Princess Nokia

Destiny Nicole Frasqueri[3] (born June 14, 1992),[4] better known by her stage name Princess Nokia, is an American rapper. She released her debut studio album, Metallic Butterfly, in 2014, followed by the 2015 mixtape Honeysuckle. As Princess Nokia, she rose to prominence for her 2017 studio album 1992 Deluxe. She released another mixtape, titled A Girl Cried Red, in 2018, followed by the release of two studio albums, Everything Sucks and Everything Is Beautiful, in 2020.

Princess Nokia
Princess Nokia performing in 2014
Background information
Birth nameDestiny Nicole Frasqueri
Also known as
  • Wavy Spice
  • Destiny Nicole Ortiz
  • Destiny
Born (1992-06-14) June 14, 1992
New York City, U.S.
Genres
Occupation(s)Rapper
Years active2010–present
Websiteprincessnokia.org

Early life

Frasqueri is Afro-Indigenous,[5] and is of Puerto Rican descent.[6][7] When Frasqueri was ten, she lost her mother to AIDS.[8] Between the ages of nine and sixteen, she was in foster care, during which her foster mother was physically abusive.[8] After Frasqueri left foster care, she went to live with her grandmother.[9][8] She subsequently started writing rhymes.[10] Frasqueri lived around East Harlem and the Lower East Side of New York City at the time.[10]

Career

Early career and debut studio album (2010–2018)

Frasqueri recorded her first song, "Destiny", in 2010, and released it under the name Wavy Spice on her SoundCloud page and her YouTube channel in mid-2012. Subsequently, Frasqueri released her second track, "Bitch I'm Posh".[11][10][12] Frasqueri then released YAYA (Yaya is a Taino word)[13][14] as a commentary of perceptions of colonial history.[15] Frasqueri continued to release singles, such as Dragons, a Game of Thrones inspired piece, Honeysuckle, and Vicki Gotti until changing her moniker to Princess Nokia. Frasqueri claims Princess Nokia is an alter ego,[16] which she introduced with the track "Nokia".[11] Frasqueri released an album named Metallic Butterfly on May 12, 2014, and was debuted on Vice and Soundcloud.[17] On September 8, 2017, she released her debut studio album, 1992 Deluxe,[18][19] which was an expanded version of her 2016 mixtape, 1992.[20] It peaked at number 25 on Billboard's Heatseekers Albums chart.[21] NME listed it as the 32nd best album of 2017.[22]

Nokia debuted a radio show on Apple's Beats 1 Radio on February 18, 2018. Episodes aired every other Sunday and allowed listeners to get acquainted with the inner workings of Nokia's mind. The show has a total of six episodes labeled "The Voices in My Head with Princess Nokia."[23] In September 2018, she was chosen as one of the six ambassadors by Maison Margiela to promote their new fragrance, Mutiny.[24] In December 2018, Nokia released a "remastered and expanded version" of the album Metallic Butterfly, which includes three new bonus tracks.[2] That same year, she released a mixtape titled A Girl Cried Red. Stefanie Fernández of NPR deemed it an expression of Frasqueri's artistic and emotional versatility and praised how she "transcends them."[25]

Everything Sucks and Everything is Beautiful (2019–present)

In 2019, she had her debut performance as an actress in the independent film Angelfish.[26][27] In September 2019, she released a song titled "Sugar Honey Iced Tea (S.H.I.T.)".[28] It was described as "a bouncy, empowering bop built around dismissive lyrics about Nokia's enemies."[29] In February 2020, Nokia released two albums: Everything Sucks and Everything is Beautiful.[30] Pitchfork described Everything Sucks as "locust swarm of angst, restless and frantic" and regarded Everything is Beautiful as "warm and expansive" in comparison to the former.[31]

Artistry

Nokia's musical style has been described as "experimental" and "eagerly floating between genres such as rap, soul, rock and house."[29] She lists rappers MC Lyte and Queen Latifah, girl group TLC, as well as nu metal bands Korn and Slipknot as musical influences.[32] Nokia also cites hardcore, punk, and rave cultures as influences for her performances.[33]

Personal life

Frasqueri identifies as bisexual and has stated such in a past interview and has also talked about how growing up near the queer community of New York City was an important part of her life. The early stages of Princess Nokia's musical career began through performing at gay clubs, as she gained popularity among the gay nightlife scene.[34][35][36] She also identifies as a gender non-conforming person and uses both they/them and she/her pronouns.[37][38]

