Nitty Scott, MC Breaks Down Her EP "The Boombox Diaries Vol.1"

Nitty Scott, MC has been keeping busy. Fresh off a trip to Switzerland where she shared the stage with the likes of Ice Cube and Yassin Bey for the Royal Arena Festival, she’s looking forward to her next endeavor. Nitty’s debut project,The Boombox Diaries Vol. 1, dropped last night, and she hopes it will show listeners how much she's grown as an artist.

“I didn’t want it to be a compilation of tracks that I just slapped onto a project,” she said. “I wanted it to be a good, fluid listen where you can roll your blunt, hop in your car, and drive down the highway and never have to skip a track. I wanted it to be a real experience.”

We got a preview of the EP when she released “Flower Child” with Kendrick Lamar last week. Shortly after, we sat down with Nitty Scott at her favorite Japanese restaurant in Brooklyn to discuss The Boombox Diaries Vol. 1. Read on for her words on the EP’s concepts and how the project came together.

As told to Eric Diep (@E_Diep)

Nitty Scott, MC: “I’ve always seen myself as a concrete rose. As someone who is still going to emerge as a beautiful soul and a beautiful person despite being in this concrete jungle. Despite being surrounded by struggle and having a real past, and dealing with pain and being trampled on, but still emerging as a beautiful flower as I am. I always personified myself with that.

“Then the record itself, it’s just a really solid introduction. I think it sets you up for what you are about to hear. I think it has an anthem-y feel. It’s just all about the present and that record is me really just declaring to the world that I am here. We’re here. You are about to completely immersed in my world. That’s what it’s all about. Even with the soul sample, I was just so melodic and soulful, I think from the minute you hear the EP, you hear something fresh. You hear something fresh that will capture your attention and once again is sonically different from what people have heard from me.

“Yuri Beats is the first official Boombox Family producer. He’s down with us. He’s riding with the Boombox Family. I see him playing a huge part in my future sound. Most definitely. Yuri just brings the heat. From the minute I heard it, I think I just heard the first record for The Boombox Diaries, Vol. 1. When I heard it, I said, ‘That’s the one.’”

Nitty Scott, MC:“Illmind just brought it. He has this crazy ability to have this boom bap kind of sound that’s very true to this classic hip-hop sound, but it’s very coupled with a modern sound as well. That’s everything that I wanted because I didn’t want people to think: ‘Oh, you are going for the gusto.’ And have this crazy first single that is commercially different. I didn’t want to do that. I still wanted to stay true to what people expected from me but just turn it up a little bit.

“H.O.T.” can mean whatever you want it to mean. “Hoes On Tap.” You know? Whatever you want to do. Just keep it hot.”

“It has a futuristic sound to it, it has a club-y feel to it, but it still has this boom bap knock. It was just the perfect marriage to everything that I needed. I got Missy on the sample so it’s just like a huge salute to her. Under Construction was one of my favorite albums; it really helped to shape me as an artist in high school. And then the dubstep breakdown at the end, it’s just fucking crazy. I love doing it at shows. I love wylin’ out. I’m glad that it’s out now so my fans can wylin’ out with me. [Laughs.]

“It’s fun especially when you are kind of blending genres a little bit there because I haven’t really had the opportunity to be experimental in that way just yet. It was always about this ‘I am Hip-hop message,’ but now that I know that you get it. I want to express to the people that I love all different types of music. As a hip-hop artist, I don’t even listen to as much hip-hop as many people think I do. Just throwing in and sprinkling a little bit of something else, that’s also a reflection of me. I am appreciative of all different types of genres.”

““H.O.T.” stands for “Hard Over Tracks.” We played with it for a long time. We just liked how “H.O.T.” sounds over “Hot.” Or I am keep it hot. We were forever looking for an acronym and we finally settled on “Hard Over Tracks.” “H.O.T.” can mean whatever you want it to mean. “Hoes On Tap.” You know? Whatever you want to do. Just keep it hot.”

Nitty Scott, MC: "“Is This Thing On?” was one of those records that I just thought it was dope. It was one of the first records that I felt like I grew on. It was created in the time period of The Cassette Chronicles but it was one of those records that it was too good to put on the mixtape. It was an original instrumental by 6th Sense. Let’s take advantage of the fact that it could be a single and then we have Outasight on it. I think the quality of the record is what made me hold on to for a while and just made me decide this should be on the actual EP.

