Vital Status: Alive & Stable 😴
Analogy: You’re use to someone yelling at you and when they don’t your relationship with them feels unnatural
Genre: Hip-Hop/Rap
Length: 40min
HERE WE GO! FIRST LOOK AT RICO NASTY’S DEBUTE STUDIO ALBUM NIGHTMARE VACATION!!! I hope you read that opening sentence while SCREAMING! because a lot of this album to put it plan and simple is Rico screaming. Okay, maybe not screaming but Rico’s raspy voice suites her signature style of a harsh, loud, and in your face listening experience. And to make it clear this isn’t a bad thing but if you’re looking for something on the quieter side I would definitely stay away from this project.
Rico sticks to her guns for the intro track “Candy” with a hard hitting beat and her signature style carrying the way. She plays no games with her sound and calls out the listener to make sure they can “feel her”. Initially, I was thinking this was a great direction we were headed until the next song “Don’t Like Me”. Don Toliver and Gucci Mane appear on this song and completely eradicate Rico’s style. This feels like a poppy hip-hop track formula that is used all over songs these days. Rico’s delivery is laid back for her and it feels like she wanted to push a more digestible sound for the audience. Unfortunately, it didn’t work and was just boring.
Thank god, that doesn’t last long and we’re back on track with the next song “Check Me Out”. This is where she shines over a banger beat and her delivery of the verses carrying the song more then the lyrics alone. “IPHONE” is another interesting moment with production from Dylan Brady of 100 gecs. We get an electronic glitchy sound with Rico’s voice being super pitched up. Not in love with the chorus here but enjoyable verses. Rico takes on the topic of calling a person just to satisfy her own loneliness and want for attention.
Back to the Rico we love to see with “STFU”. Her delivery on this song is fun and playful. Chorus is repetitive and may be a bit annoying but, again, her flexing lyrically over a banger beat is a formula I enjoy. “Back & Forth” is the pop hip-hop I prefer to see Rico more on. Amine features on this track and in all honestly it feels like this is his song because his voice is at the for front on the majority of this track. I enjoyed this song and it sits nicely between banger and slow song creating a vibe we haven’t seen on Nightmare Vacation yet.
“Girl Scouts” uses a pretty funny comparison of Rico knocking on people’s doors to start shit to how Girl Scout’s knock of people’s door to sell cookies. Beat isn’t anything special but Rico’s control of the whole song makes it listenable.
Halfway through the tracklist “Let it Out” comes out of no where with a somewhat electronic metal production that is fantastic (produced by 100 gecs). Rico is throwing all her rage onto this track and it can be a bit shocking. This is one of the more SCREAMING moments I was referring to earlier.
The second half of Nightmare Vacation kind of falls flat. Songs like “Loser” and “Own It” don’t add anything to this album. Frankly, Trippie Red’s feature on “Loser” feels like he’s overly straining his voice and is just not pleasant to listen to.
The highlights on the second half would be “Pussy Poppin”, “OHFR”, and “Smack a Bitch”. Rico shows off some sexual lyrics on “Pussy Poppin” with a nice blinking beat. Dylan Brady producing is back again on “OHFR” providing cool production and Rico’s attitude is back once more. Also, Rico’s 2018 hit “Smack a Bitch” wraps this album up and this song embodies who Rico is fully. There is also a remix version but I prefer the original because the features on the remix can be annoying and feel a little name droppy such as Rubi Rose, ppcocain (songs all over Tik Tok).
This album definitely has highlights but not much to offer lyrically. Rico’s voice and style is what carries most of the tracks and where things fall flat is when she try’s to tone things down.
Albums Are Dead💀 