Photo: Kevin Edwards
youngassNICO grew up near Baisley Park in South Jamaica, Queens, the home of the artist’s love for music. He started listening to music in ’98 thanks to $5 bootlegged CDs from the
Rite Aid parking lot. Nico grew up in the era of
Angie Martinez,
DJ Kay Slay,
Jay Electronica and more. He would walk around the block and immerse himself in the music pouring out of apartments and cars, spreading the word that
50 Cent was making it big. “As much as I like the new shit, I am so knitted in that gritty New York rap where your bars have to mean something,” he says. “I remember freestyling in circles back in the day where if your bars were not correct, you couldn’t hang.”