WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.120 Welcome to the deep dive. Glad you could join 00:00:02.120 --> 00:00:05.759 us today. Yeah. Today we are opening up the notes 00:00:05.759 --> 00:00:09.699 on the fascinating Wikipedia page of an independent 00:00:09.699 --> 00:00:13.140 American rapper and spoken word poet. Her name 00:00:13.140 --> 00:00:16.059 is Nitti Scott. A really incredible artist. She 00:00:16.059 --> 00:00:18.179 is. And whether you are actively catching up 00:00:18.179 --> 00:00:20.559 on the underground hip hop scene or you're just, 00:00:20.579 --> 00:00:23.480 you know, insanely curious about how modern artists 00:00:23.480 --> 00:00:27.379 weave complex cultural ancestry into their media. 00:00:27.699 --> 00:00:30.160 Which she does brilliantly. Exactly. This deep 00:00:30.160 --> 00:00:32.460 dive is designed to deliver a major aha moment 00:00:32.460 --> 00:00:35.520 for you. Because we're looking at a masterclass 00:00:35.520 --> 00:00:38.200 here. It's a masterclass in an artist taking 00:00:38.200 --> 00:00:40.320 total control of their narrative, preserving 00:00:40.320 --> 00:00:42.539 culture, and really connecting the dots between 00:00:42.539 --> 00:00:45.420 history and hip hop. Right. So, OK, let's unpack 00:00:45.420 --> 00:00:47.140 this, because right from the jump, her origin 00:00:47.140 --> 00:00:49.479 story is just this incredibly rich tapestry. 00:00:49.600 --> 00:00:51.939 It really is. Nitzia Cecilia Scott was born on 00:00:51.939 --> 00:00:54.719 October 10th, 1990. She was born in Michigan, 00:00:54.799 --> 00:00:56.579 but she was raised down in Orlando, Florida. 00:00:56.859 --> 00:00:59.600 And looking at her background, she has a Puerto 00:00:59.600 --> 00:01:01.479 Rican mother and an African -American father 00:01:01.479 --> 00:01:04.159 from New Orleans. Well, when you look at that 00:01:04.159 --> 00:01:06.819 specific lineage. Yeah. You know, you were talking 00:01:06.819 --> 00:01:09.280 about a collision of two of the most musically 00:01:09.280 --> 00:01:11.340 foundational cultures in the Western Hemisphere. 00:01:11.459 --> 00:01:14.900 Puerto Rico brings this deep, deep history of 00:01:14.900 --> 00:01:18.560 Afro -Caribbean percussion, syncopation and storytelling 00:01:18.560 --> 00:01:21.560 through rhythm. Right. The rhythms are so distinct. 00:01:21.719 --> 00:01:24.260 Exactly. And then you have New Orleans, which 00:01:24.260 --> 00:01:27.319 is essentially the cradle of black American music. 00:01:27.340 --> 00:01:30.420 I mean, from jazz to blues to bounce. Yeah. Being 00:01:30.420 --> 00:01:33.140 immersed in that level of diverse rhythmic culture 00:01:33.140 --> 00:01:36.670 early on. it's going to leave a mark on how you 00:01:36.670 --> 00:01:39.329 hear the world. It laid the critical groundwork 00:01:39.329 --> 00:01:42.310 for her entire future musical identity. So true. 00:01:42.409 --> 00:01:44.549 And I was looking at her early timeline in the 00:01:44.549 --> 00:01:47.390 notes here. It mentions that by age 14, she was 00:01:47.390 --> 00:01:49.510 attending an art school, majoring in creative 00:01:49.510 --> 00:01:51.609 writing. Finding her voice early. Yeah, she was 00:01:51.609 --> 00:01:53.870 finding her voice through personal expression, 00:01:54.250 --> 00:01:57.650 specifically writing poetry. But then she makes 00:01:57.650 --> 00:02:00.189 this leap. She takes those written words and 00:02:00.189 --> 00:02:02.489 starts putting them over a beat to start rapping. 