"The record itself was born feeling like I declare who I am. What I am about. What I am not about. All the time. But, sometimes I feel that people just don’t hear me. Or when I just scream at the top of my lungs and what I am not willing to do and people will still approach me with bullshit. It was kind of like this feeling, “Is this thing on? Is anybody listening? Did I not just say what I am about?” I think that’s what that record was really about. It was more out of frustration. People hadn’t completely got me yet and it really was proclaiming what I am about for a final time.

"Outasight was just the homie. He works really close with 6th Sense. 6th Sense, we were in there working on the record and OU just happened to be there. It was just like, ‘Yo, I think you should just hop on this.’ OU is doing very well right now, he has a platinum record. His sound is a little different than before. I think it’s really dope that I got an earlier version of OU. I got him rapping like really spitting on this record. And I haven’t heard any spitting in a little while. I think just its going to be dope for his fans and just cool for me like, ‘Yeah, I got rap OU.’ He brought it. His whole swag on the verse or whatever was really entertaining.

"I think the last verse what wasn’t part of the snippet. It’s just a very powerful verse. It’s one of those verses that’s just meant to resonate with people and have a lot of quotables. A lot of things that people can just put out there like, ‘Nitty Scott said this.’ It’s a really solid verse at the end that I was saving to unveil to people. When you get to listen to the record in its entirety, you can really hear the chemistry between me and OU and how it all comes together."

Nitty Scott, MC: "“Planes, Trains and Automobiles.” We call it P.T.A. for short. It is one of my favorite records on the EP. I really get lost in that record. The sound once again is super refreshing, super new for Nitty Scott, MC. Even writing to it was a bit of challenge for me cause I wanted my vocals to blend with the music. I have so much respect for music if I put my voice on it, it has to blend with the respect to it. It was kind of a welcome challenge for me.

"The concept itself, I have been waiting to find the perfect instrumental to write about this travel concept that I had. Which was a little deeper than all around the world or whatever. [Laughs.] It’s more like describing my own personal experience with being on the road and sharing my music with people. Also to de-glamourize the situation. A lot of people hear about artists traveling all over the world to perform and there’s a part to it that is glamorous and there is part of it being luxurious but for the most part, it’s not.

"For the most part, there’s lot of jetlag and being tired and traveling for hours upon hours just so you get on stage and make an impact for like 20 minutes. When I thought of the irony of it where it’s like you could travel for 24 hours straight and it’s all just so you can get in front of these people and say what you want to say. And hopefully affect them to the point where it was worth all of this travel and all of this stress.

It could be a soundtrack to gotta get up. Go to work. Make this money. Get on the F train. Deal with whoever. You could definitely just bump it and allow it to move you through your day.

"I wanted to give the day to day of a working class artist. An artist who has to legitimately be on the road and tour and be seen and continue to sell themselves to crowds. To stay afloat. That’s the type of artist that I am. I wanted to touch on it and then we use all forms of transportation. We are so hungry to be on the road and be active in this industry that I don’t mind taking a train. I don’t mind renting a car. I don’t mind taking a plane. I don’t mind taking a cruise ship. Whatever we need to do to fucking get there. I’ll take a fucking scooter to where I gotta go. That’s where “Planes, Trains, and Automobiles,” the actual title, came from where its like, ‘Yo, we’ll do whatever we got to do to get to our destination.’

"It’s actually a pretty mellow sound. It’s mellow, but it’s still got this gotta go feel. It’s mellow, yet upbeat. It could be a soundtrack to your day. It could be a soundtrack to gotta get up. Go to work. Make this money. Get on the F train. Deal with whoever. You could definitely just bump it and allow it to move you through your day. I feel like it carries the spirit of travel. It’s an awesome record and I just really love it." [Laughs.]

Nitty Scott, MC: ““Flower Child” I just wrote that on my own. I didn’t really write it with putting Kendrick on it in mind or anybody in particular. “Flower Child” itself was just a very sincere, intimate letter essentially to my fans and to my growing audience. It was honestly the easiest record I have ever written. It required no thought whatsoever. And I’m a writer and I enjoy the process of sitting there and conceptualizing something and really tweaking it and crafting it to perfection. That happened with “Flower Child” but the words just poured out of me so easily. It was really unreal. It was just this crazy adrenaline rush that happened.

