Hi, everyone. Hypothermia here, the internet's busiest music nerd. It's time for a review of this new Rico Nasty album, Lethal.

Here we have a brand new LP from rapper, singer, and songwriter, Ms. Rico Nasty. It is her second commercial LP. But do not let Rico's deceptively short discography fool you, because Rico is certainly a pioneer in a lot of ways when it comes to her generation of hip hop artists. And her new record here feels like a culmination of everything she's accomplished up until this point.

Now, about a decade ago, Rico was once one of many artists who were pretty much toughing it out on the SoundCloud platform in order to get their music out there. And she really began to set herself apart from the pack with these explosive bangers that combined elements of trap and metal music, which paired very well with her delivery when she leaned into these shouts, these very raspy screams. And while a lot of artists hopped on a similar trend in the mid and late 2010s at the time, I would argue Rico was one of the best and most influential to do it, even though she never fully leaned into this punk metal rap blend in such a way to where it became her whole sound or brand as an artist.

Now, since then, Rico's creative trajectory has definitely been interesting to watch. Her appeal is pretty wide, but also difficult to categorize because she has the talent and versatility that sees her being able to fit in with just about any artist, as in the past, she's had great and successful crossovers and collaborations with the likes of Doja Cat, Doechii, Injury Reserve, Schoolboy Q, Denzel Curry as well, just to name a few.

I think she's one of a few authentic rap artists out there who simultaneously has fostered a mainstream but also underground audience. But then again, many fans remember back in 2021 when Rico had some famously bad receptions at series of live dates opening up for Playboi Carti, which makes me doubt whether or not they actually enjoy music that is underground or subversive or engaging.

Either way, Rico stylistically has checked a lot of boxes for a long time. But that has also, for her, I think, made the art of crafting an album – a fuller, larger project – a little difficult because I think many of her larger works up until this point, specifically her last commercial LP, was a bit all over the place to be truly greater than the sum of its parts, even when ignoring the handful of low points and ill-conceived song ideas.

And as much as Lethal feels like a combination of everything Rico has done well up until this point, more or less, it's still very much a mixed bag in a lot of respects. There are most definitely some great bangers and highlights and singles to make note of, like "Teethsucker", which for Rico Nasty is a pretty straightforward rap and rock combo, featuring some sick, distorted hard rock bass riffs, hype group choruses, too; verses that have a very speedy in your face punky delivery. Then to contrast that, we have "On the Low", which is a very digital, mellow trap anthem that reads like something from Rico's Sugar Trap mixtape era, except this time having maybe more of a pop appeal and better chorus craft. Meanwhile, "Butterfly Kisses" features a lot of fluttery alt pop production combined with the braggadocious, aggressive SoundCloud swagger that Rico specializes in. The vibes on this one are nasty and sweet at the same time.

So, yeah, those are the singles, but there are actually some great highlights in the deeper cuts as well. There's "Eat Me", which is a very dark, moody, understated trap banger with an amazing beat switch in the second half, where vocally, Rico is just freaking out on this instrumental. And if that wasn't nasty enough, we also have "Son of a Gun", which I think is Rico's most devilish sounding song yet, especially with that just supremely evil rush of synthesizers and what sounds like maybe also bells popping in on the hook.

Then to make things even harder and more aggressive, "Smoke Break" is Rico's most rocked-out song yet. The whole first half of the song is pretty much like her taking her shouty delivery to a straight-up punk instrumental, which is a little rigid, but it gets the job done. However, the track goes really into mind-blowing territory once the entire thing devolves into a hardcore metal breakdown where Rico's screams sound absolutely insane.

Things lighten up with "Crash" where Rico applies some smoother vocals to some very plucky, post-punky, almost cure-inspired bass and guitar licks with a little synth in the mix, too. Pretty solid chorus attached to this one as well.

Then the final track that really grabbed my attention for positive reasons, of course, is the closing song, "Smile", which is a very low-key, chill ballad that essentially is an ode to Rico's son, with lots of lovely lyrics about her connections with him, her love of being a mother, and some synth parts that sound pretty much just like the leads off of the Weeknd's "Save Your Tears". I mean, it's not necessarily the most complex melody or anything like that. The songs seemingly use very similar, if not the same, chord progressions. I wonder if this synth line is a conscious nod to that track or if it's just, I don't know, just a coincidence that they sound so dang similar.

So yeah, a lot of great cuts on this record for sure. The moments that underwhelmed me were tracks on the LP that I feel it could have used more detail, more nuance, more structure, maybe an intro or a proper finish to keep the flow of the album actually working in a way to where it feels like each track is its own special moment.

So yeah, the shortest songs on the album consistently really left me wanting more. Meanwhile, the track "Pink" features all of these strained chipmunked pitch-shifted vocals and verses, which in concept, I don't think the song itself is bad in terms of the flows, the chorus, the instrumental – I just don't see what pitching Rico's vocals up this high in this way brings to the track. Her voice is great and distinct and stand out on its own. It doesn't really need this extra additional effect. It really does nothing for it.

"Can't Win 'Em All", I think, is a strange direction to go in, considering you have these booming driving Philly club, Jersey club, dance grooves going. But on top of this, Rico tries to deliver these very slow chord progressions and turn something with this pacing, this beat into a very mellow ballad and I'm just not really sure it's a direction that works.

And while I do wish the instrumental and chorus on "You Could Never" was a bit better and more distinct, I do like on this track hearing a Rico take a lot of lyrical victory laps to remind us of where she came from, how long she's been doing this, and what it took to get her to this point.

But yeah, while in one breath, I do think this record could have been better and, creatively, Rico is still, unfortunately, punching underneath her weight a little bit... I still think this album features her best crop of songs to date, and there are also a lot of great highlights here that see her coming back to some older sounds, revamping some sounds we're familiar with from her back catalog, doing cool and exciting things with them. I just hope at some point into the future, she can craft an album that doesn't just merely feel like a bunch of one offs, which is why I'm feeling a decent 7 on this album.

Anthony Fantano, Rico Nasty, Forever.