LETHAL
When Rico Nasty proclaims, “I don’t sound like anyone, these bitches sound like me” on *LETHAL* highlight “BUTTERFLY KISSES,” she has a point. She’s one of the earliest luminaries of the rap-meets-metal marriage that has surfaced over the last decade-plus, and she’s arguably the best at merging those worlds too. The Prince George’s County, Maryland, native has blended a unique variety of chaotic rage-rap since her entry into the music industry in the mid-2010s, and she backs it up with mosh-heavy live shows, mercurial hairdos, and eccentric fashion sense. But since feeling restricted by her persona after the release of 2022’s *Las Ruinas*, she switched things up: She left the major-label system, signed to indie outfit Fueled by Ramen (the label that exalted bands like Fall Out Boy and Panic! At the Disco), and enlisted Imad Royal (The Chainsmokers, Panic! At the Disco) as the executive producer for her next record. Many of her fans already associate her with creating on her own terms, but *LETHAL*<> is even more freewheeling than usual. “SOUL SNATCHER” finds her mutating between a half-dozen rap voices while boasting about her sexual prowess, “SMOKE BREAK” is full of guttural metal screams, “PINK” glows with bubbly femininity, and “CRASH” is a catchy pop-rock cut. The album is sonically unpredictable, but her unbridled confidence and chameleonic versatility hold everything together. Rico Nasty takes time for reflection as well: “SMILE” is a tender ode to her teenage son, and “YOU COULD NEVER” is a career retrospective that shows her earnestly proud of all she’s persevered. “When I reflect back, I know I’m blessed/I’ma be myself, you could be the rest,” she says on the latter. It’s an approach that’s proven effective for Rico, time and time again.
Somewhere in here is the most hell-raising, heavyweight Rico Nasty album in years. But the tug-of-war approach to rap-rock doesn’t totally sell the vision.
Rico Nasty’s third album is colourful and kaleidoscopic, but occasionally to a fault…
Rico Nasty does it her own way. The iconoclastic genre-busting rapper never stays still, with each project moving into a fresh space. A decade ago a