Rico Nasty on Replacing Her Team, Rage Rap and Motherhood

May 20, 2025

Rico Nasty has released her new album Lethal, her third studio album, and the follow-up to 2022’s Las Ruinas. In an interview with Billboard, Nasty says that Lethal is the payoff for her believing in herself. After a transitional and transformative period in her life and career, she’s emerged with a more clear-eyed approach, both personally and artistically.

“It’s like we did the experimentation, and it kind of mixed up the potions of everything that came before,” Rico tells Billboard. “And now we’ve built this bionic titanium steel brick house of a b***h. Yeah. She’s just standing there like — please, want it.”

The 28-year-old also talked about cutting ties with her old team and pushing forward with confidence, including working more with rock styles and sounds.

“I had that pit in my stomach and I was like, I should just do it — what’s the worst that could happen?” she explained. “Once you start making music for other people, it takes the fun out of it. I had to grow up and evolve and realize I don’t really care about people’s approval anymore”

And her music is informed by motherhood. She had her son Cameron when she was 18 and the track “Smile” is directly inspired by her son.

Rico Nasty swings around the camera with headphones and a smile.

Photo by Devin Desouza.

“It’s about my kid. I could be going through so much, and he always makes me laugh… In parenting him, I lowkey learned how to parent myself,” she told Billboard. “Even though I’m talking about my kid, I’m also talking about seeing my kid and realizing, wow, he’s so much like me. And I’m still a child, like within my own right. In parenting him, I lowkey feel like I’ve learned how to parent myself too.”

She also acknowledged her status as a rage-rap pioneer.

“I definitely did trailblaze this, and I’m not taking any other answer… From the fashion to the hair, the makeup — I definitely own it,” Rico says. “I want people to listen and feel free. Like, I’m not the only one who feels like this. I’m not the only person who sees this s–t. I’m not the only person who feels like the whole world revolves around me.”