Rico Nasty For Fader Magazine
by Site Manager
The FADER meets with Maria Kelly aka Rico Nasty while she’s in L.A. putting the finishing touches on her forthcoming sixth mixtape and first major release on Atlantic Records, Nasty. In the cover story, she discusses her unique upbringing in P.G. County, Maryland, how becoming Rico Nasty helped her find confidence, her identity fluidity and loyal fanbase, struggling with personal loss, reveling in motherhood, and breaking through to mainstream fame.
Rico Nasty on how identifying as her artist persona has helped her find confidence:
“I’ve been Rico since 10th grade. And a lot of shit comes with being Rico. Her life is a lot different than Maria’s. Maria was afraid of everything. Like, afraid of the dumbest shit. Like roller coasters.”
On her loyal fanbase:
“If I fuck up at this stage in my career, I don’t have the kind of fans that will disappear if I made a mistake.”
On her identity fluidity in her style:
“This is always how I wanted to dress, and now I just have money. You buy everything on that wish list, you’re gonna look kind of weird sometimes.”
On art and music as public property:
“When [your art] is out [there], someone might have an opinion on it, might want to steal it, might want to remix it, might want to DJ it, might want to chuckle through it. Once that shit is out there you’re giving your song away, you’re sharing it. You can’t be so upset that people start copying, that’s a sign of success.”