music
Music Spotlight: Rico Nasty
Please allow us to introduce female DMV rapper, producer, singer, and overall badass person, Rico Nasty (@riconastyposts). She’s not afraid to speak her mind and hip-hop allows her to do that.
We recently connected with her to shed light on her process, what kind of challenges there are for female rappers, who inspires her unique style, and what goes into truly not giving a fuck.
How would you describe your music to them in a sentence or two?
I yell a lot and I don’t give a fuck.
Name three people that inspire your style or aesthetic?
Rihanna. I love Rihanna so much. Then there’s this girl on Instagram called UglyWorldwide and she’s dope as fuck. It’s refreshing to get online and see someone constantly pushing the beauty standard. The other girl is MeLoveMeALot. She’s fucking slaying. I love people that pull from out-of-the-box shit. They really influence me when I wake up to not be afraid to look like a fuckin’ weirdo because I know that somewhere someone else is doing the exact same. I wear what the fuck I want to wear because this spoke to me. I dress based on how I feel.
What kind of challenges do you face being a female rapper today?
A whole lotta being overlooked.
If there was one thing you could change about the music world today, what would it be?
I wish that it could be like how it is for the guys where there can be more than just one top artist. If there’s more than one top male artist there should be more than one top female artist. And I’m not saying over a generation of time, I’m talking about at one point. And the men don’t stop and they work so hard until they get that shit like they don’t give a fuck. The women get put down so much that they just stop and they think nobody cares or nobody noticed because there’s always somebody being at the top. It just never stops.
What are you working on right now? Musically and personally?
Musically, I’m working on a re-release for Nasty. That should drop before the end of this year. There’s gonna be six songs. Another thing musically is music videos. I’ve got some really dope shit dropping soon, so I’m really excited about that. I haven’t dropped a video in some time so I’m excited to give my fans that. And personally, I have been working on getting some rest. China was amazing and everywhere I went was amazing and I hope that I’m blessed enough to go back. That show was really dope seeing that music can give people power on the whole other side of the world. It’s inspiring to me and makes me want to keep going fucking crazy.
What kind of role do you think female rappers play for the male rappers in the industry?
I’m not sure if we affect what they do, ‘cause I know that they don’t really affect what we do. I don’t think that they gain anything from us or learn anything from us or are influenced by what we do. I think they’re men and they think like men, and we’re women. I think the trend recently is to be gangster on both ends and that’s everybody.
Based on your musical journey so far, what’s your biggest takeaway or piece of advice so far?
The biggest thing that I’ve learned myself from just watching and being in the moment is that a person has more power than they allow themselves to believe that they do. A lot of people don’t think that they’re worthy of anything or that the nice things they say can make somebody’s day but it really does. People either like to give themselves too much power and brag about it, or they don’t give themselves enough power. And that’s why vibe with my fans is so tight because when they talk to me I actually listen.
I would tell my fans that are like 14 and 15, shit, 16 and 17 that, you know, shit might seem like you don’t have control over a lotta shit and it might seem like you’re confused about life or you’re confused about how all this shit is about to happen or how you’re gonna be. They have to understand that the world is theirs and they can do whatever they want. They have to believe in themselves.
Want more of Rico? Check out her music here and be sure to follow her @riconastyposts.