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  • 2 weeks ago
As part of our Sound Off music series about upcoming women in music, NYC Rapper Princess Nokia talks about growing up in NYC and overcoming being an outcast, while creating music and building a music career!

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Transcript
00:03I kind of just always knew that I'd fall into music and I'd fall into the New York
00:07scene. I just always try to keep the gutter alive in me. I don't think I've
00:11ever been assimilated in my life. I'm a very eloquent, well-spoken, educated woman.
00:17I never changed my voice for nobody because I never wanted to because I
00:21knew that my culture was special.
00:35My name is Destiny Nicole and I'm from New York City, but some people may know me as Princess Nokia.
00:52I'm a strong woman of color. I think underneath every strong woman of color is a feminist. Whether
00:59they identify with that or not, they are feminists, they are strong women.
01:05I'm from the heart of New York City, East Harlem and the Lower East Side and I've lived in and
01:12out of the Bronx all of my life. Growing up in New York City is like a movie. I'm really
01:23talking about a city that lives and breathes art and culture. I've never quite experienced
01:28anywhere else. So my true New York experience is quite authentic because from the age of five
01:36years old, I've just been ripping and running a city.
01:39No, actually, that didn't even...
01:43Oh, it's a party over there. She's like, it's a party for you and a bike.
01:47Arafa's my best friend. She takes care of me. She's the glue that holds me together, really.
01:58And Robot is my other best friend. I've known him since I was 17 years old.
02:03Get up! Get up! Get up! Hey!
02:05He is my voice of reason. He reminds me of why I do this in the first place.
02:11Destiny could have easily been an airhead and been like, you know, like, brown girl, I'm beautiful.
02:16Get into my music. But she doesn't. She's aware.
02:19Don't never let a man belittle you or tell you you're nothing because you are everything.
02:31You know, one day I feel real tomboy, very New York, very raver, you know, very teenager, very low maintenance.
02:38One day I'll feel very rustic and native and I'll put my hair in braids and I'll put feathers in
02:43my hair.
02:43I'm black and native. I like really incorporating those cultures into my style because they're beautiful cultures.
02:50They're beautiful styles.
02:51When I look at myself, I don't see myself as just a pretty girl.
02:56I don't see myself as just a brown girl.
02:59I see, I see, like, the blood literally splitting into all these different lines of people and heritage.
03:12But it's good!
03:18That was great.
03:19Yeah, that was amazing.
03:21Want to write something to that?
03:23Yeah, I would love to.
03:29She's a really talented writer. She's focused. She has an appeal. I mean, she's, you know, she definitely, like, walks
03:35into a room. People notice her. You know, she radiates.
03:38I just make music to fight being an outcast. I always felt like an outcast. Even in music now, I
03:45still feel like an outcast.
03:47Who that is, ho? That girl is a tomboy. That girl is a tomboy. That girl is a tomboy.
03:58I came into this because people like me, they're not appreciated. I mean, people don't love you unless you're cool.
04:05So I just wanted to be the epitome of not cool and make that cool.
04:10With my little titties and my fat belly. My little titties and my fat belly. My little titties and my
04:15fat belly.
04:16I really hope that what girls convey from my music or from my message or from my speech or even
04:24from my actions is that it is okay to be unapologetic as long as you do it with dignity.
04:30Who that? Who that? Who that? Princess Nokia baby fat. I'll be where the ladies at. Who know how to
04:36shake it fast? We gon' spit that brazy trap. You know that I'll take it back. I'm spittin' that endless
04:41mess. Yeah, ho.
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