Artist: Rico Nasty

Album: Nasty

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Background

Maria-Cecilia Simone Kelly, AKA TACOBELLA AKA Rico Nasty is a 21 year old Maryland based rapper famous for her unique fusion of pop, hip-hop, trap, and metal. The name Rico comes the fact that her Mom's side of the family hails from Puerto Rico, and she started using Rico Nasty as her Instagram handle when she was a teenager.

Citing her biggest trap influences as Gucci Mane and Chief Keef as well as artists outside of hip-hop like Amy Winehouse and Toro y Moi Rico originally broke onto the scene with help from Lil Yachty on a remix of her track ‘Hey Arnold’. She has continuously released music since high-school, and prior to 'Nasty' in 2017 she released two mixtapes: Tales of Tacobella and Sugar Trap 2 the latter of which reaching moderate success with songs like Key Lime OG and Poppin.

While most of her early work definitely brought with it a lot of sugar rather than spice 2018 seemed to mark refinement in Rico Nasty's sound with the introduction of key collaborator throughout 2018 Kenny Beats on the non-album single to start the year 'Smack a Bitch' where Rico Nasty really began to embrace her personality and raspy voice to separate her music from the rest of the pop-trap field, and this continued onto her single 'Rage', and was a sign of things to come going into her project which released on June 15th, 2018 'Nasty'.

Review

Bitch I'm Nasty... Bitch I'm Nasty Bitch I'm Nasty Bitch I'm Bitch I'm Nasty

Rico's personality shines on one of the hardest and unapologetic trap records of the year. It's an album filled with hilarious one-liners and a ton of hard hitting production credits by her aforementioned collaborator Kenny Beats as well as others, and cements Rico Nasty as one of the most interesting faces entering the trap genre within the last few years.

'Nasty' is a project that more than anything feels like an introduction. With the cover featuring a self portrait and the opening track 'Bitch I'm Nasty' Nasty feels like Rico showing the listener who she is and what she is about. It's a project that gives very little time to breath as you are hit with one trap banger after another. Very few if any projects this year really bring with it the same level of intense energy that this project does for the majority of it's run time, and it's all the more impressive considering that this project only contains two small features from both BlocBoy JB and Lil Gnar on the tracks 'In The Air' and 'Transformer' Respectively

Although Nasty sticks to a fairly concise 36 minutes she does a lot in the 36 minutes. While the highlights of the project are no doubt the more aggressive ones like 'Bitch I'm Nasty', 'Countin' Up, and 'Rage' Rico also shows her capability as an artist to mix up the sound to keep it from being too one dimensional without sacrificing the wit and personality that makes Rico an interesting artist. The track that encapsulates this ability the most is the track 'Pressing Me' where Rico comes through with a hushed delivery over a dark and moody beat that does a great job at breaking up the album into more digestible chunks while still feeling like you are getting what you came to the album to get which is personality

While this album no doubt marks an evolution in Rico Nasty as an artist she does on occasion go back to the more traditional pop-trap songs she was more known for on tracks like 'Hockey' and 'Won't Change' but even though in a sense she is bringing it back to her roots as an artist with the help of the capable producers on this project these songs sound much more engaging and crisp in comparison to much of her old body of work. This album in a way feels like a coming of age album. Accepting her attitude and personality for who she is rather than what she was or what people expected of her. As you start to get going on the 2nd half of the album you get Rico at her most introspective on the track 'Life Back' with the hook:

Everybody wanna act like they know me They said they want the old me Back, back, back, back, back, back, back

It's very fitting that after a song that keeps it calm and poppy while discussing her evolution as an artist that she'd follow it with one of the most intense songs on the album with the track 'Transformer' featuring Lil Gnar. Where Rico gives one of her highest energy deliveries on the album during the hook.

Off of transformer, you a informer I'ma deform ya, let them thangs torch ya She hot, scorchin', you cannot afford this Bad bitch wit me and she look so gorgeous

As one of the few features on the projects Lil Gnar also compliments Rico very nicely to give us something hard outside of Rico's normal inflection she gives in the more aggressive cuts, and is definitely the most intense verse you'll find on the entire project. If there is one thing to be praised about this album from a structure standpoint is how fun it is. There is rarely a dull moment, and the entire album flies by as you are bombarded by bar after bar and killer beat after killer beat throughout the entire project.

By this point we begin to enter the final stretch of the project starting with another introspective pop-trap cut on the track 'Why Oh Why' where she dives a bit deeper another recurring theme throughout the album which is her spending habits. Spending money with her new found success is something she enjoys, but at the same time it also brings with it a lot of complications especially with giving her a bit of a superiority complex, as well as fear that those around her are only there to take what she's earned. It feels like once again she uses another one of her hooks to really inform the listener as to what is going through her head. While all this success begins to build all she keeps asking herself is:

Don't let life pass you by, waste money on what I buy I don't know why, oh why? I don't know why, oh why?

It's this introspection that you get on tracks like this, 'Life Back', and 'Lala' to close out the album that really add another layer on top of Rico Nasty as an artist that she uses to separate herself from the field when it comes to trap music. Although obviously not the first to do it the way she tackles topics even if they are brief feels like a breath of fresh air both on the album and the current music landscape in general without coming off as preachy or overly sentimental.

While not technically the end of the album 'Rage' is certainly the climax. As a song I think it mixes the best elements of hip-hop, trap, and Metal with a bit of a punk flare better than almost any other song that has been released as a part of this trend, and feels like a culmination of everything both Rico and this project have been working towards in 2018. Hard is an understatement when it comes to this track, and it shows her ability to not just dabble in certain sub-genres of trap and hip-hop, but to fully embrace it and create something that is uniquely her own.

The one big success of this album above all else is that it always remains entertaining. It's a project that never strays into dull territory whether it's switching between the hard hitting tracks like 'Trust Issues' and 'Rage' or when it goes into the more poppy tracks like 'Hockey' and Won't Change'. Or even when it get's more introspective on songs like 'Life Back' and 'Why Oh Why' the album never loses it's sense of fun. It's a triumph in trap that deserves respect, and should put Rico Nasty on the list of names you should know because the biggest thing to take away from this project is that Rico is here, and she's here to stay.

Favorite Lyrics

No race, I went easy 'cause the pace I been pushin' In the stew, I'm like a chef, they like, "Rico, what you cookin'?" Probably one of these bitches' heads, I'm better than all the rest No this is not a drill, hoe, this shit is not a test

Countin' Up

You'll be surprised what people do when they ain't got no options Smoking sticky cookies, it reminded me of chocolate Set the bar high, know it's hard for you to top it I lost my mind a while ago, don't think I'm gonna find it

Hockey

How you feel Rico? Bitch I feel great! Huh? I see you gettin' money, oh my god, bitch you’re so late It’s like a sixth sense, I can tell when a bitch fake

Oreo

Discussion Questions

• Where do you see Rico Nasty in 5 years? Do you hope she keeps trying to blend all the types of hip-hop she does on her projects? Or do you want her to focus on individual styles?

• How did you feel about this project after repeat listens?

• While certainly not the first artist to fuse trap and metal, how do you think she compares to other artists attempting the sound? Do you think it's a sound that is here to stay?

• Those of you familiar with her work prior to 'Nasty' Were you happy with this project?