Rapper Aminé charmed us
with the viral single "Caroline"
back in 2016.
Oh my God, that's my baby
Caroline, you divine
With his sophomore album "Limbo"
Aminé's letting us know
that he's growing up.
Today we're talking to him
about his new album,
how his hometown of Portland, Oregon
is responding to the Black Lives Matter
movement,
and his new song that's causing
quite the storm on Twitter.
Stay right there.
This is "The Nod."
Aminé was fresh outta college
when his debut single "Caroline"
went viral.
Soon after, his Black Boy Joy vibes
landed him on the "Billboard" Hot 100
in a coveted position
on XXL's 2017 freshman list.
Girl, I could've been your pap
And you be my Remy Ma
Born and bred in Portland, Oregon,
Aminé delivers
that pacific northwest perkiness.
His debut album, "Good For You,"
is bursting with charm,
color, absurdity, and his always-present
Portland crew.
Now, two years after his debut album,
Aminé has released "Limbo,"
a turn towards a more mature
post-fame version of himself.
Aminé is in limbo,
and he's here to tell us about it.
Aminé, welcome to the show, man.
We're so happy to have you.
Thank you for having me.
Congratulations on your most
recent album, "Limbo."
How did you approach thinking about
and creating this album
as the follow-up to "Good For You"?
I just started to think about
the word legacy a lot more
when making then both,
so I wanted to make something
that wasn't just super current
to the times
but more like you can play it
ten years down the line.
So talk to us about the title, "Limbo."
What does that mean?
A lot of people thought I was
speaking to the times that we're in,
'cause I know that
we're all currently in limbo,
but I had that title for a good
year and a half.
For me, I felt like I was stuck
between two places,
just from a young man to adulthood,
and I was kind of, you know,
just figuring it out personally.
Well, I mean I definitely think, you know,
people are connecting with the project,
although, I will say the day
you dropped "Limbo"
Twitter had a strong reaction
to one track in particular--
"Becky."
Mama said to never bring
A white girl home to
Me
So in a track, you talk about,
you know, an interracial relationship
with a white girl and kinda the challenges
that resulted within your family.
There were a lotta folks
who were kinda bothered by the song.
I'm curious, like did you expect
any of the response that you got?
I think me and my boys all knew
that that was gonna happen.
Twitter immediately went into thinking
it was an ode to white women.
The story is more so about a Black kid
growing up in Portland, Oregon.
That story is about me in middle school.
It completely woke me up
to the society of Portland
and what it's like growing up there
and how you're looked at.
It's my truth, so I didn't really
wanna, like, shy away from that, you know?
There's a lot going on in Portland
right now
just between the uprisings
and having federal agents,
you know,
snatch up protestors off the street.
I visited Portland before.
I got a lot of stares.
I didn't understand why.
People were looking at me, I was like,
"I don't know what's goin' on."
How are you making sense of
and what do you think of what's going on
in your city right now?
I'm a bit bittersweet on it,
and I've said that multiple times,
because, as a Black person
growing up in Portland, Oregon
we never felt welcomed, you know?
We never felt like
the city came to us.
Portland is seen as a liberal city,
but it has so much racism behind it.
The feds and the police
have so much work to do.
But the community of Portland,
the people protesting
have a lot of work to do as well.
People who were on those front lines
are the same people kicking out Black
families out of their neighborhoods
and gentrifying the hell
out of these neighborhoods.
So they'll kick a Black family out
but have a Black Lives Matter sign
on their lawn.
Yeah, I mean, and it's not just Portland,
you know, there's many cities
across the country
that have to kind of do that work
and reckon with
the fact that, like, this isn't something
that just kinda crept up outta nowhere.
I wanna come back to the album a bit,
you know.
You shared how the song "Becky"
was something
that you were thinking about
in middle school,
you know, like the subject matter there.
Is there a track on the album
that you think kinda most captures
where you are right now?
The track "Burden" kind of really
shows you where I'm at mentally.
I just kinda talk about my friends,
my life,
what I've been up to.
Bury me before I'm a burden
Don't bury me till niggas is certain
When your skin darker,
- shit gets harder
- True
This a Black album like Shawn Carter
My intros, for my fans, the intros
on my albums are like updates
of my life, you know what I mean?
But for me, "Burden" is something
that I hold dearly to my heart
because the lyrics
"bury me before I'm a burden"
is something I had written in a black book
for, like, two years
and I never had a beat to it.
And starting off the album saying,
"This a Black album like Shawn Carter,"
that just made me feel
like it really embodied what I was
trying to do with the album.
Speaking about the album in general,
the title "Limbo," the theme of "Limbo"--
it really spoke to us.
And so we decided to come up with
with a little game that we're gonna play
with you called I'm Too Grown For That.
We're gonna throw out some scenarios
that might be resonant to you in the space
that you're in right now,
and you're gonna tell us
whether or not you are too grown
for that shit.
- Are you ready?
- Yeah.
First thing's, uh, the social media stalk.
If there's somebody you're interested in,
do you do the deep scroll on Instagram,
are you goin' all the way back
to that first pic,
or are you too grown for that?
No, I'm petty, I'm petty.
I'm not too grown for that.
I'm not.
You gotta do research, right?
Yeah, I gotta do the research, man.
I gotta know, you know, what's up?
I got another scenario for you, okay?
So let's talk a little bit about ghosting.
You know, let's say you meet somebody,
y'all go on a few dates,
you kinda like each other,
but then after a while,
you lose interest and you stop responding.
Ghosting somebody that you've been
out with a couple times--
are you too grown for that?
Yes, I'm too grown for that.
I was trying to answer it the right way.
I wasn't hesitating.
Yeah, yeah, I'm too grown for that.
I think if you've been on a date
with somebody multiple times,
you need to give them kinda like a reason.
If they're Republican, you know,
I'll ghost 'em.
But...
All right, so last up, the good old
tried and true wake and bake, you know?
Are you hitting the blunt or the pipe
first thing in the morning, you know?
Or are you too grown for that?
I'm not too grown for that.
I'm 26...
I am not too grown for that.
I ain't got no kids, man.
I am chillin'.
I can't tell you how much, you know,
we appreciate you comin' on the show.
Aw, thank you so much.
This has been great.
The game was somethin' else, you know?
So tell me, what should folks be
checkin' out?
Where can they find the music?
Point people in the right direction.
Uh, yeah, anywhere you look--
Aminé--Apple Music, Spotify,
Tidal, all of that, "Limbo" out now.
Appreciate you guys, man, for real.
Okay, so we gotta know--
have you been listening to "Limbo"?
Let us know what you think of the album
on Twitter @thenodshow.
That's our episode for today.
Thank you so much for watching.
We'll see you next time
on a new episode of "The Nod."
