“They play the game like checkers when I’m talking about chess.”

There are rappers, and then there are MCs — the spitters, the heads, the ones who eat, drink and breathe hip-hop while everyone else seems to be a little malnourished, light on substance, long on talk. For Nitty Scott, MC, it’s all there in the name. Don’t get played by that pint-sized posture and natural-born beauty. Brooklyn’s next star is exactly what she says she is: a new school fly girl flipping message-driven rhymes, a monster in the cypher and a poet on the page, paving the way for rap’s organic, skill-driven past to break into the future. With her commercial debut, The Boombox Diaries Vol. 1 EP, 21-year-old Nitty earns not only her nickname “the Beautiful Beast,” but her place as one of hip-hop’s most promising young voices.

From The Boombox Diaries‘ opening moments, it’s clear that we’re dealing with “a breath of something fresh.” Over the epic organ tones, horn blasts and electronic flourishes of “Concrete Roses,” Nitty pushes past haters to define her own lane and lick a couple of shots while she’s there: “Too Lena Horne for these Marilyn Monroeses.” With production by !llmind on the Missy-sampling “H.O.T.” and AraabMuzik on the raw, melodic banger “IllumiNITTY,” our heroine ensures her tracks have the heft and depth to match her rhymes. Call it street soul — a cohesive quality of sound and content that reigns over every track. It’s no wonder artists like Kendrick Lamar, Action Bronson, Outasight and Soul Khan all drop by.

Nitty worked hard to get here and her deep connection to her craft began at an early age. She was born in Grand Rapids but raised in Orlando, where her father fed her a steady diet of classics ranging from Sam Cooke and Bob Marley to Tupac and A Tribe Called Quest. She was a restless kid, joining everything she could — gymnastics, band, cheerleading, choir, ballet, pageants — until she discovered poetry. Inspired by the rap battles and Big L tracks her brother would play her, she began emceeing at 14. Within two years, she’d assembled her first mixtape and enrolled in a prestigious arts high school with a creative writing major. At 17, she packed her bags, transferred her credits, and bought a one-way ticket to New York.

Thrust into a gritty, unfamiliar landscape, Nitty quickly honed her art in the city of hip-hop’s birth. It wasn’t long before her local hustle went viral — via her much whispered-about 2010 “Monster” freestyle — and she soon followed up with The Cassette Chronicles, a collection of verses, ad-libs and poems presented by Roc Nation’s Mick Boogie. In 2011, she rapped to her largest audience yet, kicking off the BET Hip-Hop Awards Cypher accompanied by DJ Premier on the cuts. And before the year was out, she dropped Doobies x Popsicle Sticks, a sun-dappled, boom-bap-flavored tape celebrating her “very first summer in the game.” Comparisons came — MC Lyte, Lauryn Hill, Ladybug Mecca — but in the end, Nitty is Nitty.

The Boombox Diaries confirms this, playing like a series of journal entries capturing not only our hostess’ moods and musings, but her transition from DIY contender to proudly independent champ. Songs like the moody, keys-laden “Planes, Trains & Automobiles” and the bright banger “No Standing Here (Everybody Go)” document this evolution, showcasing a young Nitty who’s still on the move, restless but now fueled by unwavering focus. At the core of Nitty Scott, MC, is the ethos that she ascribes to her entire Boombox Family (fans, friends, collaborators): to be a part of a movement instead of an industry, to be charitable with her gift, to inspire art and educate listeners, to promote substance to the starving mainstream.

In other words, “Your Easy Bake ain’t fucking with my muffins in the oven.”

PRE-ORDER The Boombox Diaries Vol. 1 EP on iTunes now.