Rico Nasty has spoken out about the difficulties of being a female rapper and constantly being asked to twerk.

At the artist’s concerts, fans frequently hold up their phones with the word “twerk” displayed on it in an effort to encourage her to get down.

When she’s in the middle of performing, though, that’s quite “disrespectful”, according to Rico. “This is probably the worst thing that you could put up while a female rapper is performing, even if she is gonna twerk, even if that’s what she does,” she said in a new interview with XXL, adding that it’s “so disrespectful.”

Rico continued: “It’s pointing to this ever being why I’m on stage or pertaining to anything I’ve ever done in my career. That’s not what I do. You go on my Instagram right now. Do I have videos doing this? There’s people that do and they look great doing it but I don’t do this.

And for all my young girls… I mean, you do what you want to do and it’s all lit and fun… I’m just trying to make art and perform my songs and go. I’m not trying to be something that I’m not. You shouldn’t try to make somebody something that they’re not.”

YouTube VideoPlay

Love Hip Hop?

Get the latest Hip Hop news, features, updates and giveaways straight to your inbox Learn more

The rapper also explained how women who do relent to twerking under pressure end up being belittled for doing so. “Being a girl is just random nowadays,” she said. “It’s really, really random. And you really have to stick together.

And you really have to know what you want out of this and know what you want to be looked at as, because, if you don’t, they’ll be sure to give you whatever image they think works for you. So have your own.”

For more on this topic, follow the Hip Hop Observer.

Check out ‘IPHONE’ by Rico Nasty:

YouTube VideoPlay

Get unlimited access to the coverage that shapes our culture.
to Rolling Stone magazine
to Rolling Stone magazine