Rico Nasty, in the middle of shaving her mustache in the bathroom, suddenly had a ringing phone in her hand.
“I was being hard on myself,” the Washington, D.C.-bred rapper said in an exclusive interview with Where Is The Buzz. “I was about to turn 28, and I was like, ‘What’s happening? What are your goals? Where am I going with this?’ And then my manager calls me and says, ‘You got it.’ I said, ‘I got what?’ She said, ‘You got it.’ I said, ‘No, I didn’t.’ And I just started crying.”
The new role in question is KC, a smart mentor in the “B-movie chic” category, in the upcoming Apple TV+ limited-series drama “Margo’s Got Money Troubles.” The series, based on the best-selling book by author Rufi Thorpe, is co-produced by A24. The series premiered globally on April 15, 2026, with three episodes, followed by new episodes every Wednesday. The season finale aired May 20, 2026.
Joining Michelle Pfeiffer, Nicole Kidman, Elle Fanning, Oscar-winning Marcia Gay Harden, and Academy Award-nominated Greg Kinnear in this highly anticipated show, Rico Nasty takes on the part of the mentor of Margo, a recently college-dropout young woman struggling to become a mother and deal with her growing debts and changes in the digital economy. Her part in the series begins in Episode 4 and ends with the season’s conclusion.
The series will be showrun and penned by David E. Kelley. In addition to Kelley, the series’ executive producers include Fanning, Dakota Fanning, and Brittany Kahan Ward; Kidman and Per Saari; and Matthew Tinker. Other executive producers include Pfeiffer, Thorpe, BAFTA and Emmy award winner Dearbhla Walsh, who directs the pilot.
Auditioning for “Margo’s Got Money Troubles” has proved to be one of the most unusual experiences for Rico Nasty, as she has never auditioned for a project in person before. She has done that in videos or only by voice, which has made her quite nervous about it.
“I had read for things in the past, never in person, always video tapings or voiceovers,” she said. “So I was nervous about this one. I was doing the tongue twisters, Peter Pepper picked a peck. I’m doing all of that stuff.”
Her final audition included her wearing plaid boxer shorts, platform boots, and a hoodie with the inscription “xboxual.”
“One of my favorite things about the character off the rip was that she made me laugh,” Rico Nasty said. “I was like, in order to win them over, they want somebody that’s going to make them laugh. Not in a ‘hehe’ way, but in a more slight chuckle. She has some crazy little punchlines going on over there.”
She said she did not leave the final callback feeling certain she had secured the part.
“When I started reading with other actors, trained actors, I was like, I might get it, I might not,” she said. “I didn’t leave feeling like, ‘Oh yeah, it’s in the bag.'”
The booking call hit differently because of that uncertainty.
“It really showed me that I don’t give myself enough credit,” she said. “I’m not nice to myself. And that kind of shifted my whole perspective of who I am and what I’ve done. You never really know people’s honest opinions of you. So it felt good to be respected in that world. It felt good to be let in somewhere, especially because I feel like in the rap world, I am a bit of an outcast.”
Rico Nasty said the series resonated with her personally on multiple levels, particularly its themes of motherhood, economic resourcefulness and the generational gap around digital labor.
“I cried like three times,” she said. “I thought about my mom a lot.”
She drew a direct parallel between Margo’s experience of telling her mother she earns money through content creation and her own path as an independent artist.
“My mom was like, ‘How are you getting paid for stuff because you have followers? How are people sending you boxes of clothes just because you have followers?” Rico Nasty recalled. “She can’t fathom it. She can’t understand it.”
She also pointed to her early career as an example of the same resourcefulness the show celebrates. One of her most recognized music videos, she said, was filmed in a hotel staircase with no formal budget.
“I was just in there being funny and being a person that has no money but has hunger,” she said. “And I love the way that it demonstrated the hunger.”
She said she hopes viewers take one message away from the series above all others.
“I really want people to understand how important it is to be there for your friends when they have kids,” she said. “This planet is just full of mothers and their children. We’re all somebody’s baby. And it’s important to have grace with the people who are brave enough to do that.”
Rico Nasty’s transition from high-energy music videos to a scripted drama from David E. Kelley marks a significant evolution in her public identity, one she said she is actively embracing.
“I want people to teach me things and give me notes and give me constructive criticism,” she said. “I’m definitely in a phase of my artistry where I’m open. I know I can’t do everything on my own.”
She also used the interview to shoot her shot at a potential future collaborator, calling out Taraji P. Henson by name.
“Taraji, we from D.C. Like, what’s up?” she said with a laugh. “I always been a fan. I want to be around more of my peers and people that I look up to. There’s not a lot of us that are this close, that are from where we’re from, that get these types of opportunities. I just want to be around more people that are winning like me.”
As for a second season, she is hopeful.
“I’m hoping there’s a season two,” she said. “Until next time.”
