Rico Nasty

Rico Nasty is ferocious on the mic. It’s apparent in the way the Largo, Maryland native, born in 1997, attacks the beat, refusing to be silenced by the piercing snares and ground-shaking bass. “I want to make history every time I step into the booth,” she explained to Apple Music while describing her 2020 hit “OHFR?” The song, produced by 100 gecs’ Dylan Brady, is a pulverising number, and Nasty, born Maria-Cecilia Simone Kelly, can hardly contain herself as she brushes aside haters and relishes in the stirring success she’s accrued in her career. The MC broke through in 2018 with her mixtape, Nasty, her first with Atlantic Records and a stirring introduction to her energetic approach to rap music. Nasty favors industrial- and metal-leaning beats as much as she does traditional hip-hop jams, and on 2019’s Anger Management, produced by Kenny Beats, she flexes her versatility over a host of different styles from the major beatmaker. Her official studio debut, Nightmare Vacation, arrived in December of 2020, solidifying her place as one of the most exciting voices in rap, both in terms of style and bravery. “I’m not scared of anything anymore,” she explained to Apple Music. “I’m my truest self, and I don’t care if I get dirty looks.”