Maria-Cecilia Simone Kelly (born May 7, 1997), known professionally as Rico Nasty, is an American rapper, singer, and songwriter from Prince George's County, Maryland.

After gaining wider recognition with singles such as "Smack a Bitch" and "Poppin" in 2018,[1] she signed to Atlantic Records where she released her sixth mixtape, Nasty (2018).

Maria-Cecilia Simone Kelly[2] was born on May 7, 1997[3][4] in Largo, Maryland,[1] an only child[5] to a Puerto Rican mother and African-American father.

[5][8] She was expelled for smoking marijuana at 14[11][8] and transferred to Charles Herbert Flowers High School in Prince George's County[7] where her music career began.

[12][11] After graduating from high school, she started focusing on her music career and released two mixtapes in 2016: The Rico Story and Sugar Trap.

[22] The singles "Smack a Bitch", "Poppin" and "Key Lime OG" gained prominence in early 2018; all of them meeting and exceeding 10 million YouTube views in that year.

[27][28] The mixtape was generally well received and landed on critics lists of publications such as Rolling Stone,[29] Pitchfork,[30] Stereogum,[31] Noisey,[32] Fact,[33] and Spin,[34] among several others.

The mixtape's tracks "Bitch I'm Nasty", "Countin' Up", and "Rage" were ranked on lists of the best songs of 2018 by Paper, Highsnobiety and Pitchfork respectively.

[38] Rico Nasty appeared in the music video for the remix of "Old Town Road" by Lil Nas X featuring Billy Ray Cyrus.

[41] She followed them up with several more non-album singles in early 2019: "Sandy",[42] "Party Goin Dumb",[43] "Big Dick Energy",[44] "Hit That",[45] and "Wanna Do".

[46] In April 2019, Rico Nasty and producer Kenny Beats supported singer Khalid during the opening night of the Free Spirit World Tour.

[47] Rico Nasty made the cover of The Fader for their Summer 2018 issue,[8][48] and was the subject of a documentary produced by the publication titled Countin' Up.

[60] To support the record, Rico embarked on her "Live in Europe" tour starting in late May and ending in mid July.

[66] In June 2020, Rico Nasty also released the single "Dirty" as part of the original soundtrack for the HBO television series Insecure.

[73][74] A few days later, Rico Nasty engaged in a social media campaign with children's TV mascot Hip Hop Harry and Atlantic Records to encourage the general public to vote in the 2020 United States presidential election.

"[18] Rico Nasty coined the term "sugar trap" early in her career and has used it as the title of her independent record label as well as two of her mixtapes.

[109] Lawrence Burney of Noisey noted that sugar trap is "markedly upbeat, bubbly, and self-loving, no matter her chosen delivery",[13] while Kyann-Sian Williams of NME described it as a blend of "hardcore, gruff vocals" and "grungy hooks with softer, computerised beats".

[16][8][117][113] Rico Nasty told NME that her other personas are inspired by David Bowie, Tyler, the Creator, and Nicki Minaj.

[122] Kyann-Sian Williams of NME wrote, "With her androgynous nature and outlandish style, Rico has been an icon for outcasts for years.