00:02:03.269 --> 00:02:06.540 Mechanically speaking, How hard is that transition? 00:02:06.780 --> 00:02:09.379 Like, is a good poet automatically going to be 00:02:09.379 --> 00:02:13.120 a good rapper? Not necessarily. And that transition 00:02:13.120 --> 00:02:16.560 from spoken word poet to rapper is a crucial 00:02:16.560 --> 00:02:19.460 distinction to make. How so? Well, when you start 00:02:19.460 --> 00:02:23.500 in poetry, your focus is entirely on the weight 00:02:23.500 --> 00:02:25.240 of the word. the rhythm of the syllable itself, 00:02:25.460 --> 00:02:28.240 and the narrative flow. The poem creates its 00:02:28.240 --> 00:02:31.580 own internal time. Ah, okay. But rap forces you 00:02:31.580 --> 00:02:34.699 to marry that word to a strict external rhythm, 00:02:34.819 --> 00:02:37.620 the beat. You have to find the pocket. That makes 00:02:37.620 --> 00:02:39.860 sense. A lot of poets actually struggle to confine 00:02:39.860 --> 00:02:43.000 their free verse to a 4 -4 time signature. But 00:02:43.000 --> 00:02:44.879 when a poet does figure out how to write a beat, 00:02:44.979 --> 00:02:46.759 you get something special. You get Nitty Scott. 00:02:47.550 --> 00:02:49.750 Precisely. You aren't just filling space on a 00:02:49.750 --> 00:02:51.969 track with catchy ad libs. You are crafting a 00:02:51.969 --> 00:02:54.930 rigorous, intentional story. And she was clearly 00:02:54.930 --> 00:02:57.789 serious about making that transition work because 00:02:57.789 --> 00:03:00.069 at just 17 years old, she packs up and moves 00:03:00.069 --> 00:03:02.250 to Brooklyn, New York to pursue a career as a 00:03:02.250 --> 00:03:04.930 rapper. I know that seems incredibly young to 00:03:04.930 --> 00:03:07.710 dive headfirst into the absolute birthplace of 00:03:07.710 --> 00:03:10.069 hip hop. How does she actually navigate that? 00:03:10.289 --> 00:03:12.669 I mean, it takes an immense amount of conviction. 00:03:13.289 --> 00:03:16.289 to show up in Brooklyn at 17 and say, I'm a rapper. 00:03:16.449 --> 00:03:19.110 Especially Brooklyn. Right. New York hip hop 00:03:19.110 --> 00:03:21.870 culture is notoriously protective of its standards. 00:03:22.150 --> 00:03:24.550 You have to prove you have bars. You have to 00:03:24.550 --> 00:03:27.069 prove your pen game is elite. Well, her pen game 00:03:27.069 --> 00:03:29.490 was definitely being honed in a really unique 00:03:29.490 --> 00:03:32.460 way. She ended up graduating from the Secondary 00:03:32.460 --> 00:03:34.960 School for Journalism at John Jay High School 00:03:34.960 --> 00:03:37.860 in Park Slope, Brooklyn. A great program. Yeah. 00:03:38.379 --> 00:03:40.719 And there's this great detail from her sources. 00:03:41.020 --> 00:03:44.000 She told MSN in an interview that if she hadn't 00:03:44.000 --> 00:03:45.860 pursued music, she would have gone to college 00:03:45.860 --> 00:03:47.939 to study journalism and broadcast communications. 00:03:48.479 --> 00:03:50.460 What's fascinating here is how that specific 00:03:50.460 --> 00:03:53.360 journalism background translates directly into 00:03:53.360 --> 00:03:55.870 her art. Right. Journalism is about rigorous 00:03:55.870 --> 00:03:58.430 storytelling. It's about seeking truth, providing 00:03:58.430 --> 00:04:01.409 context and understanding the who, what, when, 00:04:01.409 --> 00:04:04.669 where and why. A good journalist is an observer 00:04:04.669 --> 00:04:06.689 of the human condition. And you see that in her 00:04:06.689 --> 00:04:09.370 music. Absolutely. When you bring that discipline 00:04:09.370 --> 00:04:12.430 into hip hop, you get a highly narrative, conscious 00:04:12.430 --> 00:04:15.669 rap style. She treats her lyrics with the exact 00:04:15.669 --> 00:04:18.550 same rigor that a journalist treats a long form 00:04:18.550 --> 00:04:20.990 investigative piece. Wow. There is no wasted 00:04:20.990 --> 00:04:23.370 breath. Every line is serving the broader story. 