![]() ![]() You were born and raised in Portland and went to Benson High. Walker: “Woodlawn” also prominently references your home neighborhood of Woodlawn Park. But it isn’t the main focus of the album. So that was definitely something I wanted to touch on. So, um, seeing him die was tragic, you know, for me and my friends. And for me, he was like a second dad that I saw on TV. You reference his influence mostly on the song “Woodlawn.” Why Kobe?Īminé: Kobe just affected every kind of young Black man in America who played sports. Walker: I think being jolted by a moment is not uncommon in your 20s or 30s, but one catalyst for you on this album seems to have been the death of Kobe Bryant. I thought I wanted to make something that I could play formy kids 10 years from now and listen to it and smile because what I say in a song really happened. That to me is what makes somebody’s legacy really cool and something that would last forever, when you could just be honest. I was inspired by a lot of albums, but one that inspired me a while ago was “4:44” by Jay-Z where I got to hear this veteran and one of the all-time greatest rappers alive be brutally honest in his music. When I started making “Limbo” I though a lot about legacy. I think it takes a lot of guts for an artist to just be honest like this on an album, because you don’t get to hear that that much in 2020 at least from a hip-hop perspective. ![]() I’m kind of 26 years old, going through a quarter-life crisis, just becoming an adult, really coming into my own. Walker: I don’t mean this in a bad way, but I think you sound a little lost - maybe existentially - on some of these songs.Īminé: I do feel lost. Thank you so much for taking the time to chat with me today. Jerad Walker: I’m here with Adam Aminé Daniel, better known as Aminé, whose new album “Limbo” came out last month via Republic Records. Listen to the interview above or read the full transcript below. The joyful quirkiness is still there, but on the album’s 13 songs (and one skit) it’s tempered with a healthy dose of what the musician refers to as “brutal honesty.” While that turn is certainly a sign of the distressing times we live in, Aminé also hinted at a deeper, existential cause in a recent conversation with opbmusic that also touched on his complicated relationship with Portland, his thoughts on the city’s protest movement, and the early musical influence of spending Sunday mornings with his parents.Īminé will be the musical guest on Jimmy Kimmel Live! on ABC this Thursday, Sept. On “Limbo,” that’s where he firmly plants his flag, establishing himself as one of the Northwest’s finest musical exports along the way. But it was his ability to deftly mix serious social commentary with irreverent humor and an almost unsinkable buoyancy that hinted at greater staying power. The songs on his debut record were marked by catchy, keys-driven beats and the kind of cutting pop culture references that involuntarily curl the corners of your mouth. Propelled forward by the summertime jam “Caroline,” he existed in a ( mostly yellow) technicolor world. In many ways, he was made for this moment.įour years ago, Aminé experienced a meteoric rise, almost entirely bypassing Portland’s local music scene on the way to mainstream success. COVID-19 has killed nearly 200,000 Americans, civil unrest has gripped his hometown for months, and wildfires are burning largely unchecked throughout much of the West, including the musician’s adopted home in Southern California.īut coming from the Portland-born rapper, it’s entirely plausible. Thanks for listening,” Aminé says.It’s a bold proclamation given the current state of the country. It’s an opportunity to create for my day one fans the way I used to in my bedroom. “The POINTFIVE projects are the breaks in between albums where I give myself the freedom to make music without expectations, focusing instead of spontaneity and the best of what comes from stream of conscious creation, which is why they arrive unexpectedly without a long rollout. TWOPOINTFIVE acts as the second act to Aminé’s 2018 project ONEPOINTFIVE, which arrived in between his debut album Good For You and sophomore album Limbo, and solidified Aminé’s status as a hitmaker in the modern hip-hop landscape with tracks like “REEL IT IN” and “BLACKJACK.” TWOPOINTFIVE takes inspiration from various strains of club and dance music, synthesized in a way that feels distinct to Aminé and his brand of clever lyricism. Like its lead single “Charmander,” the video for which was lauded by GQ as the “Most Menswear-y Music Video of 2021” for its incredible styling and featured by Pitchfork as one of the best music videos of October 2021, TWOPOINTFIVE finds Aminé using the project to explore new sonic territory. ![]() The twelve-track release is set to arrive this Friday. Today, Portland-born rapper Aminé announces the imminent release of his new project TWOPOINTFIVE.
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