Ice Spice Finds Unlikely (And Slightly Vulgar) Career Inspiration From ‘SpongeBob Squarepants’

What’s your favorite moment in SpongeBob SquarePants history? Is it “I remember when they first invented chocolate”? Or “Sweet Victory”? Or maybe it’s the time Mr. Krabs told SpongeBob to “go the f*ck home.”

In a cover story for Rolling Stone, rapper Ice Spice talked about how SpongeBob SquarePants — both the unstoppable Nickelodeon series and the endlessly optimistic character — has inspired her work ethic.

“I think I learned a lot from that show,” she said. “He never wanted a day off, even when Mr. Krabs would tell him, ‘Go the f*ck home.’ He’d be like, ‘No, I need to work.’”

So that’s what SpongeBob characters are saying under the dolphin noise.

Later, Ice Spice discussed the response to the cover artwork for her upcoming album, Y2K! (here’s something to make you feel old: the first SpongeBob SquarePants episode aired seven months before the turn of the millennium).

“Throughout my entire career, I don’t think I’ve ever had a moment of strictly praise. I think, through it all, there was always a lot of hate,” she said. “And I kind of appreciate that, because I find that when people are only love, they’re not as real. I don’t dwell on how people are perceiving me, whether it’s negative or positive, because that’s really what you sign up for when you put yourself out there on a public platform. It’s for people to make their opinions about you.”

Y2K! comes out on July 26.