The IceJJFish appeal centers on the disconnect between how seriously Mcloyd performs and how his vocals actually sound. His videos usually show him deadpan-serenading a woman while singing high-pitched, wildly off-key notes over slow R&B beats, with the confidence of someone who thinks he is delivering hit material2. Viewers cannot fully tell whether the whole thing is a bit or a real bid at music stardom.

The catalogue includes original tracks like 'On the Floor' and 'No Topping You' alongside covers of mainstream hits like Drake's 'Hold On, We're Going Home'3. The YouTube description for 'On the Floor' infamously called Mcloyd 'comparable to the second coming of Jesus.. maybe even 2pac,' a claim the Huffington Post mocked in its writeup by asking whether the video was 'a real effort from a real person'1. That combination of straight-faced grandiosity and comically bad execution is what turned him into a recurring reference point rather than a one-off clip.

IceJJFish is a person and a music catalogue rather than a template, so 'using' the meme usually means sharing one of his tracks, typically 'On the Floor' or the Drake cover, as a go-to example of earnest but wildly off-key singing. His clips often get dropped into threads about the worst music videos ever made, or paired with straight-faced captions that mirror the tone of his own 'Jesus.. maybe even 2pac' description.