Princess Nokia

Princess Nokia
Background information
Birth name Destiny Nicole Frasqueri
Also known as
  • Wavy Spice
  • Destiny Nicole Ortiz
Born (1992-06-14) June 14, 1992
New York City, U.S.
Genres
Occupation(s)
Years active 2010–present
Labels Rough Trade
Associated acts
Website princessnokia.org

Destiny Nicole Frasqueri,[1] (born June 14, 1992),[2] better known by her stage name Princess Nokia, is an American rapper of Puerto Rican descent.[3] She is a strong supporter of feminism, founding the Smart Girl Club with Milah Liblin.[4][5] She is signed to Rough Trade Records.[6]

Early life

At the age of two, Frasqueri lost her mother to AIDS.[7] Between the ages of 9 and 16, she was in foster care. After she left foster care, she lived with her grandmother.[8][7] Her foster mother was physically abusive throughout.[7] At the age of sixteen, Frasqueri started writing rhymes.[9] She lived around East Harlem and the Lower East Side of New York City at the time.[9]

Career

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. It was largely autobiographical and gained modest popularity. Subsequently, she released her second track, "Bitch I'm Posh".[10][11][9] The track went viral, and as of December 2017, received 110,000 plays on SoundCloud.[12] Frasqueri then released YAYA (Yaya is a Taino word)[13] as a commentary of perceptions of colonial history.[14] 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. She released her mixtape, 1992, on Soundcloud.[15] She also began touring.

Frasqueri was praised for her feminism,[16] especially after confronting a man yelling racial slurs on a subway train.[17] She also founded the Smart Girls Club, a podcast where she discusses healthy living and urban feminism."[18]

Frasqueri claims Princess Nokia is an alter ego,[19] which she introduced with the track "Nokia".[10] She released an album named Metallic Butterfly on May 12, 2014, and was debuted on Vice and Soundcloud.[20]

On September 8, 2017,[21] she released her debut studio album, 1992 Deluxe,[22] which was an expanded version of her 2016 mixtape, 1992.[23] It peaked at #25 on Billboard's Heatseekers Albums chart.[24] NME listed it as the 32nd best album of 2017.[25]

Nokia is slated to perform at the Treefort Music Fest in Boise, Idaho in March 2018.[26]

Nokia also has debuted a quirky new radio show on Apple's Beats 1 Radio on February 18, 2018. Episodes will air every other Sunday and allow listeners to get acquainted with the inner workings of Nokia's mind. She has a total of 6 episodes labelled: "The Voices in My Head with Princess Nokia."[27]

In September 2018, Nokia was chosen as one of the six ambassadors by Maison Margiela to promote their new fragrance, Mutiny.[28]

Controversy

2017 incidents

In February 2017, Frasqueri confronted a member of the audience at a charity concert at Cambridge University whom she accused of "mouthing dirty obscenities like "show me your tits". The alleged harasser denied yelling such obscenities and told The Cambridge Student: "I was standing in the audience and was told by a fellow audience member that the name of the performer was "Abigail". Given that I was enjoying the performance, I shouted out "Let's go Abigail!". After I shouted this, she came down from the stage. She slapped me and threw drinks on me."[29][30] After returning to the stage, Nokia told the crowd "that's what you do when a White boy disrespects you".[31]

In October 2017, Frasqueri made headlines again when a viral video surfaced[32] of her throwing hot soup in a man's face whilst on a subway journey to Brooklyn. The rapper heard a White man calling a group of teenagers "niggers" and decided to take action against the racist remark by slapping the man and throwing her hot soup on him. She took to Twitter saying: "this bigot called this group of teenage boys 'n***ers' on the train so I stood up and slapped him and everybody on the train backed me up".[33]

Personal life

Frasqueri identifies as bisexual and has stated that growing up near the queer community of New York City was an important part of her life. The early stages of her musical career began through performing at gay clubs, and she gained popularity among the gay nightlife scene.[34][35]

Discography

Studio albums

Mixtapes

  • Metallic Butterfly (2014, self-released)
  • Honeysuckle (2015, self-released)
  • 1992 (2016, self-released)
  • A Girl Cried Red (2018, Rough Trade Records)