00:04:23.850 --> 00:04:26.689 That investigative independent mindset brings 00:04:26.689 --> 00:04:28.930 us perfectly to how she actually broke through 00:04:28.930 --> 00:04:31.149 because she didn't take the traditional A &R 00:04:31.149 --> 00:04:33.910 route, you know, shopping a demo tape to major 00:04:33.910 --> 00:04:36.920 labels. No, no. In 2010, she had this massive 00:04:36.920 --> 00:04:39.500 viral breakout moment. She dropped a freestyle 00:04:39.500 --> 00:04:42.779 over Kanye West's Track Monster. For you listening, 00:04:42.920 --> 00:04:44.980 think of this like a perfectly timed startup 00:04:44.980 --> 00:04:47.139 launch that bypasses the traditional industry 00:04:47.139 --> 00:04:49.759 gatekeepers entirely. And contextualizing the 00:04:49.759 --> 00:04:52.519 year 2010 is so important here. The blog era. 00:04:52.800 --> 00:04:55.139 Exactly. This is the peak of the blog era in 00:04:55.139 --> 00:04:57.600 hip hop. Twitter and YouTube were becoming the 00:04:57.600 --> 00:05:00.240 primary engines for music discovery, replacing 00:05:00.240 --> 00:05:03.040 the traditional radio DJ. And Monster was everywhere. 00:05:03.639 --> 00:05:05.699 Kanye's Monster was one of the most talked about, 00:05:05.839 --> 00:05:08.759 culturally dominant beats of that entire year. 00:05:09.199 --> 00:05:12.399 By choosing that specific instrumental to freestyle 00:05:12.399 --> 00:05:15.860 over, she essentially inserted herself into the 00:05:15.860 --> 00:05:18.670 biggest conversation in music. That is incredibly 00:05:18.670 --> 00:05:20.949 smart. She leveraged the Internet to put her 00:05:20.949 --> 00:05:23.350 raw talent directly in front of an audience that 00:05:23.350 --> 00:05:25.769 was hungry for new lyricists. And the industry 00:05:25.769 --> 00:05:28.410 gatekeepers had absolutely no choice but to take 00:05:28.410 --> 00:05:30.769 notice of that raw talent. The validation came 00:05:30.769 --> 00:05:34.209 fast. Very fast. By 2011, just a year after that 00:05:34.209 --> 00:05:36.629 viral video, she is performing at the BET Hip 00:05:36.629 --> 00:05:39.589 Hop Awards. And the notes say she was in a cypher 00:05:39.589 --> 00:05:42.370 alongside people like DJ Premier, Estelle and 00:05:42.370 --> 00:05:45.069 Lecrae. Huge names. So for those catching up 00:05:45.069 --> 00:05:47.829 on hip hop terminology, what exactly is a cypher 00:05:47.829 --> 00:05:50.310 and why is it such a big deal a cypher is essentially 00:05:50.310 --> 00:05:52.870 a freestyle circle it's a gathering of rappers 00:05:52.870 --> 00:05:55.970 taking turns showing off their lyricism their 00:05:55.970 --> 00:05:58.709 wordplay and their flow over a continuous beat 00:05:58.709 --> 00:06:01.629 like a lyrical sparring match exactly it is the 00:06:01.629 --> 00:06:03.629 ultimate proving ground in hip -hop there's nowhere 00:06:03.629 --> 00:06:06.129 to hide yeah you can't rely on studio magic or 00:06:06.129 --> 00:06:08.970 auto -tune it's just you the microphone and the 00:06:08.970 --> 00:06:11.610 beat So no pressure. Right. To be invited into 00:06:11.610 --> 00:06:13.990 a nationally televised cypher at the BET Awards, 00:06:14.149 --> 00:06:16.589 especially with a legendary producer like DJ 00:06:16.589 --> 00:06:19.949 Premier involved, is a massive cosign. It's the 00:06:19.949 --> 00:06:22.649 culture officially recognizing you as a peer. 00:06:22.810 --> 00:06:24.990 And the momentum just keeps building from there. 