Orlando, Florida native Nitty Scott, MC received the attention of a nationwide audience when she performed at the 2011 BET Hip Hop Awards in one of the show’s highlighted rap Cyphers. With her pretty looks, it’s easy to misunderstand this young female artist, but make no mistake about it – there’s an MC behind those dimples. Nitty Scott, who’s been residing in Brooklyn for the past few years, is set to release her latest project, Doobies and Popsicle-Sticks, in which she looks to display both her MC skills and record-crafting abilities, while establishing herself as a well-balanced artist.
AllHipHop.com caught up with Nitty Scott, MC to talk about her career up to this point. Nitty could very well be the next big name female artist, and only time will tell if she’s really got the goods:
AllHipHop.com: I like the uniqueness of your name. You put the comma and the MC title after your name just like a doctor.
Nitty Scott, MC: Yay, you get it! That’s exactly what I was trying to do. I was thinking about people that go to medical school, and they’ll have on their doctorate their name followed by MD. That certifies what they do. This is my way of letting people know that I’m certified and trained in what I do. I’m educated and experienced as far as being out on my own. I’ve been on my own since I was 17 in an unfamiliar city, and I look at that as being trained by the school of hard knocks.
AllHipHop.com: What was your name before that? I know that every MC has a beginner name.
Nitty Scott, MC: It’s so funny that you ask that, because I was just talking about that with my team the other day. It was so corny and didn’t even relate to me. I’m glad that it didn’t pop for me back then, because I would’ve hated to have been known by that name. My first rap name was Lady Hard-body! [laughter] I got that from my boy, and I kind of liked it. In essence when you think about it, there is nothing hard about me. When I go back and think about it, the name never fit me as a person. I ran with it at the time, and the first little mixtape that I put out around my campus was under that name.
AllHipHop.com: How long ago was this?
Nitty Scott, MC: I was around 13 or 14 years old, so this was a while ago. I started rocking with Nitty Scott in high school. That was more of a nickname, because my real name is Nitzia Scott.
AllHipHop.com: You were living in Orlando, Florida, but moved to New York City to further your career?
Nitty Scott, MC: Yes, that was the only reason. I was 17 years old and had begun to really take the craft serious and wanted to pursue it as a career. I looked around, and there wasn’t too many opportunities in Orlando. There wasn’t really a scene for what I was trying to do. For the lane that I wanted to create, I didn’t want to make radio hits and sell out that club – that wasn’t my vision. I had to take it somewhere I knew there was going to be a scene, and find the right circles to mingle with to do the kind of music that I wanted to do.
AllHipHop.com: But you were only 17! Weren’t you afraid of going to the Big Apple? The place of eight million stories?
Nitty Scott, MC: You would think that I would’ve been more scared than I actually was. Now that I look back and think about the move that I made, it’s something that I would never do now.
AllHipHop.com: So many things could’ve gone wrong!
Nitty Scott, MC: A lot of things did go wrong. Being the more logical adult that I am now, I wonder what I was thinking and how I was able to just up and leave like that. It was a pretty spontaneous move. I always had plans of going to New York City being this girl that was raised down South – I was very bored to be honest. I had dreams of going to the big city, I guess like a lot of suburban girls do. I always knew that I was going to take it to New York. I just didn’t really think that it was going to be in the middle of my senior year in high school at age 17.
AllHipHop.com: Your family must have freaked out!
Nitty Scott, MC: Yeah. I was really ambitious, and I felt that something out there was calling me. I just had to be out there. Legally, my parents could have stopped me because I wasn’t 18 years old. They could have told me that I wasn’t going anywhere. As disappointed and afraid as they were, they ended up supporting me. They told me to follow my dreams, and they let me know that I always had a home back there with them. It wasn’t as if I was running away and they would never have me back if I needed to come back home. Looking back, I thank them so much for not making it difficult for me. It has really played a part in the story that is unfolding now.
AllHipHop.com: It’s pretty impressive that in your few years in New York, you’ve been able to stand out and make a name for yourself. Some go a long time without being able to do that.
Nitty Scott, MC: I think that has something to do with a mixture of things. Aside from having talent and skill, I think that I represent something new and refreshing. When you think about the state of the game right now, there are so many young women and girls out there that need someone to relate to. That’s not to say that any other female entertainers are not doing what they should be doing. It’s more about the balance. There are so many different types of women living in this world that are living different types of lifestyles, and there should be the same amount of women in entertainment for them to relate to. I do represent a certain type of woman that is not being represented too much in Hip-Hop right now.
AllHipHop.com: You were tapped to be a part of 2011 BET Hip Hop Awards Cyphers. Were you nervous going in? How did you prepare for it?
Nitty Scott, MC: I honestly thought when I first started my work on the Cypher, that I was putting so much weight on it. I was being a real nervous new artist. I wrote my verse at least three different times. I was running back and forth to my manager asking him if that particular verse was the one. I put a lot of weight on it, and I felt that it had to be one of the dopest verses ever written. I kept in consideration the audience that I was going to be speaking to. It was an audience that probably wasn’t aware of me. The day of the taping, I rehearsed a lot. As much as I thought that I was putting too much pressure on myself, I’m glad that I did because it ended up being a well received and well crafted verse. It did exactly what it was meant to do. Every take was smooth. Everybody around me from the BET executives to the artists felt that I delivered.
AllHipHop.com: Your next project is titled Doobies and Popsicle-Sticks.
Nitty Scott, MC: That’s my second mixtape, which is going to be released on 11/11/11. It’s basically a “farewell to summer project.” I just wanted to capture the essence of my summer and all of the different moods. A lot of people know me as a B-girl freestyle rapper, but I’m out to show them that I can craft good songs.
AllHipHop.com: When I see the word doobie, I’m thinking of something along the lines of Cheech & Chong.
Nitty Scott, MC: [laughter] It doesn’t stand for anything specific. It’s meant to be goofy and random. That was my summer diet.
AllHipHop.com: It doesn’t sound too nutritious.
Nitty Scott, MC: I know! It’s horrible.
AllHipHop.com: How often do you get mistaken for Lauren London?
Nitty Scott, MC: [laughter] I have never been mistaken for her. It’s awesome to be compared to her. Miss Info was the one that started that. She posted my “Monster” freestyle and put in the caption below that I was a Spanish looking Lauren London. Ever since, I’ve gotten a lot of comparisons but I’ve never been mistaken for her!
AllHipHop.com also hung out with Nitty Scott, MC at the Brooklyn Hip-Hop Festival this past summer. Check out her video interview and performance below: