Princess Nokia
Girls
ARTIST HOUSE
Nuyorican rapper Princess Nokia could’ve done things the easy way and created a commercial, decade-long klatch of records that played off the more traditional pop stylings of New York City’s patented Latin hip-hop vibe. Instead of taking wing on that mainstream tip, she embraced an experimental, soundscape-y, and punkish grind on aptly titled projects such as her 2014 mixtape debut Metallic Butterfly and landed on a cult-of-one sound that mashes up the silly-weird tones of Tyler, the Creator with the lo-fi thrash-synth of Bikini Kill, topped off by a sneery rap flow and an icy lyrical branding whose empowered feminism is but one step away from Lizzie Borden.
With a video laden with menstrual blood imagery, spook-house synths, and curt phrases such as “Girlhood is a spectrum, pretty is destruction / I just fell from grace, and I made it into something,” Princess Nokia’s Girls cut “Blue Velvet” may actually be more provocatively haunting than the David Lynch film of the same title. And yes, the new LP it appears on features a stirring, equally cinematic track entitled “Period Blood” that captures proud, rare elements of family, power, and sensuality in one gulp—like a deconstructed take on Cardi B’s “WAP,” fueled by Kathy Acker’s frank and zipless-fuck ferocity.
From the slow-pulsating theatricality of “Drop Dead Gorgeous” and its French-tipped “scream queen fun” to her sinister, sunny atmospheres and decadent dreaminess on “Beach Babe,” Princess Nokia is once again reimagining hip-hop as a dangerous place to be. There’s a lot of bold music to be heard within the genre in 2025, without a doubt, but when was the last time rap truly frightened you at the same time it made you grin from ear to ear and marvel at its innovation? The line starts here.