Frasqueri is a strong supporter of intersectional feminism, founding the Smart Girl Club with Milah Libin, a podcast where she discusses healthy living and urban feminism.[39][40][41][42] She is a practictioner of Santería, and has shared their own experience with clairvoyance and spirituality that they infuse their music with.[43]

In 2017, Frasqueri punched a male concertgoer at Cambridge University who she said had been mouthing "dirty obscenities" at her.[44] She later told the crowd that "that's what you do when a white boy disrespects you".[39] Later that year, a video of Frasqueri throwing hot soup in a man's face whilst on a subway journey to Brooklyn surfaced.[45] She responded to the incident by saying that the man called a "group of teenage boys" a racial slur and that "everybody on the train backed [her] up".[46]

Discography

Studio albums

Extended plays
  • 1992 (2016)
  • G.O.A.T. (2017)

Mixtapes
  • Honeysuckle (2015, as Destiny)
  • A Girl Cried Red (2018)

Guest appearances

Awards and nominations

Sweden GAFFA Awards

Delivered since 2010, the GAFFA Awards (Swedish: GAFFA Priset) are a Swedish award that rewards popular music awarded by the magazine of the same name.

Year Nominee / work Award Result Ref.
2018 Themself Best Foreign New Act Nominated [47]

See also

References
  1. "Princess Nokia Reigns Supreme As The Queen Of Emo Rap At Special House Of Vans Chicago". June 26, 2018.
  2. "Princess Nokia Re-Issues 'Metallic Butterfly'". Billboard. December 14, 2018. Retrieved March 4, 2020.
  3. Cooper, Wilbert L. (September 21, 2015). "Stream Destiny's 'Honeysuckle,' the Funky Follow-Up to 'Metallic Butterfly'". Vice. Retrieved January 12, 2018.
  4. "Happy birthday Princess Nokia". The Fader. June 14, 2017. Retrieved April 14, 2018.
  5. Lewis, Eva (September 8, 2017). "Princess Nokia Is Melding Gothic Punk With Her Afro-Indigenous Identity". Teen Vogue. Retrieved September 24, 2020.
  6. "Princess Nokia Talks New Album and Their New Creative Direction". Wonderland. July 30, 2020. Retrieved September 24, 2020.
  7. Davis, Shanice (December 14, 2016). "Princess Nokia Talks Infusing Santería In Her Music". Vibe. Retrieved September 24, 2020.
  8. Marotta, Jenna (August 28, 2017). "This Time, Princess Nokia Is Going to Do It Right". Vogue. Retrieved January 12, 2018.
  9. Snobette (July 5, 2016), Princess Nokia: "There's No Money in Record Deals & I'm Not Looking to Be Taken Advantage of", retrieved May 10, 2018
  10. "Wavy Spice is Making "High-Tech airy Girl Music"...and we're Listening". Paper. October 14, 2014. Retrieved December 5, 2014.
  11. "Track Premiere: Hear Wavy Spice Transform Into Princess Nokia on 'Nokia'". Archived from the original on December 4, 2017. Retrieved February 4, 2014.
  12. Lester, Paul (January 16, 2014). "Wavy Spice (New band of the day No 1,679)". The Guardian. Retrieved September 24, 2020.
  13. "Dictionary of the Taino Language". taino-tribe.org. Retrieved June 18, 2020.
  14. Princess Nokia (October 29, 2012), Wavy Spice - YAYA, retrieved May 10, 2018
  15. "Princess Nokia is Our New Age Hood Leader". Remezcla. Retrieved October 5, 2017.
  16. "Wavy Spice: Harlem Is Burning". Archived from the original on December 4, 2017. Retrieved February 6, 2014.
  17. "Princess Nokia's 'Metallic Butterfly'". Vice. May 12, 2014. Retrieved December 5, 2014.
  18. Berry, Peter A. (August 28, 2017). "Princess Nokia Shares '1992 Deluxe' Album Release Date". XXL. Retrieved January 12, 2018.
  19. Darville, Jordan (September 8, 2017). "Listen To Princess Nokia's New Project 1992 Deluxe". The Fader. Retrieved January 12, 2018. The New York rapper considers this new release to be her debut LP.
