Steve 'Flash' Juon“I don’t write reviews, cause that’s something y’all do, something y’all type”
This is our first time reviewing Rico Nasty though. The closest we even got to discussing her was a brief mention in a 10K.Caash review back in 2019. As bad as that album was it at least helped get Rico’s name out there to more people, though she was doing a much better job of that on her own with a series of mixtapes that dates back to 2014. One even gave her the name of her own music imprint — “Sugar Trap.” They partnered with Atlantic Records to release her first official studio album “Nightmare Vacation” in 2020, which was kicked off with a single/video for “iPhone.”
“Smoking so much gas I forgot to put my mask on” brags Nasty as a swirl of visual and auditory noise surrounds you on all sides. I think I’d enjoy Brady’s crunchy metal meets electronica production more sans Rico’s vocals. It’s not her words that are the problem. She sounds like a knockoff of Nicki Minaj on the song, who herself was a knockoff of Lil’ Kim, so she’s hardly original but certainly not offensive. It’s the overwhelming modulation of her delivery that makes the song unbearable. When that’s stripped away and we get bars sans tuning she’s much more interesting. “STFU” is one of the most ratchet songs from a major label female rapper we’ve heard in a long time.
“Be quiet little hoe, you ain’t get no pesos!” Nasty lives up to her name with a gruff and rough delivery, alternating between rapping and straight up YELLING her lyrics with the energy of an opening act on a ICP tour. Speaking of “knockoffs” though, she’s copying the visual look of Rah Digga’s “Tight” video on her second single “Own It.” It’s a fun song that features a less stressed Rico vocally, with a song title that suggests full agency in every part of her presentation. I wouldn’t expect any less from a rapper who knows her “Sugar Trap” is too sweet for any flies to escape her clutches.
The unfortunate reality of “Nightmare Vacation” though is that it winds up swinging wildly between extremes. At times it seems like Rico Nasty is poised to be a breakthrough female rapper who combines the attitude of Boss with the frank sexuality of Megan Thee Stallion to create a new super powered hip-hop star. Just when that reality seems ready to rocket you’re brought crashing down to either by a song like “Loser” featuring Trippie Redd. “See you’re trying way too hard to fit in” raps Rico Nasty with no sense of irony that her AutoTuned duet sounds EXACTLY like that.
She’s been in the rap game for over half a decade and Rico Nasty doesn’t seem to know whether she wants to thug it out, delivery syrupy croons, or make her fans pre-cum just looking at her. That’s not to say she can’t do all three if she wants to, but instead of finding her own voice she just ends up sounding like she’s imitating everyone else’s. “No Debate” is her Kimberly Jones track and “Pussy Poppin” is her Onika Maraj-Petty track. “I bet he eat it like he’s starving/put this pussy in his mouth while he’s yawning.” Maybe these kind of rhymes impress the pre-teen crowd but talking about giving or receiving oral sex isn’t enough in and of itself to wow me. That’s probably why she said “I don’t write reviews, cause that’s something y’all do” on the opening track “Candy.” She’s not wrong. She doesn’t write the reviews, we do, and much as I’d like to like Rico Nasty “Nightmare Vacation” is too disjointed to ever reach the potential she clearly has.