Strings & Bling is a Wild Exploration of Nasty C’s Pains & Pleasure

Nasty C asks two brooding questions on hit song Hell Naw

(read: Hell No)

Am I ever gonna quit?

Will I dumb it down a bit?

Nasty C - Strings & Bling / amped illustration

For the purpose of the song his answer was rather obvious, he convincingly sings hell naw in response to both questions. In hindsight, Hell Naw marked a turning point in the rapper’s career — his biggest song till date. It took the name Nasty C to new circles around the world. Coming off the back of this, his effort on Bad Hair & Bad Hair Extensions projects earned him major collaborations with Davido, French Montana, a viral cover to Runtown’s 2016 tune Mad Over You, succeeded by both artistes going on to make one of the songs to rock Africa in 2017 for Coke Studio Africa, Said. The young man from South Africa was gradually showing that he really had no plans of dumbing it down for a bit.

On his new offering, sophomore album, Strings & Bling he weaves through different emotions: one moment he’s talking about mundane party stuff, the next he’s pouring his heart out on a love song or being introspective like when he sings “Words that fly right out of my mouth are not good as they sound/ you pick it up where i put it down/ I’m not as good as you think” on Another One Down. It’s the album’s most vulnerable moment, and no surprise it’s relatable; he slowly engages you by stripping bare and admitting his shortcomings as an individual when he ends his second verse saying “I’m learning life now and it feels like I’m back at school, somebody should’ve told me being human needed practice too”.

The mood swings when he serves a dossier of his love for women when he calls himself certified womanizer on the hook to King. On this album, he creates songs about his admiration, love or pure infatuation for the ladies. U played Yourself is a song about love told from a sombre perspective. He flows excellently well over a mellow but lively beat and he’s spot on with delivering his intended message. Far from being a record for the radio or one that will blow up the charts, SMA (Send Me Away) is the star song of this album, trust me. It’s a career defining song, one of those songs that shows you this rapper can actually writeee. He tells a vivid story of a painful breakup by playing both roles using great cadency on his verses. It’s motion in poetry as you instantly see the exact scenario he’s depicting, it samples Adele’s Someone Like You and the mood is enchantingly sober with Rowlene’s singing shining through the record.

Credit: iol

📷Credit: iol

Nasty C has shown to be a confident MC and he does a lot of tough talking on this album. Asap Ferg assists on King — first things first, Tweezy, who produces this record deserves a worthy mention. And I will tell you why, you know the remix to that song by Emtee featuring Wizkid & AKA, Roll Up; he produced it, AKA’s, All Eyes on Me with Burna Boy & D.A Les he produced that too, then if you listened to AKA’s Levels album; these 2 songs were popular standouts: Sim Dope & Run Jozi(Godly)mans produced them too. That’s a hit machine right there. Simple. On King he makes a monstrous trap beat. His effort is so strong, it’s one of those songs that if you fuck the vocals up, you can’t be forgiven. The beat calls you to the occasion and boy, Nasty rose up to it. He sits right in the pocket of the beat with his writing and flow. On the bridge he alludes the love for jollof by Nigerians when he humorously says “…. I feed her jollof just before I pipe her. Ferg puts in a worthy guest verse that energizes the whole record. With Legendary, he joins the long list of rap songs with same title, but his is a very welcoming offering. A hip-hop jingle, with sweet production and well written lyrics.

The songwriting on Mrs Me is cheesy but it connects and is a cute love tune, he says “I haven’t made it if I haven’t made your day, I’m not a rider till I’ve learned to drive your pain away”. On Do U Digg he is playful, sounds lazy but packs youthful energy. The beat thumps hard in your ears and Nasty goes fully west coast with his delivery. The pop feel on Everything is heavy, with elements of classical music, and thanks to Kaein Cruz’ nostalgic (I haven’t been able to figure out who it reminds me of) singing on the chorus, it’s lovey-dovey as he serenades a love interest by recollecting how he felt the first time they met.

Strings & Bling has moments of brilliance in songwriting. Its production is remarkably strong and fairly diverse; it gives the rapper freedom to take you on a 52 minutes long emotional rollercoaster as he takes you through his highs and lows. From a rap standpoint, he doesn’t tear the roof open lyrically across the board; cuts like Jungle and No Respect are easily forgettable, but by doing what he knows how to do best — making his subject matter engaging,with an instinctive flow, he provides an album that is more enjoyable than enlightening, and at just 21 one can tell the music on it is simply a testament to where he is at in life. While listening to the music you get a feeling he’s grown into a new status in his career; as confirmed in an interview speaking on the album “It marks a very special point in my life. A point where I’ve made peace with a lot of things. A point where I found peace more than anything. I feel like I’m a whole new person, a new artist.”

This article originally appeared on RADR