With 2020 being a prosperous and exuberant year for melanated women across the media and the music industry, this serves as a huge win despite the year’s shortcomings. With the successes of stars like Megan Thee Stallion, H.E.R., Jhene Aiko, Cardi B, Kehlani, Chloe x Halle, and more intact, there’s no argument that we’ve been served graciously from every angle. Today, Rico Nasty joins the party with the release of her major label debut album Nightmare Vacation and it certainly has some high replay value. Having teased the album since the spring, it feels great to finally have the project tangible.

While coining this as her most personal project to date, the D.C. rapper describes it as a “more evolved” version of her 2016 mixtape Sugar Trap. Fans will be thrown for loop after hearing it because they won’t hear any of her trademark rock cadences anywhere on the project. Following her 2019 collaborative mixtape Anger Management with Kenny Beats, Nightmare Vacation marks her first solo release since her 2018 effort Nasty.

Speaking with W Magazine about the album, she went into detail about the pressures she faced through the creative process:

“I started feeling like I should make what I hear on the radio. I was only making those songs to please my A&R, like, does this sound mainstream? By the time the studio session is over, you have a song that you wouldn’t listen to if somebody paid you — I look back at my tracklist like, not only did I overcome people trying to tell me what I should sound like, but I overcame a fucking pandemic and was still able to create it. I think I’m on the cusp of being ready to just take shit head on, take it for what it is.”

The album is filled with 16 records in total and includes features from Don Toliver, Gucci Mane, Amine, Trippie Redd and more! Check it out below.