Nitty Scott
Nitty Scott
Photo courtesy of Nitty Scott MC.
Nitty Scott (Puerto Ricen & African American) is an MC from what is known as Brooklyn, NY. Nitty Scott started rapping at the age of 14, while she was attending art school for creative writing. She found writing a form of personal expression and was creating poetry before her introduction as a musician. While in New York, Nitty created the Boombox Family hip-hop movement to "preserve and progress hip-hop culture” which was dissolved in 2014.
Nitty Scott released her first official EP The Boombox Diaries, Vol. 1 in 2012 and in 2014, she released her debut album The Art of Chill. In her most recent album, Creature!, released in 2017, Scott explores her Afro-Boricua identity through references to Afro-Caribbean musical cultures including tracks on the album that include collaborations with Taíno artists, recordings of Indigenous coquí frogs, and tumba drums, all meant to evoke a pre-colonial past.
Earlier in her career, Nitty Scott shared that she felt pigeonholed and misplaced by record industry veterans, who told her she couldn’t be sexy and intelligent at the same time — a disconnect of her experiences as a black American, Puerto Rican, bisexual, feminist.
“So at this point, I’m a rising artist with a healthy following and some excellent accolades under my belt, ultimately doing everything I said I would one day. I make music for a living, tour the world and work with my faves as a full-time creative, except I am miserable and fully aware of just how damaging this facade is to myself and the communities I belong to. I truly needed to heal and grow and correct my outlook, even apologize for the times I may have put flawed shit into the world. I started to center these issues in my work, experiment with my appearance and dare to lose the support of the rigid-minded. A lot of my new message did not sit well with the men seeking to control me at the time, as well as certain fans seeking to contain me in the box they preferred. It’s hard for me to grasp how a culture born from oppressed people could still be so insensitive to the ways they might oppress others, but I digress. I continue to rebel and voice that while my packaging and position may be different, I am still challenging ideas while maintaining my original goal of empowerment. I tell my naysayers that what I’m doing is brave and radical for me, regardless of all the projections.” - Nitty Scott
We were excited to profile Nitty Scott in Music Medicine because of her unapologetic approach to music and the message she communicates of authenticity and realness, alongside vulnerability and humility. This combination is rare overall, and especially in music. We were so inspired by Nitty Scott in this issue that out latest playlist is inspired by one of her recent songs, Change That.
Follow Nitty Scott on Instagram @nittyscottmc
Photo credit First Avenue
“I’m just a girl
Like, patriarchy is a real thing (They think it is a myth)
I just wanna say that my feminism will be intersectional
Or it will be bullshit (Absolutely, girl)
Did you hear about this? Woah (Claim our bodies and claim our rights)
I don’t know
Let’s have boundaries, bro, I have boundaries (If it’s my Visa, it’s my choice)”