Nacho Picasso raps like a charging, smoked-out rhino. The rhino is coming right at you with its horn and thick, armored skin, but it's loped-out on weed, weaving its slow, heavy hooves in an uneven gallop. You don't know whether to run or embrace it. Is it charging you? Or just cantering to the store for peanut-butter-stuffed pretzels and Crown Royal? The one thing you dare not do is turn away. It's not a fight-or-flight situation, it's: Do I get out of the way, or try to get on for a ride?
Like his name, Nacho Picasso is part tortilla cartoon wrestler and part cubist revolutionary painter. His inked-up, Rorschach raps paint seedy, hustled scenes of drugs, money, and women. He's "Rick James and James Dean all mashed together." Nacho is the alpha—lowbrow, hardened, and chauvinistic. He's also self-condemnatory when he looks in the mirror, calling himself a scumbag and a numbnuts. "I'm blowing money," he says, "Killing bills/Black mamba/I'm a monster/Nacho the chupacabra." Vocally, his tone registers lower, in a roundly pronounced baritone. He ingests comic-book heroes and gangster lore, then releases flow with an eased-out, don't-give-a-fuck drawl: "If I die today, it'll be okay/I'll treat hell like a honeycomb hideaway."
Hailing from Beacon Hill's Cloud Nice collective, Nacho has struck out and garnered attention with his full-length, parental-warning menagerie called For the Glory. It hints at a gothic, synth-based realm, unified under spacious beats produced by Blue Sky Black Death and Raised by Wolves. Punctuated 808's rain out from the block of their beat machine. Nacho stabilizes the chassis and hooks intimate, sordid curves of verses into the distance of the production. We spoke; he was not charging.
Define hardness.
My dick in the morning.
You have hardness, but you're able to play with it. How do you do that? Because, if you play with stuff, or have too much fun, then you get soft, like Das Racist. Those guys are soft. How are you able to be fun and hard at the same time?
[Pauses. No answer.]
Your song "Bad Guy." Is it about lack of moral responsibility? Do you consider yourself a bad guy?
"Bad Guy" is my anthem. If was a 1980s wrestler, it would be my theme music. I would be a villain. Root for the bad guy.
In "Bad Guy," the lyrics are: "If I like the jugs on her/Then I'm prolly drugging her." Are you worried that will piss off women?
Most of my fans are females, and that's their favorite song.
Where does your name, Nacho Picasso, come from?
The ingredients to Nacho are the ingredients to success. And that's cheese, chips, and guac. Picasso because I paint a perfect picture.
What's your favorite Picasso painting?
I love Picasso, but my favorite artists are da Vinci, van Gogh, because he was off his rocker, and Frank Frazetta.
The artwork for For the Glory has naked women who are tied up. You are on a giant horse, in armor, with a lance. What's the story?
The cover art was an ode to Frank Frazetta, who we borrowed much of the original artwork from. We chose this particular piece because it's the visual embodiment of the theme of the project.
What do you think of Das Racist, honestly?
They have great videos.
Define thug.
Tupac.
Define gangster.
What's an example of someone who's thuggish, and someone who's gangsterish?
My cousin Ty, and niggas who got sent up and never told.
Where do your beats come from?
I don't make the beats. Blue Sky Black Death and Raised By Wolves make all the beats. They cater to the aesthetic of each song.
Where do your lyrics come from?
My dad was a poet. It's in my blood. I write all the time, for a song or not. When I hear a beat, I come up with the cadence. I always got bars. I just apply them accordingly.
What is the most fucked up thing that's ever happened to you in your life?
Someone hired me for an actual job. [Having a job] wasn't for me.
Do you paint?
Yes, as a matter of fact I do. I also illustrate with the best of 'em. I'm a Renaissance man.
What's next for you? What's the Nacho future?
We have an onslaught of material for the next year; this is just the beginning.
What are your Nacho Santa Claus thoughts?
Santa is two letters switched from Satan. I don't trust him.
What would Santa's rap name be?
Santa Claus is hard already.
What does Nacho Picasso want for Christmas?
I want everyone to have a white Christmas. 
