On ‘Nightmare Trip,’ Rico Nasty Finds Residence

“Anytime I report, I’m going to L.A., I’m going some other place and I sort of run away,” Rico Nasty most just lately revealed of her artistic course of. This time round, nonetheless, the onset of a pandemic compelled the DMV native to remain put in Maryland, having to report her debut Nightmare Trip album on the homefront.

In hindsight, the setting props up a stage on which Rico, born Maria-Cecilia Kelly, is her truest self to this point. It’s obvious that the emotive rapper meticulously constructed her newest platform with resolve. This a lot is evidenced in her potential to keep up a cohesive sound regardless of recruiting a complete of 16 completely different producers throughout the 16-track effort. The sound that listeners first took to by way of her breakout “Smack A Bitch” was wondrously half-baked with Rico hopping over a beat that Kenny Beats hadn’t even completed. But, the 23-year-old has discovered a approach to pinpoint potent iterations reduce of the identical punk rap fabric.

On Nightmare Trip, Rico Nasty masters an suave stability between snug and unfamiliar. On “Sweet,” “Let It Out,” and “OHFR” alike, Lure Lavigne homes the agitated vitality that formulated her “Smack A Bitch” success and permits such cuts to anchor the venture’s cohesion.

All of the whereas, she flirts with new boundaries. Whereas “IPHONE” finds itself in the identical vein as these tracks, pitched up and computerized vocals set it aside in a couple of methods as Rico displays on her indifference in a relationship. Such sentiments are accompanied in development and content material as she straps on extra melodic boots for the Don Toliver and Gucci Mane-assisted “Don’t Like Me” and the Aminé-assisted “Again & Forth.”

Whereas holding quick to the gravelly components that characterize her signature catalog, she provides extra tender variations with tracks like “No Debate,” “Personal It,” and “Loser,” that includes Trippie Redd. On these choices, Rico leans extra into her Pop aspirations, making a case for industrial shops for the informal listener.

All of it comes collectively to cooperatively weave a path that actually leads again to “Smack A Bitch,” as Rico repackages the piece in a posse reduce that includes Sukihana, Rubi Rose, and ppcocaine. Because the monitor actualizes, her collaborators all pay some type of homage to Rico’s personal belligerence. Whereas it may’ve simply birthed some clinically compelled efficiency, it as an alternative marks an efficient conclusion to the housewarming present in Nightmare Trip, solidifying Rico’s presence in her personal property. It additionally lays the groundwork for a real journey by way of Nightmare Vacay as Rico most just lately adopted up the bodily album with a comic book e-book. The e-book’s plot is round Rico’s spaceship crash touchdown on Earth whereas recording her album in area.

Because the fictional story finds her enlisting her musical alter egos to outlive, it’s a pointed parallel to the navigation that Rico has undergone in recent times. Unexpectedly, she’s cultivated a distinct segment for herself that continues to inch her nearer to mainstream ears–whether or not she desires it to or not.