Guest appearances

References

  1. ↑ Cooper, Wilbert L. (September 21, 2015). "Stream Destiny's 'Honeysuckle,' the Funky Follow-Up to 'Metallic Butterfly'". Vice. Retrieved January 12, 2018.
  2. ↑ "Happy birthday Princess Nokia". The FADER. June 14, 2017. Retrieved April 14, 2018.
  3. ↑ Davis, Shanice (2016-12-14). "Princess Nokia Talks Infusing Santería In Her Music". Vibe.
  4. ↑ Petridis, Alexis (8 September 2017). "Princess Nokia: 'At my shows, girls can take up space the way men do'". The Guardian. Retrieved 5 January 2018.
  5. ↑ Mallett, Whitney (2016-08-26). "Princess Nokia, an Artist Making a Career All Her Own". V Magazine. Retrieved 2018-01-05.
  6. ↑ Clare, April (June 28, 2017). "Watch Princess Nokia cruise the streets of New York in the video for new track 'G.O.A.T'". Fact. Retrieved January 12, 2018.
  7. 1 2 3 Marotta, Jenna (August 28, 2017). "This Time, Princess Nokia Is Going to Do It Right". Vogue. Retrieved January 12, 2018.
  8. ↑ Snobette (2016-07-05), Princess Nokia: "There's No Money in Record Deals & I'm Not Looking to Be Taken Advantage of", retrieved 2018-05-10
  9. 1 2 3 "Wavy Spice is Making "High-Tech airy Girl Music"...and we're Listening". Paper. 14 October 2014. Retrieved 5 December 2014.
  10. 1 2 Track Premiere: Hear Wavy Spice Transform Into Princess Nokia on 'Nokia'
  11. ↑ Wavy Spice" "Bitch I'm Posh" Archived 2014-02-20 at the Wayback Machine.
  12. ↑ "Wavy Spice (New band of the day No 1,679)" The Guardian. Accessed 27 November 2016
  13. ↑ Princess Nokia (2012-10-29), Wavy Spice - YAYA, retrieved 2018-05-10
  14. ↑ "Princess Nokia is Our New Age Hood Leader". Remezcla. Retrieved 2017-10-05.
  15. ↑ "1992 Deluxe". SoundCloud. Retrieved 2018-01-06.
  16. ↑ https://noisey.vice.com/en_us/article/ypnpzk/why-princess-nokia-matters-now-more-than-ever
  17. ↑ https://pitchfork.com/news/princess-nokia-throws-hot-soup-at-subway-racist-video/
  18. ↑ https://i-d.vice.com/en_us/article/9kb53p/smart-girl-club-meet-princess-nokia-and-two-of-the-most-important-women-in-her-life
  19. ↑ Wavy Spice: Harlem Is Burning
  20. ↑ "Princess Nokia's 'Metallic Butterfly'". Vice. 12 May 2014. Retrieved 5 December 2014.
  21. ↑ Berry, Peter A. (August 28, 2017). "Princess Nokia Shares '1992 Deluxe' Album Release Date". XXL. Retrieved January 12, 2018.
  22. ↑ 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.
  23. ↑ Geslani, Michelle (September 9, 2017). "Princess Nokia releases 1992 Deluxe album: Stream". Consequence of Sound. Retrieved January 12, 2018.
  24. ↑ "Princess Nokia - Heatseekers Albums". Billboard. Retrieved January 12, 2018.
  25. ↑ "NME's Albums of The Year 2017". NME. December 27, 2017. Retrieved January 12, 2018.
  26. ↑ COSORES, PHILIP (2018-01-11). "Treefort Music Festival Expands Its Lineup With Rapsody, Jamila Woods, Princess Nokia, And More". UPROXX. Retrieved 2018-01-13.
  27. ↑ "Princess Nokia Debuts Voices in My Head". altpress.com. Retrieved 2018-03-08.
  28. ↑ "Meet Maison Margiela's New Fragrance Mutiny". Vogue. Retrieved 26 September 2018.
  29. ↑ "Rapper Princess Nokia Punches Audience Member After Being Harassed On Stage". Out. 22 February 2017. Retrieved 23 February 2017.
  30. ↑ "Fashion show headliner ends set early after hitting audience member". The Cambridge Student. 15 February 2017. Retrieved 23 February 2017.
  31. ↑ https://heatst.com/culture-wars/rapper-princess-nokia-assaults-white-boy-in-audience-who-called-her-abigail/
  32. ↑ BallerAlert (9 October 2017). "New Yorkers kicking racists ass one at a timepic.twitter.com/yRUBD3kXIs". @balleralert. Retrieved 2018-03-07.
  33. ↑ "Princess Nokia, Armed With Soup, Fights Off a Subway Racist". Retrieved 2018-03-07.
  34. ↑ Moran, Justin (10 October 2017). "How Princess Nokia Achieved the 'Gay New York Dream'". Out. Retrieved 28 January 2018.
  35. ↑ "Bi Artist Spotlight: Radical Self Love with Princess Nokia". The LGBT Sentinel. 9 May 2017. Retrieved 28 January 2018.
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