Hailing from the PNW, Aminé is in the hip hop carousel representing Portland all by himself. This, however, fails to stop him from releasing his debut studio album ‘Good For You’ in 2017 (packed with hits like ‘Caroline’ and ‘Spice Girl’), as well as his mixtape ‘ONEPOINTFIVE’ in 2018.
On ‘Limbo’, Aminé delivers incredible tracks that grow and sprout from his first two projects. For example, flute based production from ‘Reel It In’ off of his mixtape translating into the second track on the album ‘Woodlawn’ flaunts Aminé’s ability to make fun/poppy songs while still throwing bar after bar about topics of growth, the legalization of marijuana, and being a black teen in America in the first track ‘Burden’.
One of my favorite aspects of the album are the features. On track 4, ‘Roots’, Aminé pairs two incredibly diverse artists: Charlie Wilson and JID. Charlie Wilson, who appeared on two tracks in Aminé’s debut album, has an incredible collaboration list from Stevie Wonder and Pharrell to Kanye West and Tyler, The Creator. Along with the buttery Dreamville rapper JID, the three craft a song that flows incredibly.
Aminé also teams up with Long Beach’s own Vince Staples as well as U.K.’s Slowthai on the track ‘Pressure In My Palms.’ Although Slowthai is only on the song for a whopping 11 seconds, he flows right into Vince Staples’ verse and Aminé ends the song with a beat change.
With Amine approaching his late 20s, it is easy to tell how legendary icon Kobe Bryant’s death affected him. Quoted from a GQ article, “It was like seeing Superman die.” The track 3 interlude titled ‘Kobe’ has Aminé’s close friend Jak Knight talks about stepping out of one’s innocence into the adult world, figuring out how to buy a house, how money works, feeling your childhood disappear when an icon passes away.
I feel that Aminé’s project ‘Limbo’ is the product of organic growth without forgetting the roots that helped him build his music. Aminé found more of himself in this album than his previous projects. I will say the first half of the project is better than the second half, but some may prefer Aminé’s creative melodies and singing in the latter half. Showing love to his mother on ‘Mama’ to living out his spoken fantasies in ‘My Reality,’ Aminé showed his wings and took off.
8/10
Favorite Tracks:
‘Can’t Decide’ – Aminé’s singing really shines on this track
‘Woodlawn’ – Flute beats are still very fun!
‘Shimmy’ – One of the singles from the album, boom-bap beat
‘Fetus’ – Injury Reserve killed this song, RIP Groggs
Stream Aminé’s project ‘Limbo’ everywhere!
Apple Music + Spotify
Watch the music videos for the singles off the album: ‘Shimmy’ and ‘Riri’
