Concert Review: Princess Nokia Crowns Us, Queen!

Princess Nokia is a Boricua Gemini, like myself, and that duality can make people either adore you or hate you. We are proud of our roots, are the life of they party, and, probably, share some really strong bouts of depression. Yet, if there is one thing I can assess we have, in common, it is big hearts: eager to be loved and loving while totally confused as to how that eagerness transfers into how we relate with ourselves. At Irving Plaza, Princess Nokia was confident, sweet, and a TOTAL FLIRT! Yet, the underbelly of her music felt relatable in its wonder, pain, and bursts of fun. 

Being Latina, I don’t always know where I fit in this country, in part, because the first thing a racist person will tell me to justify their prejudice or discrimination is that… we are not a race. In essence, I cannot hate you if you do not exist. Our mixedness can be un-welcomed, but Princess Nokia did two things that I loved. The first is that she embraced the complexity of our birthright born in love and pain from our Taino roots, slave ancestry, and the European colonizers. The second thing she did was, immediately, set up boundaries where people who felt lost in identity or have had their identity, consistently, questioned or challenged, either in race, gender, or sexuality, understand that, in her room, they have privilege. Yet, that privilege is not in being systemic as much as seen. In her room, you will be SEEN. You will be LOVED, and all that confusion you have about who you are will disappear amidst tracks like, “Harley Quinn” and “Tomboy,“ so that you can remember you are fun. 

Princess Nokia is FUN! It might be too easy to compare her to fellow Latina rapper, Cardi B, because they share similar voices and I think their match comes through their playfulness. She can go from wise to silly in a second, enraged to empowered within a minute, and happy to wounded within a track such as, “Kitana” and “Bart Simpson.” The dichotomy of being feels displayed in how she artfully dances through the imperfection you need to love yourself, all while realizing the things you most hated about you could be the very thing that makes you a BRUJA! Thus, as she dropped it like its hot, scoped out the crowd for a potential hook-up, and even flashed us before she came on, I thought, “Princess Nokia is so sweet!”