  20. Geslani, Michelle (September 9, 2017). "Princess Nokia releases 1992 Deluxe album: Stream". Consequence of Sound. Retrieved January 12, 2018.
  21. "Princess Nokia - Heatseekers Albums". Billboard. Retrieved January 12, 2018.
  22. "NME's Albums of The Year 2017". NME. December 27, 2017. Retrieved January 12, 2018.
  23. "Princess Nokia Debuts Voices in My Head". altpress.com. Retrieved March 8, 2018.
  24. "Meet Maison Margiela's New Fragrance Mutiny". British Vogue. Retrieved September 26, 2018.
  25. Fernández, Stefanie (April 13, 2018). "Princess Nokia Goes Full Emo". NPR. Retrieved September 24, 2020.
  26. "Angelfish by Brian Shaer". Film Threat. Retrieved January 14, 2020.
  27. "Angelfish: Film Review". Remezcla. Retrieved February 21, 2020.
  28. Exposito, Suzy (September 16, 2019). "See Princess Nokia Crash a Beauty Pageant in 'Sugar Honey Iced Tea (S.H.I.T.)' Video". Rolling Stone. Retrieved September 24, 2020.
  29. Hobbs, Thomas (November 18, 2019). "All hail Princess Nokia: the experimental rapper that won't stand for society's shit". DIY. Retrieved September 24, 2020.
  30. "Princess Nokia's Everything Is Beautiful/Everything Sucks is audacious". Evening Standard. February 28, 2020. Retrieved February 28, 2020.
  31. Kameir, Rawiya (February 29, 2020). "Princess Nokia: Everything Is Beautiful / Everything Sucks Album Review". Pitchfork. Retrieved September 24, 2020.
  32. Madden, Joe (November 10, 2017). "Princess Nokia: the modern pop icon talks politics, female empowerment and debut album '1992 Deluxe'". NME. Retrieved September 24, 2020.
  33. Schnipper, Matthew (May 30, 2019). "Princess Nokia on Remaking Rap for a Queer, Feminist New York". The New York Times. Retrieved September 24, 2020.
  34. Moran, Justin (October 10, 2017). "How Princess Nokia Achieved the 'Gay New York Dream'". Out. Retrieved January 28, 2018.
  35. "Bi Artist Spotlight: Radical Self Love with Princess Nokia". The LGBT Sentinel. May 9, 2017. Retrieved January 28, 2018.
  36. Hill, Zahara (August 20, 2018). "Princess Nokia On Being Sexually Fluid And Making Music For Girls With The 'Delusional Confidence Of Barbra Streisand'". Blavity.
  37. Sanders, Wren (February 26, 2020). "Out Loud: Princess Nokia Is Done Explaining Themself". Them.
  38. Ushe, Naledi (December 20, 2019). "Princess Nokia Opens Up About Being a Gender Non-Conforming Artist in 'Playboy' Equality Issue". OK Magazine. Archived from the original on April 8, 2020.
  39. Petridis, Alexis (September 8, 2017). "Princess Nokia: 'At my shows, girls can take up space the way men do'". The Guardian. Retrieved January 5, 2018.
  40. Mallett, Whitney (August 26, 2016). "Princess Nokia, an Artist Making a Career All Her Own". V. Retrieved January 5, 2018.
  41. "Why Princess Nokia Matters Now, More Than Ever". www.vice.com.
  42. Manning, Emily (March 13, 2017). "smart girl club: meet princess nokia and two of the most important women in her life".
  43. "How 5 Women Use Religious Traditions To Navigate Modern Life". The Fader. December 8, 2016. Retrieved September 24, 2020.
  44. Gibsone, Harriet (February 21, 2017). "Princess Nokia in row over 'public display of sexism' at Cambridge University". The Guardian. Retrieved September 24, 2020.
  45. "Princess Nokia, Armed With Soup, Fights Off a Subway Racist". Retrieved March 7, 2018.
  46. Tenreyro, Tatiana (October 11, 2017). "Princess Nokia Throws Soup At Racist Subway Passenger". Billboard. Retrieved September 24, 2020.
  47. "GAFFA-Priset 2018 – och de nominerade är ..." (in Swedish). Sweden: GAFFA. Retrieved September 3, 2019.
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