Rico Nasty is not for the faint-hearted. Listening to any given record from her is like being repeatedly slapped in the face and that is absolutely a compliment. Nasty is the 2019 definition of punk, bringing a relentless force and ferocity to rap music that’s being lost in an age of adlib-drenched trap music. Over the past two years she’s released a string of excellent mixtapes and seen a rapid rise, not because of cosigns but because she’s impossible to ignore.
Her latest Anger Management sees her team up with EDM-turned-hip-hop producer Kenny Beats who has contributed to some of Nasty’s shining moments like last year’s Counting Up and her most streamed song Smack A Bitch. Kenny Beats’ brings the kind of weight needed to house Nasty’s raps. It’s hard-hitting industrial trap music with the occasional EDM-trap slant that’s only extended when Baauer appears on the project.
Anger Management is Rico’s most realised project to date. Where last year’s Nasty stretched over 14 tracks, this one only features nine and it’s all over in under 20 minutes. That’s really all that’s needed because from the first song Cold, she goes wild and barely lets the energy dip once. “Ain’t none of these bitches cold as me," she raps with a power that none of her peers could match. Rico knows she’s an outcast of sorts but that doesn’t mean she’s interested in being a niche rapper. She’s bringing her self-described ‘sugar-trap’ to the masses and Cold makes you believe she could annihilate the competition.
While Baauer inclusions Cheat Code and Big Titties are damning, Anger Management isn’t as one-dimensional as it sounds. Rico has a softer side. Kind of. She ditches aggression on Relative momentarily as she manages to pair notions of jealousy while boasting about newfound riches. The song ends with an excerpt from 1953 short film The Age Of Turmoil with a voice saying, “she does a lot of daydreaming, imagining herself as the extrovert she is not.” It’s a rare admission of vulnerability that gives the tape an emotional complexity. Music is therapy for Rico. A chance to pour out her aggression and embrace a personality she can’t without it. “The expression of anger is a form of rejuvenation,” she raps on Sell Out admitting that she lost friends because of her aggression. That’s part of the reason Anger Management is so good. Rico lets us in more than ever before. It starts to feel less like we’re being slapped in the face and more like we’re screaming with her.
Anger management may be a personal aim of this album but she also allows herself deserved celebratory moments. Hatin’s sampled horns give us a brief moment of it, like she’s holding the title above her head but it’s the closing moment Again that does it best. Kenny Beats provides the softest, wobbliest beat of the record as Rico raps, “I did it all on my own.” She takes a “deep breath” as she takes in what she’s achieved over the last few years. She’s both self-critical and self-praising which is a rare juxtaposition to find in one moment.
It’s not often that an artist is so self-aware and unhinged at the same time. That’s what makes Anger Management so successful. Her anger is not without reason. She’s growing and she’s proud of it. At its most furious, it’s captivating and at its most personal, it’s heart-warming. That’s hard to encapsulate in a record that could create a gigantic moshpit with each song.