00:06:25.110 --> 00:06:27.670 That same year, she's on the lineup for the Brooklyn 00:06:27.670 --> 00:06:30.750 Hip Hop Festival, an event headlined by Q -Tip 00:06:30.750 --> 00:06:34.410 from a tribe called Quest. Amazing. By 2012, 00:06:34.629 --> 00:06:37.490 she crosses the ocean, performing at the Royal 00:06:37.490 --> 00:06:40.290 Arena Festival in Switzerland, sharing the stage 00:06:40.290 --> 00:06:43.680 with icons like Ice Cube and Mos Def. The trajectory 00:06:43.680 --> 00:06:46.120 is wild. But even as she is rubbing shoulders 00:06:46.120 --> 00:06:48.680 with royalty, she keeps her independent hustle 00:06:48.680 --> 00:06:51.040 running. While in New York, she created something 00:06:51.040 --> 00:06:53.899 called the Boombox Family Hip Hop Movement. The 00:06:53.899 --> 00:06:57.019 Boombox Family was all about preserving and progressing 00:06:57.019 --> 00:06:59.540 hip hop culture. She eventually dissolved it 00:06:59.540 --> 00:07:01.920 in 2014 to pursue other independent business 00:07:01.920 --> 00:07:04.339 ventures. But that foundational mindset remained 00:07:04.339 --> 00:07:07.220 constant. Building a community. Exactly. Building 00:07:07.220 --> 00:07:08.879 a community rather than just building a solo 00:07:08.879 --> 00:07:11.220 brand. She operates like an independent organization. 00:07:11.850 --> 00:07:14.810 Nothing proves that independent operational model 00:07:14.810 --> 00:07:18.290 more than a move she made in 2013. She released 00:07:18.290 --> 00:07:20.629 a music video for a song called Flower Child, 00:07:20.930 --> 00:07:23.290 and the track actually features Kendrick Lamar. 00:07:23.430 --> 00:07:26.209 A huge feature. But the wild part is how it got 00:07:26.209 --> 00:07:29.550 made. That entire video shoot was completely 00:07:29.550 --> 00:07:33.009 funded by her fans and contributors via a Kickstarter 00:07:33.009 --> 00:07:36.180 campaign. Can we just pause and appreciate the 00:07:36.180 --> 00:07:38.459 pressure of that? It is a massive risk. If we 00:07:38.459 --> 00:07:40.500 connect this to the bigger picture, this is a 00:07:40.500 --> 00:07:43.100 defining moment for independent artistry in that 00:07:43.100 --> 00:07:46.699 era. Yeah, 2013 was early for that. It was. Asking 00:07:46.699 --> 00:07:48.839 your fans for money directly was still relatively 00:07:48.839 --> 00:07:51.899 taboo in some music circles back then. Some people 00:07:51.899 --> 00:07:54.300 wrongly viewed it as begging. Right, but she 00:07:54.300 --> 00:07:56.620 didn't. No, she saw it as community -backed art. 00:07:57.129 --> 00:07:59.310 To secure a feature from Kendrick Lamar, who 00:07:59.310 --> 00:08:01.050 was rapidly becoming one of the biggest rappers 00:08:01.050 --> 00:08:03.449 on the planet at that time, and to execute a 00:08:03.449 --> 00:08:06.209 professional music video solely through the financial 00:08:06.209 --> 00:08:09.209 backing of your direct fan base, that shatters 00:08:09.209 --> 00:08:11.970 the old industry model. It proves that her audience 00:08:11.970 --> 00:08:14.870 wasn't just passively streaming her music. They 00:08:14.870 --> 00:08:17.670 were financially and emotionally invested in 00:08:17.670 --> 00:08:19.970 her success as an independent creator. And that 00:08:19.970 --> 00:08:22.029 direct financial support gave her the ultimate 00:08:22.029 --> 00:08:24.910 luxury in music, which is complete creative control. 