“When I heard that beat, I was swept away. I was on the couch in the living room, I remember. [Laughs.] Jules [Nitty’s manager] was there. A couple of other heads were there. We were all just chillin’ and I just put on the headphones and I just got lost. I think I wrote it in like an hour. That doesn’t usually happen. I am such a perfectionist that it’s like I’ll work on a record for a month if I have to. This one just poured out of me so easily. It was something that was weighing heavily on my heart at the time. It was something that I needed to say but I really didn’t find a way to say it until I heard that instrumental. When I heard that instrumental, it gave me the ability to really let those emotions lose.

“I had left the hook and this bridge, kind of third verse open. I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do with it. I came up with the name “Flower Child” because the beat itself was so mellow and so chill. It just make me feel like an hippie. [Laughs.] I called it “Flower Child” and that’s what led me to say, ‘Hold on. I think Kendrick on here would be a good look. Who better than a Black Hippy on the “Flower Child” song?’ It just seemed so cohesive. His sound and what he brings to the table is being very melodic. It just complimented so well.

“I reached out and before it was very general like, ‘Hey, we gotta work together.’ But now I had a very specific thing that I wanted to do. The next time he was in New York he hit us up. We went to the studio. We were there for a couple of hours and he sat with the record. Talked with me about my vision and kind of what I saw for it. And I really didn’t instruct him in any way. It wasn’t like, ‘This is what I want for the hook.’ Not at all. I just let him hear it and I told him where I was coming from on the record. And you just do you. He sat there and he came up with the hook and the verse in a couple hours. He laid it down right there. We had our record. We had our baby. It was very fun.”

Nitty Scott, MC: “The initial inspiration for that one was actually the street signs that you see out here in New York that say, “No Standing Here.” It basically says you can’t park in this specific space. So I built off of that. “No Standing Here” is more about keeping it moving beyond on your immediate situation. Beyond on your past. Beyond your struggle. It’s about keeping it moving and for that I kind of tapped into the energy of New York. It’s very much to keep it moving. To continue to press forward and to move onward and upward despite whatever chaos is going on around you.

“Which is essentially what you see if you go to the city at 9 a.m. It’s a bunch of people focused on their destination and what they have to do today and are kind of zoned out despite everything that’s happening. That record, I was kind of angry when I wrote it and kind of reflective about my life in New York City. Just how hard it really was to maintain the basics, to be around good people that I trusted. Things that you really just take for granted when you do have them around and being out here and really feeling like I was on my own. Just struggling for everyday survival or whatever. It was just a very frustrating place to be. I could always look at that sign and it says, “No Standing Here.” Even though I might want to stand on this corner and think about how wack my life is right now. There’s no standing here. You can’t stand here. You can’t park here. You have to keep going. I think that’s the energy that I tapped into for this whole record.

"There’s a lot more storytelling than the other records. I touch on actual situations and things that I have been through that were really unfair and difficult, but still knowing that I cannot dwell in any kind of bitterness or anger. Just knowing that there’s no standing here in New York City, you gotta keep it moving. “There’s no standing here/Everybody go.” [Laughs.]

Nitty Scott, MC: “This is the second time that I have played with my name, which is kind of like a trademark thing that I want to continue to do. Whenever I find a cool word that has “Nitty” at the end or in it I just like to play with it. I’m a wordsmith so I love words.

“Yeah, that joint is just raw. That one is the beast. People talk about me being the beautiful beast. “Flower Child” is beautiful.“IllumiNITTY” is beast. Straight up. I wanted the EP to have a healthy amount of everything where you are going to have your conceptual records, your personal records, your weed records, and you are also going to have your spitter records. That’s what people expect from me anyway is bars. I didn’t want to stray too far away from what I do. You are definitely gonna get that beast mode Nitty as well.

“That’s what “IllumiNITTY” is all about. I teamed up with Araab for that. I already knew he was just gonna bring a banger. That was “IllumiNITTY”. I can’t wait for it drop. I can’t wait to film a video for that.

“It’s Nitty Scott and the MPC King. I anticipate us getting real creative with it. I think Araab is a crazy rising talent as am I. Its cool to partner up on some young shit. We are about to be the cool kids. That’s how I feel. I feel like Araab is part of the cool kid table and he just gave me a beat so I am happy. I think it came out awesome. It’s also Araab doing hip-hop, which he is super capable of. He really gets it in with his electronic sound, which is super dope. But it’s cool that it’s like when we collaborate we kind of bring our worlds together. It’s like Araab is on his hip-hop shit when he does the Nitty Scott collab.”

