Music is a bit different because [it’s the process of creating] something that doesn’t exist to something that does exist, which is still not tangible but emits such strong emotion. It’s a business that a lot of people want to be in because of the euphoria related to it and you want to be that provider of good feeling. But it’s very difficult because every different country and culture and place has its own relationship with music and how they view artists.

Yeah, absolutely... There was like this dominance of English speaking music... from America and the UK. There were songs that were appearing that are Bollywood or Latin or French, like Stromae who is Belgian. But Latin music was really a tidal wave that took over and became the number one music [genre] and YouTube proved that with the metrics with everyone’s favourite song ‘Despacito’.... you couldn’t stop this tidal wave. It was on every station in every country, every request.

Not really, because the Americans aren’t too familiar with Emirati music or culture... They’re just kind of impressed that I’m here all the way in the States carrying that flag. And that I’m doing hip hop... electronic music... now a bit of reggaeton.

Yes! Now, will the album be this year I’m not sure. I’ve come to realise that at this point, in particular, for someone like me, who’s really working his way up, climbing up the ladder, I want to just keep dishing out different songs and singles. And just focus on each flavour or each song or each scoop, and give that its own life and an identity before releasing a large, comprehensive body of work... When I have the right features and the timing feels like this is the moment where I’m going to give them a 10-song album or a 15-song album, I will definitely do that at some point.