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 ever been
00:12assimilated in my life. I'm a very eloquent, well-spoken, educated woman. I never changed
00:18my voice for nobody because I never wanted to, because I knew 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.
00:42Butterfly wings, rats in the spring, and I'm golden from my toes, and then I'm reading poems and I'm singing
00:50songs.
00:52I'm a strong woman of color. I think underneath every strong woman of color is a feminist.
00:58Whether they 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,
01:11and I've lived in and out of the Bronx all of my life.
01:18Growing up in New York City is like a movie.
01:22I'm really talking about a city that lives and breathes art and culture.
01:27I've never quite experienced anywhere else, so my true New York experience is quite authentic,
01:34because from the age of five years old, I've just been ripping and running the city.
01:39No, actually, I didn't hear you.
01:43Oh, it's a party with that shit, like it's a party for Choy to buy it.
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.
02:00I've known him since I was 17 years old.
02:03Get up, get up, get up, hey!
02:05He is my voice of reason.
02:07He reminds me of why I do this in the first place.
02:11Destiny could have easily been an airhead and been like,
02:14you know, like, brown girl, I'm beautiful, get into my music.
02:17But she doesn't. She's aware.
02:19Don't never let a man belittle you or tell you you're nothing,
02:22because you are f***ing everything.
02:31You know, one day, I feel real tomboy, very New York, very raver,
02:35you know, very teenager, very low maintenance.
02:38One day, I feel very rustic and native,
02:40and I'll put my hair in braids, and I'll put feathers in my hair.
02:43I'm black and native.
02:45I like really incorporating those cultures into my style,
02:48because they're beautiful cultures, they'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, like, the blood literally splitting
03:02into all these different lines of people and heritage.
03:12But it's good!
03:18That was great.
03:19Feeling it?
03:20Yeah, that was amazing.
03:21Want to write something to that?
03:23Yeah, I would love to.
03:29She's a really talented writer.
03:31She's focused.
03:32She has an appeal.
03:33I mean, you know, she definitely, like, walks into a room.
03:35People notice her.
03:36You know, she radiates.
03:38I just make music to fight being an outcast.
03:42I always felt like an outcast.
03:44Even in music now, I still feel like an outcast.
03:52I never came into this looking for a deal or looking to be someone popular.
03:59I came into this because people like me, they're not appreciated.
04:03I mean, people don't love you unless you're cool.
04:05So I just wanted to be the epitome.
04:08My fat belly.
04:08My little titties in my fat belly.
04:10My little titties in my fat belly.
04:12My little titties in my fat belly.
04:12I really hope that what girls convey from my music or from my message or from my speech,
04:19or even from my actions, is that it is okay to be unapologetic.
04:24As long as you do it with dignity.
04:26Who dat?
04:27Who dat?
04:27Who dat?
04:28Princess Nokia baby fat.
04:30I be where the ladies at.
04:32Who know how to shake it fast?
04:33We gon' spit that crazy trap.
04:35You know that I take it back.
04:36I'm spittin' the endless mess.
04:38Yeah ho!