00:08:25.389 --> 00:08:27.290 The Holy Grail. Let's trace how that allowed 00:08:27.290 --> 00:08:29.730 her sound to evolve. In 2012, she dropped her 00:08:29.730 --> 00:08:32.950 first official EP, The Boombox Diaries, Volume 00:08:32.950 --> 00:08:35.850 1. That project had production from respected 00:08:35.850 --> 00:08:38.990 names like Illmind and Arab Music and guest spots 00:08:38.990 --> 00:08:41.710 from Kendrick Lamar and Action Bronson. Solid 00:08:41.710 --> 00:08:44.750 lineup. It earned an XL rating from XXL Magazine. 00:08:45.440 --> 00:08:48.379 For context, XXL Magazine was the premier publication 00:08:48.379 --> 00:08:50.960 for hip -hop culture at the time. Their rating 00:08:50.960 --> 00:08:53.559 system was iconic, and getting an XL is essentially 00:08:53.559 --> 00:08:56.259 a four out of five stars review. So, critical 00:08:56.259 --> 00:08:58.799 acclaim. Absolutely. Yeah. They praised her heavily 00:08:58.799 --> 00:09:01.179 as a conscious rapper and noted how strong and 00:09:01.179 --> 00:09:02.779 diverse her production choices were. And that 00:09:02.779 --> 00:09:05.500 critical acclaim paved the way for her 2014 debut 00:09:05.500 --> 00:09:08.440 studio album, The Art of Chill. The notes describe 00:09:08.440 --> 00:09:11.039 this era of her music as leaning heavily into 00:09:11.039 --> 00:09:13.860 smooth jazz rap and underground hip hop vibes. 00:09:14.120 --> 00:09:17.139 She was firmly establishing a very defined found. 00:09:17.440 --> 00:09:20.860 It was rooted in that classic sample heavy, thoughtful 00:09:20.860 --> 00:09:23.639 hip hop tradition. She was proving she was a 00:09:23.639 --> 00:09:26.220 formidable lyricist with a highly refined ear 00:09:26.220 --> 00:09:29.419 for laid back, complex beats. Finding her lane. 00:09:29.659 --> 00:09:31.919 It was a safe, respected lane that she was dominating. 00:09:32.179 --> 00:09:33.539 But here's where it gets really interesting. 00:09:34.220 --> 00:09:36.379 Just when people think they have her boxed into 00:09:36.379 --> 00:09:39.840 this chill, jazzy, conscious rapper category, 00:09:40.220 --> 00:09:44.120 the year 2017 arrives. Oh, yeah. She releases 00:09:44.120 --> 00:09:46.620 her second full -length album called Creature, 00:09:46.659 --> 00:09:49.820 and she completely shifts the paradigm. Creature 00:09:49.820 --> 00:09:52.240 is a profound piece of work. This is the pivot. 00:09:52.399 --> 00:09:55.080 She moves away from standard boom bap hip hop 00:09:55.080 --> 00:09:57.980 production and dives deep into exploring her 00:09:57.980 --> 00:10:00.320 Afro -Burikua identity. Let's break that down. 00:10:00.399 --> 00:10:02.659 For clarity, Afro -Burikua refers to people of 00:10:02.659 --> 00:10:04.779 Puerto Rican descent with significant African 00:10:04.779 --> 00:10:08.129 ancestry. It's a rich cultural identity that 00:10:08.129 --> 00:10:10.710 encompasses a specific blend of history, struggle 00:10:10.710 --> 00:10:13.230 and art. And she brings that right into the music. 00:10:13.289 --> 00:10:15.710 On this album she starts using explicit sonic 00:10:15.710 --> 00:10:18.450 references to Afro -Caribbean musical cultures. 