Nasty C’s Dual Personality: Strings and Bling
Nasty C loves bling and all the fine things in life, which, unlike you and I, he has plenty and still wants more of. The Durban-born rapper is also in touch with his feelings, and has no qualms letting his pen bleed as he reveals the different layers of his inner self.
His latest album Strings and Bling, takes on the form of his character’s dichotomy. The first half of the album is rapperly bravado expressed over trap and boom bap production. Nasty C is now so famous he doesn’t have to introduce himself, he raps on the album’s opening song “Blisters.” On the song, the MC raps about countering his blisters with the amount of blessings life has bequeathed him.
On songs like “Jungle,” “Strings and Bling,” “King” and “Legendary,” he is punching his chest, spitting lines like, “I fuck who I want when I want to,” “I’m at the top, and it’s spacious/ By myself, I can walk around naked.” Which pretty much sums up the theme of the Bling section of the album.
He makes mention of how he’s now able to bed women he couldn’t before he became star. He’s now “Jesus in Balenciaga sandals.” Through all this egomania and shameless materialism, though, Nasty C doesn’t hide his flaws and some empty holes in his soul.
But fortunately, he has bling to turn to should life throw adversity his way. He raps, “Can’t touch a torn soul till you’ve felt its pain/ Now, heal me with all these chains.”
The song “Gravy” is the pivotal point in which the mood of the album swings from happy to somber. The song is an anesthetic to the transition from those moods. He expresses pains he’s been exposed to (for instance, he raps, “Rest in peace, to soldiers that we lost/ Gimme gardens, give me sauce/ Mix my Henny with the Voss/ got me dipping when I walk”), but through it all, he’s cool, he’s clam, he’s gravy.
“Gravy” is followed by “SMA,” a cautionary tale of young love. The singer Rowlene, who’s signed to Nasty C’s label, Tall Racks, lends her ethereal vocals to the fan-favorite. Her voice glides and echoes over gloomy organ keys, which carry the whole song. It’s all gravy on “SMA,” as the rapper throws a tirade to his girlfriend who left him unfairly, until the second verse.
On the verse, Nasty C plays the role of him and that of his girlfriend, and the two have a heated conversation. When she accuses him of cheating, he retorts, “You cheated, too,” to which she responds, “That was so long ago.” “That makes it cool?” he asks.
The song vividly portrays the complications of boy-girl relations, while also displaying the musical chemistry of Nasty C and Rowlene. Their first collaboration, “Phases”, from Nasty C’s debut album, Bad Hair, wasn’t beginner’s luck.
“Another One Down” is another piano key-laden smoothie, in which he opens up about having an oxymoronic character, just like most of us anyway. Nasty raps, “It’s too many different spirits within me/ A personality is constantly shifting/ I’m the most humble, but act different next minute/ I’ll admit it, I’m twisted.”
On the song, he reminds us that behind one of the sharpest South African lyricists, the biggest and youngest hip-hop stars in the country, is a young man fighting his own battles. Just like us, he’s selective of which part of his life he is comfortable sharing with those in his circle. He raps:
“This crazy world’s getting colder and colder
I had to learn to dress my persona
I had to put him in a happy suit
Too many told me, ‘stay humble, that’s all we ask of you.’
I’m learning life now, and it feels like I’m back at school
Somebody should’ve told me being human needed practice too.”
“Everything”, which features one of the three guests on Strings and Bling, Kaein Cruz, Nasty celebrates a relationship of his that has stood the test of time. “It makes me happy to say this/ I been having my eye on you since grade 6/ The kids at school thought we was crazy/ Now we holding hands in Mercedes,” he raps.
“Mrs Me” and “My Baby” also celebrate prospering love while being cognizant of the lowlights that come with two souls trying to form a strong bond. The songs are Yin and Yang in that “Mr Me” is moody — he raps in a voice that oozes emotion and his pen is more intense: “I owe you a rose for every breath you take/ I owe you all the love God invested in heaven/ and then a necklace that says you come before second place/ and make up for the empty space I left; my greatest mistake.” “My Baby” on the other side is a pop–rap song with happier keys and pulsating drums and snare rolls.
The last two songs on Strings and Bling, “Givenchy” and “Jiggy Jigga”, put an end to the emotional section of the album. The MC returns to the egocentric rhymes over aggressive trap production. He raps on “Givenchy”: “My self-esteem so high I don’t know what got in me/ She want that Indian hair my money, I’m speaking Hindi/ We in the back of that auto, she getting windy.”
On strings and Bling, Nasty C showcases his eloquence with the pen and his dynamic ear for music and the variance of his delivery and production. While songs like “King” and “Jungle” showcase his wit, on songs like “SMA”, “Another One Down” and “Mrs Me,” among others, he showcases his writing skills. He showcases his ability to convey emotion. He’s able to choose fitting production to the meandering moods of the album. “U Played Yourself” will put a huge smile on the face of golden-era purists, as the rapper gives relationship advice over a nostalgic boom bap beat.
Songs like “Legendary”, “Another One Down”, “Gravy” and “My Baby” see him ditching the hard raps for melodies. And it works.
Musically, Strings and Bling is more refined than his debut album Bad Hair, which was released in 2016. While on Bad Hair, Nasty C was still rapping convincingly, the album lacked character. It sounded like a collection of dope songs more than the coherent body of work Strings and Bling is.
Nasty was involved in the production of every song on the album, alongside producers such as The Gobbla, Zino D, Tweezy, Nani, Gemini Major and more. The songs that are key-based such “Another One Down”, “Everything” and “Casanova” only bare his credits, which gives away his strength as a producer.
There’s no stopping Jiggy Jigga He has sold out venues all over the country, collaborated with French Montana, A$AP Ferg, Stogie T, Cassper Nyovest, Davido and other mega stars. He has impressed rap fans in the continent, Europe and the US. Revered US hip-hop commentator Sway Calloway said in his radio show, Sway In The Morning, “Citizens, I’m telling you, this guy is the truth. I wanna make this kid big here in the States, too. I want him to be big everywhere ’cause he’s rapping better than a lot of these dudes here in the states is already.”
As a wise man once said, not one single lie in sight.
