Ashton Nicole Casey, better known as Ashnikko, was born on February 19, 1996, in Oak Ridge, North Carolina. Her stage name, Ashnikko, is a portmanteau of her first name, Ashton, and her middle name, Nicole.

The London-based rapper, singer and songwriter is known for her rebellious and audacious songs that explore themes of sexuality and female empowerment. Influenced by the likes of feminist musicians like M.I.A., Björk, and Nicki Minaj, Ashnikko fuses hip-hop with a punky electro-pop sound that is native to the English capital.

Growing up in the ultra-conservative North Carolina, Ashnikko’s early musical diet consisted exclusively of country music and some occasional Slipknot records. Ashnikko spent most of her teen years in Eastern Europe after her parents moved to Estonia and later Latvia when she was just thirteen.
A very liberal and creative teen in nature, Ashnikko spent her days doodling and gradually embarked on her journey toward becoming a rapper known for her unapologetic lyricism. She started her musical endeavors with a diss track about one of her classmates set to Lil Kim’s “Black Friday” beat.

Upon reaching adulthood, Ashnikko finally managed to break free of her conservative chains and began a new life in London. Here, she enjoyed a wild party life while persistently pursuing her artistic ambitions through music.

On July 31, 2016, she uploaded her first song “KROKODIL” to SoundCloud. She then worked on a collaborative EP Sass Pancakes with Raf Riley, released in 2017. Since then, she released two solo EPs, Hi, It’s Me and Unlikeable, her DEMIDEVIL mixtape, and her debut album, WEEDKILLER, which was released in 2023.

Having solidified her distinct artistic style by the release of Sass Pancakes, Ashnikko delved into the theme of female empowerment on her subsequent EP, Unlikeable. This sentiment persisted in her third EP, Hi, It’s Me. In an interview with 1883 Magazine, she said:

I got bullied a lot because I did music. It’s quite a patriarchal society there, a lot of men were offended by my presence. […] Doing something different is uncomfortable, regardless what you do differently – you always get hated especially as a woman. But regardless, its always more rewarding to be yourself.

Her song “STUPID” featuring Atlanta-based rapper Yung Baby Tate surged in popularity on TikTok months after its initial release, having accumulated over two million posts by the end of October 2019. The viral song marked her first entry on Billboard, peaking at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 Bubbling Under Charts.

In 2020, Ashnikko released the single “Daisy” alongside a campaign with Beats Electronics and TikTok labeled #BeatsDaisyChallenge, which skyrocketed the song’s popularity on the TikTok platform, accumulating over 1.5 million posts with the sound, and peaking at #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 Bubbling Under Charts. Ashnikko later released the DEMIDEVIL mixtape, of which “Slumber Party” also became a viral TikTok sound.