New York City rapper Princess Nokia is segueing from hip-hop to dive into emo on her upcoming mixtape A Girl Cried Red, a title inspired by the rapper’s favorite Dance Gavin Dance song “The Robot With Human Hair.” The mixtape is a follow-up to the smash success of 1992 and promises to go deep into the genre close to the rapper’s heart.
In an interview with Dazed, Princess Nokia spoke about how the mixtape was going to be “real alternative music” with minimal features. “I do have Elijah of Phony Ppl playing guitar on it, and I’ve got the wonderful producer Tony Seltzer who did all the production except for one song,” she explained. “We’re all New York City kids and metalheads so I just like to hang out with my friends and listen to our favorite bands and work together. It’s really lovely.”
The genre has been a favorite of the rapper since she was a child growing up in Harlem. “There’s a vulnerability in associating with pain and sadness that has always lived in that narration,” she said, elaborating on why the emo music, along with the blues and punk, hit so close to home for her and other POC in their youth. “This is our shit. Very naturally, that’s why we return to it. It’s ours, it will always be ours.”
A Girl Cried Red is set for a March release.
(Via Dazed)
