What doesn't kill you makes you a strong Black woman: Rico Nasty
Rico Nasty. Amanda Howell Whitehurst for NPR hide caption
Rico Nasty.
Amanda Howell Whitehurst for NPR"I'd never heard music like this from someone who looked like me. Like, it's okay to be angry. That really resonated with me." For Talille Jaro and other fans, Rico Nasty's music — prissy, punk, brash and full of attitude — is a channel for anger. And in a world that paints Black girls showing any emotion as being too much, having a place to release that anger instead of muting it is essential.
Rico's fans, aka Nasty Mob, turn her shows into safe places to mosh together, places to build a community they can feel free around, if only for the length of a setlist. But when Rico went on tour with Playboi Carti in 2021, this feeling of safety was stripped away. Carti's fans harassed Rico during her sets at multiple shows — booing her offstage and even throwing a glass bottle at her. This left Rico feeling isolated, like she had no choice but to power through. Her fans felt alienated by what they witnessed, too, and mostly powerless to stop it.
On this episode: Rico Nasty unpacks the experience of keeping a brave face while the source of her artistic strength was drained from her in public. Talille Jaro, a proud member of Nasty Mob, recounts how it felt being in the crowd during one of those shows. Social media reporter Masani Musa dives into the "strong Black woman" trope, and why Rico's reception on the Carti tour is an example of how limiting and dehumanizing that idea can sometimes be. And we ask: When the outlet for your anger is shut down, how do you get your power back?
To follow along with the music in this episode, check out the Louder Than A Riot playlists on Apple Music & Spotify. We'll update them every week.
To connect with us, follow the show on Twitter @LouderThanARiot, or send us an email at louder@npr.org.
Audio story produced by Sam J. Leeds
Audio story edited by Soraya Shockley
Audio story engineered by Gilly Moon
Podcast theme and original music by Suzi Analogue, Ramtin Arablouei and Kassa Overall
Fact-checking by Will Chase