Nitty Scott, MC: “Megan McNeal, we actually met in Grand Rapids, Michigan, which is my hometown. I did a show there at Billy’s Lounge about a year ago. We heard her set before mine. She was performing live before I went on stage and she sounded so amazing even from the green room. We were like, ‘We have to pursue this girl.’ So afterwards, we got in contact with her, exchanged info, whatever. That was one of those long distance collaborations. I was in New York. She was in Chicago. But the record itself is just dope.

“I think honestly that Megan brought a whole another element to it. It could've kind of been a rap song but the way she just went with the songwriting and the way she sings on it, her vocals bring this whole emotional element to the song. She just made the record a lot more emotional.

“That record is I think another statement joint, where it’s all about me proclaiming what I am about. What I stand for. And some of my observations of what is going on in this hip-hop landscape.

“It’s more reflective I think of anything else. Very diary-esque because of that. “Dear Diary” is personal. “Flower Child” is personal as well. With “Flower Child” I was just regurgitating all these emotions. “Dear Diary” was crafted to represent a certain type of record rather than “Flower Child” just kind of happen. It was born into existence. We wanted it to play a certain role in the entire tracklisting. We wanted it to be a record that just brings something to the table and I think that one is very uplifting. It’s an inspirational record.”

Nitty Scott, MC: "Nitty Scott is a girl and Nitty Scott does like boys and sometimes girls want to talk about boys. So that’s what this one is all about. It’s the cutest, most sugary song on the entire EP. I love it. There’s a place for it. And all the chicks are going to love it. Its just really meant to be flirty and lighthearted. That kind of helps with the diversity of mood I would say on the EP.

"If I had to describe what really drives this EP, its mood. It’s a very moody EP and every single song captures a certain mood. With this one, you see a real switch up in the energy from being a bit more serious and reflective and personal. This one personal as well, but it’s a lot more fun. A lot more lighthearted. It’s flirtatious. Its cute. Produced by Ted Smooth. That’s my homie. Tiara Wiles on there killing the hook. It’s a dope record.

"I actually wanted to cater to the girls. I feel like my fanbase is predominantly male but I don’t try to appeal to anything in particular. I think it’s just how it naturally happens so because of the way things naturally fall into place. Now I wanted to focus on putting my energy into a record that I think girls are going to like. I don’t usually do that. I wanted to really just give them something they can relate to and something I would want to hear from a girl."

Nitty Scott, MC: "“Auntie Maria’s Crib,” the original, was like a Boombox family hit. It was a hit amongst my fans. It’s the joint that when it comes on the shows, everybody’s like, ‘Oh, shit shes gonna do “Auntie Maria’s Crib.”’ I think it was already worthy of a remix just because it already made so much noise. So for that the theme was gathering dope New York talent and having all the boroughs represented. You got me from Brooklyn, Acton is just the king of Queens, and you got the boogie down as well with Daytona.

"It’s just a smooth fly record. I knew they would be perfect for it. I knew they would kill it. I knew they had no problem talking about weed. [Laughs.] We wanted to get people who really embodied the lifestyle. Ok, “Auntie Maria’s Crib.” Everybody knows it’s a metaphor for getting lifted. It had to be dudes who were about that life. Essentially. Everybody knows Action and Tona are definitely about that life. Their verses are just colorful. Action just brings so much imagery as well as Tona. I just think it’s a really dope, laid-back, NYC joint.

"You don’t see much of that as I would like to. I feel like the issue with the New York hip-hop scene is that New York artists don’t seem to care about the New York hip-hop scene as much as they care about themselves and their careers. It’s not to criticize anyone, it’s more of an observation. We just seem more preoccupied with ourselves as opposed to the unity of the situation, which I think really causes us to not have that much of a presence on the collective New York City scene. I think it was a step in that direction as well. ‘Yo, we got dope talent here.’ Why not unite and create?"

Nitty Scott, MC: "“Skippin' Clouds” is trippy. [Laughs.] It’s a very trippy record. It’s also produced by Yuri Beats. He got a presence on this one. It’s very spaced out. It has this Indian peyote kind of sound on the hook. It’s just from the minute I heard it, ‘Oh, this is totally going to be about drugs.’ I just knew it. I actually wrote the record on a plane in route to Europe. I had just gotten a tooth extraction. So they just pulled my tooth out which was inconvenient as hell because I was about to go perform in Europe for the first time. My tooth touched a nerve and they just had to take it out. I was in a lot of pain.

