Nasty C FREE out now on Tall Racks

Nasty C opens a new chapter with FREE, his fifth studio album and the first on his independent label Tall Racks, distributed by Platoon. The project is fifteen tracks of clear intent with guest appearances from Blxckie and Usimamane. No padding. Just work that stands up on its own.

With this album I feel very free,” Nasty C says. “Free to create and express myself however I want. Releasing it on my own label means a lot. It speaks to freedom.”

FREE carries range without drifting. Psychic is sharp and unblinking. Soft, self-produced and featuring Usimamane, moves with quiet ambition, two Durban voices writing from the grind, not a gloss. Leftie, with Blxckie, has the ease and bite of a room that is already with you. Head Up steps close, trims the beat, and talks plainly.

“Head Up is about trusting and believing in yourself,” he says. “Be patient with yourself when life feels heavy. Do not measure your pace against someone else’s. Hold on, trust, love, and give yourself grace.”

Tall Racks is not a logo at the end of a video. It is the frame this era sits in. Timing, collaborators, visuals and rollout live under one roof. Independence here is not a slogan. It is the structure that lets the music arrive clean.

The context sits in the work, not outside it. Nasty C’s audience is already global. He holds close to two million monthly listeners on Spotify and nearly five million followers on Instagram. His catalog has crossed a billion streams. Those numbers are not the point, but they explain why rooms fill quickly and why a release like FREE does not need extra noise to be heard.

He has traded verses with T. I., A$AP Ferg, Benny the Butcher and Ari Lennox. He has stepped into spaces that test presence, from On The Radar and Fire In The Booth to BBC 1Xtra and BET. Brands have called too, from Coca-Cola and Puma to Red Bull, Call of Duty, Mercedes-Benz, Samsung and Johnnie Walker. None of this is a pitch. It is the trail he brings into an independent run, the reason Tall Racks can move at its own speed.

The recent “odd jobs” are part of the same page. Bagging groceries at Spar, fixing engines at a local shop, giving fades in a barbershop. Not a stunt. A way to keep the work close to everyday life. A way to meet people where they are and carry the music into those rooms without ceremony.

What FREE makes clear is control. Straight rap records sit next to softer cuts and each one keeps its shape. The voice in the center knows where it belongs. No pleading for playlist space. No sugar rush single built to vanish by Friday.

FREE tracklist

1. Intro

2. Switch

3. Leftie ft. Blxckie

4. Shmokin

5. Head Up

6. Soft ft. Usimamane

7. Big Timing

8. Life Is Short

9. Shooters

10. Ice

11. Other Plans (Interlude)

12. Psychic

13. MSP

14. Selfish

15. Evidence

FREE arrives with visuals for Head Up. The album does what the title says. He built it, he carries it, and he owns it. No sales pitch required.

Editor’s picks: Soft ft. Usimamane & Head Up.