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1992 is a fresh gift from the New York rap scene, offered up by Destiny Frasqueri – AKA Princess Nokia – the “Jewish, Puerto Rican, little bit Italian,” rapper from Spanish Harlem. Trumpeting her arrival on the scene, Nokia wastes no time in crowning herself the ‘G.O.A.T’ (Greatest Of All Time) and then makes her case for the throne.
1992 is Nokia’s origin story. ‘Bart Simpson’ is an ode to teenage skater days with an “ay caramba” chorus that lays the groundwork for the anthem that is ‘Tomboy.’ Rapping about her “little tittles and my fat belly”, Frasqueri joins a long line of female M.Cs in rejecting traditional notions of femininity over a beat that makes this writer wish she could twerk. ‘Brujas’ celebrates the mysticism of her Yoruban and Taíno heritage, reminding us of the influence of these cultures, as well as the many others which make up her roots, on the M.C. According to Frasqueri, this multiculturalism is what gives her the power to be a force against evil: “Your evil ways put no fight, I ain’t no queen of the night, I’m a bruja, I’m a bruja and I’ma dress in all white.”
Frasqueri’s identity search is largely rooted in her teenage years, running around New York City, and her lyrics contains reference to obscure pop culture moments from her childhood and adolescence. She mentions Blue’s Clues, Myspace, Clueless, and Avril Lavigne’s Sk8r Boi. More recent pop culture moments include a sample from American Horror Story. My personal favourite is ‘Chinese Slippers,’ featuring a trap reworking of the chorus from Fast Food Rocker’s ‘Fast Food Song’ as its main hook. (You know the one: “Kentucky fried chicken and pizza hut! Mc Donalds! McDonalds!”) And it works. These throwaway lines which could so easily be deemed ‘gimicky’ are actually anything but. They ground Frasqueri as what she is; a millennial rapper. And who loves an in-joke more than a millennial?
Nokia brings it all back to her city in tracks like ‘Green Line,’ and ‘ABCs of New York,’ in which her autobiographical lyrics depict a New York as proud of its own multiculturalism as she is, and in it she is at home and in control. The city is not just her playground; it’s her skate park.
As an introduction to an M.C, 1992 makes a great first impression, but where can she go from here? Nokia’s snappy, witty lyrics shine on anthems like ‘G.O.A.T’ and ‘Tomboy’, while tracks like ‘Saggy Denim,’ hint at a grittier, exciting aspect of Frasqueri that, if explored, could make for an interesting second offering. Working with producers and industry professionals could help her to refine her sound, with some of her beats feeling homemade and even dull in comparison to the high standard of her lyrics. Nokia may not be the G.O.A.T yet, but just give her a minute. She’ll get there.
