How Rico Nasty’s Journey Of Self-Discovery Led To Her Most Evolved Album Yet

Outside of music and motherhood, Rico Nasty did not know what she liked, how to fill her day, how to drive, or even what her favorite coffee order was. On top of this, she was going through the transition of leaving a long-term romantic relationship with someone who was also her manager, and clearing house to rebuild her professional team from scratch. She began to take her health and wellness seriously, developed her personhood outside of the spotlight, and broke out of the mentality that people were only around her because of her platform. She spent more time with Maria Kelly, the person, as opposed to Rico Nasty, the artist, and watched as everything began to fall into place. 

“I had to learn how to use my voice. And I don’t mean musically. I had to learn how to speak up and be the boss. I would get in situations and feel like this person was taking advantage of me, but have no tools with which to deal with this feeling,” the PG County-raised musician said. 

That internal shift set the stage for her latest project, LETHAL—an album that finds Rico Nasty stepping fully into her power. Through this personal evolution, the rap-rock star took more creative autonomy over her work and approached this new step with a big picture mentality. For the first time, she oversaw everything: individual tracks, music video direction, marketing rollout, vinyl design, and even future stage production—all as one cohesive body of work. Her vision took shape across visual concepts and styling, affirming her alignment with her own capabilities and creative potential. 

Towing the line between quippy rap bars and metal beats in a way only she can, the “Smack A Bitch” lyricist has long put on for the angsty Black girls embodying duality. For an artist like Rico Nasty, navigating the path less traveled can be both boundless and restrictive, with the pressure to define and set the tone. She tells us she balances this by, “not letting comparison kill me, because I am so unique, and I [still] get compared to people all the time. And I hate that s**t.” 

As a Black woman, especially in entertainment, Rico Nasty is used to the world’s incessant need to define, label, and categorize her into a neat box. She has been lumped in with other alt-Black girl musicians such as Willow Smith and Fousheé, who she believes are “dominating the alt rock space,” however, are vocalists while she is a rapper. Though she appreciates being mentioned alongside them, she insists she’s not “one genre” and shouldn’t be boxed in—nor should any of the other expansive women in the space.

She points to the comparisons or lack thereof amongst peers: “As far as the rap ecosystem in itself, I feel like, when we talk about the men, they don’t put me in the conversations of f*****cking rage [music with them]. ‘Who started rage?’ I’m never in those conversations.” 

When describing how she shows up in the music space, she refers to herself as an “unspoken virus.” That is, while her influence may not always be acknowledged in the mainstream, her mark on the space is undeniable. From her signature sound to her bold fashion sense and unapologetic personality, Rico Nasty has cultivated an energy around her artistry and fandom that casts a long shadow in the larger culture—whether it’s normalizing punk-style mosh pits at rap shows or embodying Black female rage in its rawest form.

Initially, the lack of recognition or inclusion was frustrating. Today, with a renewed sense of self, the rap star knows her worth, influence, and place in the creative world. She acknowledges and appreciates the way of culture and how much of it is an amalgamation of all artists’ input, while at the same time affirms, “I am protective of my art, and I won’t let nobody take that shit from me or say I didn’t do something when I did.”

On the other hand, she speaks on the negative comparisons Black women face in this field, and how she observed the way pop culture feeds off female rap feuds at their expense. “I’m not gonna lie, as a kid, I bit the bait and I fell for it,” she admits, and goes on to describe how after a while, she noticed the way these feuds were being fueled and monetized for capital gain.

Speaking on her lyric, “This ain’t a diss track, more like a warning,” from “Son of a Gun,” — track nine of her new album — she tells AFROPUNK, “In this industry, it’s so easy to name drop and create beef,” something the current version of herself is wholly uninterested in. In her words, “that record is about standing your ground, but don’t let them put batteries in your back and get you beefing with somebody you should have never been beefing with.” 

This level-headed approach and security around her artistic identity came after a significant period of reflection and isolation. A period that was necessary to produce LETHAL, which in her words, is her most authentic body of work yet.

“When I dropped this project, I felt like a lot of people were like, ‘where have you been?’ I literally have just been living. It gets to a point when you’re an artist that nothing surprises you anymore, and the days start to bleed into each other. You don’t really know your left from your right. You’re just tired. I did three tours in one year, and I felt so drained, like I didn’t know who I was or what I wanted to do,” she shares. 

She means this, not in the existential-life-purpose-way, but in the very literal sense. Through a brief overview of each past project, she shares how she felt, using descriptors such as “secure,” “confused,” or even “corporate.” 

On LETHAL however, she finds herself leaning into dynamic guitar riffs, and alternating the way she projected her voice sonically, taking inspiration, in part, from songs like “Boys Don’t Cry,” by The Cure. Piece by piece, the album filled with rap, classic rock, and pop rock foundations came to fruition. She took all of the sounds she previously experimented with and loved, and challenged herself to “elevate it.”

Throughout her entire discography, she recognizes the necessary space she has created for people, namely Black women, to confidently express anger or rage, and is equally thankful for their acceptance of her as an artist just creating through difficult times and emotions.

“I think that means the most to me. It’s knowing that in times of pain and when people feel like an outcast, they put me on, scream, and feel better. And my fans, y’all have never said ‘you’re trying to be white.’ You just love me and accept me. It’s a different type of love, for real.”

Coming to the other side of this much needed reflection, Rico Nasty is more confident and creatively curious than ever. She is dabbling in acting opportunities, newer sounds, and even aesthetics, using fashion and beauty to expand her creativity, rather than as a shield to conceal herself as she once did. The rapper reflects on the ways her past inhibitions dictated how she would show up, or whether she would show up at all. When fans would speculate why she would not be in attendance at certain industry events or awards, she revealed it was not for a lack of invitation, but that she didn’t quite feel like she belonged. 

Now, Rico Nasty says she is fully backing herself. She surrendered to the creative process, trusted her inner voice, and allowed it to guide her into this new era. LETHAL, out now on all platforms, is what she describes in the simplest of terms as “fun.”