Rico Nasty on Sinners, Performing With Paramore, and Studying Will Ferrell Movies

I love that song. It’s so calming. Anybody who has a child, I hope that they hear that song and it makes them tear up a bit. I’m not going to lie, when we made it, we all kind of teared up. I’m just happy that I finally got a really good song so when my son gets older, it’s like this moment of his childhood is stuck in time forever.

What’s it like to raise a son in 2025? How do you reinforce positive models of masculinity?

I’m really big on compliments. We have our morning routine; he sprays his cologne. Very GQ. He sprays his little Zara Kids cologne. When I do his hair, I tell him, “Do you know how cool your hair is?”

You don’t want to force it. You don’t want them to feel like you’re kissing their ass. I don’t know if kids are aware of shit like that, but I feel like I was as a kid, I was like, “All right, shut up.” But I always tell him when I’m doing his hair. I’m like, “Did you know that God made your hair like snowflakes? There are no two curls that are the same. Even though they might look the same, they’re not the same.” I always tell him that, because he has gorgeous, gorgeous, curly hair, thicker than my hair.

I just feel like it’s all about how you word things, and I’m always telling him, “Dude, do you know how cool you are? People want to be you.” Confidence is key. When he gets hurt, I don’t play that “Oh, he’s going to be a crybaby” bullshit. My son is hurt. I’m going to make sure he’s okay. I’m going to baby him as long as he needs to be babied because there comes a time when you’re not going to be able to sit him in your lap and say, “Oh, everything’s going to be fine.”

My mother is a God-fearing woman. One of the first things my mom said when I started making music was, “You better say something good because that shit influences people to do crazy stuff.”

So you better figure out what you want to say to people. I don’t think I’ve yet figured out what I want to say to people, but music is a very powerful thing, man. It does attract certain energies. It attracts bloodsucker energy, which is funny that they used vampires. There are always people trying to milk you, and they’re conniving, they’re conning, they’re lurking in the shadows.

I was taught in church that the devil made music. That’s the talent that God gave him. It definitely made me look at things differently. Sammie’s path wasn’t necessarily a bad path; he just did what made him happy.

Being a musician, you’ve got to go everywhere thinking you’re the best. Being an actor, you should go into every room willing to learn. I practiced method acting. I learned that on YouTube from Jim Carrey. For this show, a movie I watched was We’re the Millers. Nick Offerman, who’s in [Margo’s Got Money Troubles], is in that movie. I studied a lot of funny stuff. Believe it or not, I studied The Other Guys. I studied Talladega Nights. Will Ferrell is one of my favorite actors, so I was basically studying all of the things that he’s been in and how he acts. He’s funny as fuck and he’s himself, and he’s not shy to say something random. I also watched a lot of Martin because he said that a lot of that was improv.

What was the audition process like?

I’m sure everyone thinks that they were like, “We need you. Pull up, mama, we’re going to pay for your acting lessons. You’re going to kill this shit. We need a star. Click.” No, that’s not what happened. My booking agency has been sending me roles for three years and I’ve auditioned for a few, but didn’t get any.

I went dressed like the character, and I think that’s what sold them. In one of the descriptions, she was wearing a Metallica band tee; she’s just very rugged and hardcore. The minute that I walked into the audition room, they were like, “Oh my God, those boots are so insert character’s name.” And I was like, “Oh, shit. Okay. I did what I needed to do.”