Rico Nasty is really easy to root for. The line between material desire and total invulnerability is hard to gauge, but Rico does it so well, that she's become a folk hero in the process of letting things flow naturally. In February, Rico let us into her private domain in the Fader-produced Countin Up, a 20-minute documentary made available "free of charge" on YouTube.
This past week, Rico Nasty's Anger Management project dropped, withstanding the threat of being overshadowed by ScHoolboy Q's return to the fold, and a myriad of tabloid-level stories. Of the 9 tracks that make up Anger Management project, "Hatin" speaks to the millennials like no other, in its manipulation of Jay-Z sample. Personally-speaking, "Dirt Off Your Shoulder" takes me back to a period in my life unimaginably "perfect." Jay-Z's music left a similar mark on Rico Nasty's; she spoke about in a 2017 interview with Wonderland Magazine.
“I guess I’ve always been into music because my dad does music. My mum used to always play music around the house when I was younger. She was playing Shakira and Beyonce, Mariah Carey, all that type of stuff, and my dad was playing Jay-Z,” she said. While it's pretty difficult to place her influences in order of importance, something tells me Rico Nasty owes it to her dad for pushing Roc-A-Fella in the household. Would a hysterical Rico Nasty character subsist on Shakira and Beyonce alone, probably not?
Quotable Lyrics:
I just got my first crib, it's stainless steel in the kitchen
I be playing with them bags even though that it ain't Christmas
I'm just speakin' straight facts and I hope that you listen.
- Rico Nasty