Rico Nasty Embraces Her Multiplicity on "Anger Management"
Rico Nasty is one of the most fascinating, dynamic, and badass artists to break into the rap scene in recent years. Her assent through the ranks of hip hop began in 2016 when she came into contact with artist Lil Yachty. Yachty saw potential in the up and coming rapper and lent himself to a remixed version of Rico Nasty’s song “Hey Arnold.” This remix is what brought to bring her into the consciousness of hip hop fans at large. After the “Hey Arnold” remix, Rico Nasty continued to find success and garner an audience with tracks such as “Key Lime OG,” “Poppin” (both from her 2017 mixtape Sugar Trap 2) and “Smack a Bitch,” released in 2018.
With these singles along with her previous mixtapes, Rico Nasty asserts herself as a tough and imposing character who does not take shit from anyone. She lives her life on her own terms. She acts how she wants, dresses how she wants, and does whatever she pleases. Her confidence is not one that comes from a place of ego or arrogance. Instead, it is the result of immense resilience from someone who has been through the pitfalls of love, death, grief, and motherhood all before the age of 21.
Cover Art for Rico Nasty’s breakout 2018 mixtape, Nasty (2018)
Rico Nasty saw her career gain immense momentum in the summer of 2018 with the release of her mixtape Nasty. For many, Nasty was their first introduction to the wonderfully chaotic world of Rico. Here is a rapper who is wholly in your face for the nearly forty minute run of the project. Nasty in several respects serves as Rico Nasty’s manifesto to the rap scene. On the project, she is loud, her voice is strained and raspy, her flow is punchy, and her rhymes are straight to the point. With Nasty, Rico tells the audience that she is not like any other rapper currently in the game and she will not compromise herself one bit to fit into any kind of mold imposed upon her.
With her stake in the hip-hop scene firmly established, Rico Nasty has only built upon the spotlight she has found for herself within the last year. Since Nasty, she has released several singles and music videos, performed at festivals such as Coachella, starred in a documentary for FADER, and most recently, put out her highly anticipated new mixtape, Anger Management. Produced by her main collaborator Kenny Beats, Anger Management is a strong addition to Rico’s already strong discography. The title alone is a play on the assertion by some that Rico Nasty is “too angry” or aggressive in her musical style and cultural presence. Rico’s mixtape is not a mitigation of anger, but an embrace of it in the most energetic and hyped up way possible.
Anger Management begins with a computerized voice that asks “Aren't you tired of the same old thing? At every day, every minute, every second?” This is the first of several samples and interludes that serve as thematic threads throughout the length of the project. With the questions asked, the tone shifts quickly from contemplative to chaotic as Rico screams “KENNY,” the beat drops, and we are fully launched into the mixtape. In the first track, “Cold,” Rico Nasty spits rapid fire verses about the money she has earned, the designer clothes and jewelry she wears, the luxury cars she drives, and the never ending supply of weed she smokes, broken up with a chorus in which she states in no uncertain terms that “None of these bitches cold as me!”
Rico Nasty’s braggadocious energy does not let up in the first half of Anger Management. On the track “Cheat Code” featuring Baauer, Rico acknowledges the spectacle she has become and how some have tried to mimic her style in order to gain her level of success. This idea of “bitches trying to be like Rico” sees itself come back up in another track featuring Baauer, this time with the duo EarthGang, on “Big Titties.” Rico’s verse largely focuses on her disdain for biters and copiers, Rico spits “You hoes can't pull it off like me/ Talk like me, bet you wanna be the boss like me/ All these hoes wanna sauce like me/ Floss like me, walk up in the club with no ID” to the backdrop of a quirky yet turnt up beat courtesy of Kenny.
After the radio station bumper parody “Nasty World,” the tone of Anger Management takes a somber turn. In the second leg of the album, Rico is more introspective as she contemplates on the ways in which her life has changed since the advent of her fame. “Relative” shows Rico’s wavering trust in those around her. As she has gotten more and more success, she finds people coming out of the woodwork to befriend her out of nowhere. All of these people want to act like her “relatives” but in actuality, they are simply leeching off of her success. The track ends with a sample from the 1950s educational film, “Age of Turmoil.” The sample mentions a girl who daydreams, who replays “success and failures” over and over again.
This outro correlates well with the last two tracks on Anger Management, “Sell Out” and “Again.” Both tracks showcase a more relaxed, melodic flow from Rico. On “Sell Out,” Rico declares to always be herself for her own sake as well as for the sake of her fans who look up to her. The project ends with “Again,” a reflection on the struggles she has been through. With lyrics such as “Thought I fell in love but I found out that it was lust/ I felt like something was missing, it must have been trust” and “Sometimes I get distracted by madness/ Why do tragedies happen? What if I'm not adapting?” Rico opens up to the audience and allows us into the more raw parts of psyche. However, this song, as well as Rico Nasty’s life story, is not one to sob to. At the same time she details her strife, Rico raps, “But you know good and well I'm not the one to put your pity on” and “I just woke up to a check, you dig?/ Let me take a deep breath, I ain't going broke again.” With this assertion of her capability to make through whatever life throws at her, Rico Nasty ends Anger Management on an encouraging note, the final spoken statement being,“Well now, if there's anything you should need, just let me know/ I'd be very pleased to do it for you/You only have to say the word.”
With Anger Management, Rico Nasty reclaims her temper while also expressing vulnerability, demonstrating that the two can coexist without contention. The project is a symbol for the multiplicity of her identity as a black woman. Women are often told, whether through clear verbal cues or subdued societal sanctions, that they are not allowed to be loud, have complex emotions, or speak of themselves highly. To do so would be arrogant, and, in the case of black women, correlated with idea of being “ghetto” or “hostile.” Rico Nasty vehemently denies all stereotypes and notions about what it means to be loud as a black woman, showing with each track that she has the capacity for depth and introspection. In this way, Rico Nasty and Anger Management both are pieces of radical art that stand in resistance to societal norms and expectations. When we get down to the core of Anger Management, it is simply another example of Rico Nasty being unapologetically herself. And it is her commitment to herself, her personality, and her values that make Anger Management the great album that it is.
Favorite Tracks:
Hattin
Big Titties (Feat. Baauer & EarthGang)
Again
Rating: 8
Stream Anger Management here:
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