00:10:18.629 --> 00:10:21.269 The level of detail she goes into is genuinely 00:10:21.269 --> 00:10:23.850 stunning. The notes mention collaborations with 00:10:23.850 --> 00:10:26.370 Taino artists, and for you listening, the Taino 00:10:26.370 --> 00:10:28.009 were the indigenous people of the Caribbean, 00:10:28.149 --> 00:10:31.029 including Puerto Rico, before European colonization. 00:10:31.330 --> 00:10:33.629 But the album doesn't just feature artists, it 00:10:33.629 --> 00:10:36.710 features literal nature. Frogs. Yes, she includes 00:10:36.710 --> 00:10:39.529 audio recordings of indigenous coqui frogs alongside 00:10:39.529 --> 00:10:42.509 traditional tumba drums, incorporating the sounds 00:10:42.509 --> 00:10:45.490 of indigenous frogs into a rap album that is 00:10:45.490 --> 00:10:48.610 incredibly unexpected. It's unexpected, but it 00:10:48.610 --> 00:10:52.240 is deeply intentional. The coqui frog is a tiny 00:10:52.240 --> 00:10:55.059 tree frog native to Puerto Rico, and its unique 00:10:55.059 --> 00:10:57.879 call is essentially the unofficial national soundtrack 00:10:57.879 --> 00:11:00.379 of the island. It's iconic. It is a powerful 00:11:00.379 --> 00:11:03.320 cultural symbol. The purpose behind synthesizing 00:11:03.320 --> 00:11:05.799 these specific sounds, the coqui frogs, the heavy 00:11:05.799 --> 00:11:08.620 tumba drums, the Taino collaborations, is to 00:11:08.620 --> 00:11:11.519 evoke a pre -colonial past. Evoking a world that 00:11:11.519 --> 00:11:14.200 existed before. Exactly. It is an intentional 00:11:14.200 --> 00:11:16.519 reclaiming of space and history through audio. 00:11:16.970 --> 00:11:18.830 She isn't just rapping about her roots. She is 00:11:18.830 --> 00:11:21.470 physically building a sonic museum of her ancestry 00:11:21.470 --> 00:11:24.149 and placing it inside a modern hip hop format. 00:11:24.309 --> 00:11:26.809 That is beautiful. And it makes so much sense 00:11:26.809 --> 00:11:29.090 when you look at who she considers her influences. 00:11:30.029 --> 00:11:31.889 Throughout her career, critics have compared 00:11:31.889 --> 00:11:35.330 her style to legends like MC Lyte, Lauryn Hill, 00:11:35.590 --> 00:11:38.889 Ladybug Mecca and Big Pun. Great company to be 00:11:38.889 --> 00:11:41.110 in. And she herself has stated she's heavily 00:11:41.110 --> 00:11:43.789 influenced by the Wu -Tang Clan, a tribe called 00:11:43.789 --> 00:11:46.750 Quest and Slum Village. You can clearly hear 00:11:46.750 --> 00:11:49.830 those hip hop influences in her delivery. But 00:11:49.830 --> 00:11:52.659 what she achieves on Creature. is this masterful 00:11:52.659 --> 00:11:54.980 synthesis. Merging the worlds. She takes that 00:11:54.980 --> 00:11:57.500 golden era New York sound, the gritty lyricism 00:11:57.500 --> 00:12:00.799 of Wu -Tang, the elevated consciousness of a 00:12:00.799 --> 00:12:03.620 tribe called Quest, and she completely fuses 00:12:03.620 --> 00:12:05.820 it with her unique Afro -Caribbean heritage. 00:12:06.039 --> 00:12:08.179 Right. It creates a landscape that honors both 00:12:08.179 --> 00:12:10.840 the architectural roots of hip -hop and the biological 00:12:10.840 --> 00:12:13.480 roots of her own bloodline simultaneously. And 00:12:13.480 --> 00:12:14.940 what I love is that she doesn't just do this 00:12:14.940 --> 00:12:17.460 exploration in a vacuum. She is deeply collaborative. 