After releasing her debut album “Nightmare Vacation” in late 2020, rapper Rico Nasty is coming out with her new mixtape Las Ruinas on July 22.
This would be her first project since 2020’s Nightmare Vacation. She was working on a new mixtape “Rx” to be released in late 2021, stating that it would be a seven-track project featuring production from 100 Gec’s Dylan Brady. In April, she tweeted that the project would not come out after all.
“I’m going through a lot of transitions rn [sic]. And it got scrapped,” said Rico.
In the following months, Rico debuted three songs (“Magic,” “Buss,” “Money [feat. Flo Mill]”) from the tape and flirted with the idea of putting the rest of them on Soundcloud.
There is some speculation as to why the project was shelved, as there was a lot of controversy regarding her tour with rapper Playboi Carter. There were many incidents during his King Vamp Narcissist Tour where fans disrupted her opening sets. They threw water bottles, chanted for Carti, and actively heckled her. She responded to criticism online and expressed how it affected her time on tour, saying that she “needed at least two hours a day to cry” and that “she wished she was dead.”
Many artists came to her defense and publicly supported her in this tough time, with the notable exception of Carti.
Time has passed and it seems that Rico has had some time to decompress.
If Nightmare Vacation was her more sugar trap–a genre she coined herself, as well as the name of her independent label and some of her mixtapes–hyperpop-inspired album, then Las Ruinas seems to be more punk. So far, three songs have been released: “Intrusive,” “Vaderz (feat. Bktherula),” and “Black Punk.” Her recent media aesthetic and presumed album cover have included monochrome pictures featuring the rapper with a mullet with short bangs, dyed eyebrows, and latex gloves dripping a black liquid.
The videos are another indication. Vaderz pairs her up with Bktherula, as they rap under a variety of night goggle filters. Intrusive is more in line with a Nightmare Vacation track but seems to be a direct response to heckling fans and how it made her feel. Both videos are chaotic, constantly disfiguring, and make a visual impression.
Her third single “Black Punk” makes the strongest impression. It blends a distorted guitar with her heavy-hitting rap delivery. The video displays her and a bunch of black punk girls puking, kissing, drinking, and peeing in the urinals in a filthy bathroom. Just before the video ends, it cuts to a stripped-down Rico alone, dancing above the camera.
This black alt-girl anthem is a great replay and hopefully sets the tone for the upcoming album. She labeled it as one of her “most experimental and vulnerable body of work yet.” If Black Punk is the motif, Rico Nasty will be screaming back at those that wronged her, spitting in their face, and pissing on their graves. Come July 22nd, we’ll be joining the mosh.
Get the Latest and Best of Twisted Now!