"On the plane with ice packs and Vicodin, I’m just like fucked up, high as hell. I just felt really creative. I just whipped out my laptop and put on the beat. I’ve been waiting to write to it and it just kind of dawned upon me as I was there, ‘Word, you could totally get into that zone.’ So I basically wrote “Skipping Clouds” high as hell on Vicodin. [Laughs.]

"It’s designed to kind of feel as if you’re high. The vibe is really tripped out. Its something that you want to smoke to or get high to. Its a soundtrack to a trippy lifestyle kind of record. All the references on there are about my experiences with drugs and a lot of my takes on it. My own little philosophies on mind altering and references to strawberry fields. I think it’s just artsy, hippy, let’s get high as shit [music.]"

Nitty Scott, MC:"“A Beautiful Struggle” is definitely the last song for a reason. It represents this entire journey and it really helps bring the experience of the EP full circle. We got Soul Khan on there who just spits a very heartfelt verse about his experience as an artist. From the minute I heard it I just related to it so much.

"Anybody who is in this industry and anyone who is chasing their dreams in general can relate to what we are talking about. It’s essentially saying it’s a struggle. You are going to get dirty. It’s an upward climb. It’s an uphill battle. A lot of it isn’t fair. You might not always get back what you put out. But its beautiful all at the same time. Its still an amazing experience.

"Anybody who is in this industry and anyone who is chasing their dreams in general can relate to what we are talking about. It’s essentially saying it’s a struggle. You are going to get dirty. It’s an upward climb. It’s an uphill battle. A lot of it isn’t fair. You might not always get back what you put out. But its beautiful all at the same time. Its still an amazing experience.

"When I am going through some of the cons in this industry and the downsides of being in this industry, I also have to think about the people who would kill to even be experiencing my struggle. When its like, ‘Oh gosh. I wish we could get more views on said video.’ Its like while that may be an issue that we are dealing on our level, [but] there is somebody else out there who wishes they had a video to worry about views on. Things like that kind of brought me to writing this record. I was extremely stressed out and kind of troubled when I wrote this record because I was starting to see just the unfairness of the game I am about to play.

"Sometimes, I feel at odds to what I do as a person, just this internal battle where its like, I am trying to be part of a world that thrives on things that I don’t even really respect, yet my living depends on being accepted and being successful in this world. And it’s just a very conflicted place for me to be. Spiritually, I am just always at odds with the industry. And the things we glorify, yet I continue to get deeper and deeper into the industry every fucking month.

"It’s very much a double-edged sword. Ignorance is very much bliss. Sometimes you wish you didn’t have the morals that you have. Or you didn’t have the clear understand that you have because maybe you would just be a happy idiot. A lot of times I feel plagued by the things that I know and understand about the industry. Sometimes, being aware of it, doesn’t make it any easier. So that just what the record is all about. I was just in a real funky place when I wrote it. And when I recorded it.

"That’s what The Boombox Diaries is. It’s me really opening up and putting myself out there to be judged. To be dissected. To be talked about. To be put into a box. Whatever the case may be and that’s why it’s a beautiful struggle.

"I remember months after we recorded it, wanting to readdress it. Telling Jules, ‘Yo, I want to get into the studio and do that over.’ And he was like, ‘No. You are not touching that verse.’ I was like, ‘Why?’ ‘Because you can hear the pain in your voice. You can hear the anger.’

"When I play it for people they get goosebumps. They feel the conviction in your voice and you don’t want to take that away. So the more I listened to it, the more I kind of agreed. I think that’s why I wanted to change it at some point because I felt vulnerable. I felt that the record was so vulnerable because I am on this record damn near crying. I am just spitting from the pit of my soul. When I wrote it I cried.

"That’s what The Boombox Diaries is. It’s me really opening up and putting myself out there to be judged. To be dissected. To be talked about. To be put into a box. Whatever the case may be and that’s why it’s a beautiful struggle. You put yourself in a position to essentially be a target to some people. But at the same time, you get to experience this side of life that some people never get to see. I get to travel the world. I get to speak my mind and literally eat because of it. Consequently, I get to create art and eat off of it. There’s something about it that’s so beautiful."