00:12:17.840 --> 00:12:20.980 Even before Creature dropped back in 2016, She 00:12:20.980 --> 00:12:23.559 actually formed a supergroup called No Panty 00:12:23.559 --> 00:12:25.840 with two established New York rappers, Bodega 00:12:25.840 --> 00:12:28.720 Bams and Joel Ortiz. Such a cool project. They 00:12:28.720 --> 00:12:31.399 released a mixtape called West Side Highway Story, 00:12:31.679 --> 00:12:34.679 produced entirely by the legendary Salaam Raimi. 00:12:34.840 --> 00:12:37.059 The mechanics of joining a supergroup like that 00:12:37.059 --> 00:12:40.879 are intense. How so? Well, you are stepping into 00:12:40.879 --> 00:12:44.559 a booth with Bodega Bams and Joel Ortiz, two 00:12:44.559 --> 00:12:48.639 artists known for very gritty, lyrical... underground 00:12:48.639 --> 00:12:50.600 New York rap. You have to wrap your heart out 00:12:50.600 --> 00:12:52.360 so you don't get outshined on the track. Oh, 00:12:52.379 --> 00:12:54.679 for sure. You have to bring your A -game. Holding 00:12:54.679 --> 00:12:57.379 her own in that environment over beats from a 00:12:57.379 --> 00:13:00.559 producer as iconic as Salam Remy just highlights 00:13:00.559 --> 00:13:03.000 her extreme versatility. And her collaborative 00:13:03.000 --> 00:13:05.440 network spans all over the map. We're talking 00:13:05.440 --> 00:13:07.799 about working with everyone from Static Selecta 00:13:07.799 --> 00:13:10.820 and Styles P to Gangstar. She has a track with 00:13:10.820 --> 00:13:13.600 the neo -soul singer Jameela Woods, and she even 00:13:13.600 --> 00:13:15.740 did a feature with Gangsta Grass. Gangsta Grass 00:13:15.740 --> 00:13:17.720 is a perfect example of her boundary pushing. 00:13:18.019 --> 00:13:20.279 That's a group that literally blends traditional 00:13:20.279 --> 00:13:22.659 bluegrass music with hip -hop. Bluegrass and 00:13:22.659 --> 00:13:25.080 hip -hop. Right. By jumping on a track with them, 00:13:25.200 --> 00:13:28.259 she proves she absolutely refuses to be boxed 00:13:28.259 --> 00:13:31.440 into one specific genre, style, or expectation. 00:13:32.110 --> 00:13:34.850 That refusal to be boxed in brings us right into 00:13:34.850 --> 00:13:38.110 her current era. In 2021, she released her third 00:13:38.110 --> 00:13:41.610 album, Jiggy Mammy. But alongside the music, 00:13:41.830 --> 00:13:44.710 the notes highlight a real tangible commitment 00:13:44.710 --> 00:13:47.830 to community involvement and advocacy. She really 00:13:47.830 --> 00:13:50.509 walks the walk. She does. That same year, she 00:13:50.509 --> 00:13:53.100 performed at Miami Beach Pride. A week later, 00:13:53.179 --> 00:13:55.259 she was in Cincinnati for the In Her Voice community 00:13:55.259 --> 00:13:58.379 music event. She opened for Saw Rock at an event 00:13:58.379 --> 00:14:00.360 specifically designed to celebrate the collective 00:14:00.360 --> 00:14:03.139 impact of black women in the arts. She consistently 00:14:03.139 --> 00:14:05.679 shows up for the communities that intersect with 00:14:05.679 --> 00:14:08.450 her identity. She didn't hide her poetry background 00:14:08.450 --> 00:14:11.409 to fit in with traditional rappers early on. 00:14:11.529 --> 00:14:14.090 Right. She didn't minimize her Afro -Burukua 00:14:14.090 --> 00:14:16.269 roots to make her music more universally commercial 00:14:16.269 --> 00:14:19.009 later. She leaned into all the complexities of 00:14:19.009 --> 00:14:21.409 who she is, and that authenticity is exactly 00:14:21.409 --> 00:14:24.090 what built her deeply loyal Kickstarter funding 00:14:24.090 --> 00:14:26.789 fan base. So what does this all mean? Why does 00:14:26.789 --> 00:14:29.190 Nitti Scott's journey make for such an important 00:14:29.190 --> 00:14:31.309 deep dive for you, the listener? It's a great 00:14:31.309 --> 00:14:33.669 question. I think it's because her story completely 00:14:33.669 --> 00:14:37.250 redefines what it means to be an archivist. Often 00:14:37.250 --> 00:14:39.370 we think of history as something dusty, locked 00:14:39.370 --> 00:14:42.269 away in a textbook or a museum. But her career 00:14:42.269 --> 00:14:44.990 shows us that innovation isn't always about looking 00:14:44.990 --> 00:14:47.929 forward to the next futuristic trend. Sometimes 00:14:47.929 --> 00:14:50.450 the most groundbreaking thing you can do is reach 00:14:50.450 --> 00:14:53.620 back. Reach back and bring it forward. Exactly. 00:14:53.720 --> 00:14:56.419 Whether you are creating art, building a business, 00:14:56.500 --> 00:14:58.480 or just trying to understand your own family 00:14:58.480 --> 00:15:01.379 tree, owning the specific diverse details of 00:15:01.379 --> 00:15:03.320 your background gives you a voice that literally 00:15:03.320 --> 00:15:06.299 no one else can replicate. That is the core of 00:15:06.299 --> 00:15:08.799 her impact. She proves that cultural preservation 00:15:08.799 --> 00:15:11.139 doesn't have to be passive. You can actively 00:15:11.139 --> 00:15:13.879 weave your history into whatever modern medium 00:15:13.879 --> 00:15:17.240 you are working in. It is just a phenomenal trajectory. 00:15:17.320 --> 00:15:19.720 We've traced her path from a creative writing 00:15:19.720 --> 00:15:22.899 student in Orlando to a viral Internet sensation 00:15:22.899 --> 00:15:27.039 bypassing the blog era gatekeepers to a fiercely 00:15:27.039 --> 00:15:29.960 independent hip hop artist building her own movements 00:15:29.960 --> 00:15:32.879 in Brooklyn. Quite the journey. She has consistently 00:15:32.879 --> 00:15:35.460 proven that her pen is elite and her vision is 00:15:35.460 --> 00:15:38.059 uncompromising. And as we wrap up this deep dive, 00:15:38.120 --> 00:15:40.879 I want to circle back to the production on her 00:15:40.879 --> 00:15:43.590 album Creature. Specifically, the intentional 00:15:43.590 --> 00:15:47.309 use of the coqui frogs and the tino drums. Okay. 00:15:47.950 --> 00:15:51.240 This raises an important question. We are taught 00:15:51.240 --> 00:15:53.500 that history is preserved in textbooks or museums. 00:15:53.940 --> 00:15:56.759 But when an artist weaves the literal soundscape 00:15:56.759 --> 00:15:59.019 of nature, like the call of an indigenous frog 00:15:59.019 --> 00:16:02.500 into a modern hip -hop beat to evoke a pre -colonial 00:16:02.500 --> 00:16:05.279 past, what if the most visceral way to preserve 00:16:05.279 --> 00:16:08.399 a lost ancestry isn't by writing it down, but 00:16:08.399 --> 00:16:10.919 by recreating the audio atmosphere for people 00:16:10.919 --> 00:16:14.440 to feel in their bones? How much of our own unwritten 00:16:14.440 --> 00:16:17.379 history are we inadvertently passing down through 00:16:17.379 --> 00:16:19.460 the art, the rhythms, and the sounds we consume 00:16:19.460 --> 00:16:21.759 today? That is an incredible thought to leave 00:16:21.759 --> 00:16:23.639 you with. Take some time to mull that over next 00:16:23.639 --> 00:16:25.440 time you put on your headphones and really listen 00:16:25.440 --> 00:16:27.320 to the layers of the music playing. Thank you 00:16:27.320 --> 00:16:29.120 so much for joining us on this deep dive. We'll 00:16:29.120 --> 00:16:29.720 catch you next time.