Taken from this week’s Future Pop mailer. Click here to subscribe.
Continuing the Portland theme, it’s probably not the first American city you’d expect to launch a new hip-hop star, but it has provided us with Adam Aminé Daniel, better known as Aminé. The 23-year-old rapper/singer might not be twee but he could definitely be described as quirky. My first instinct on hearing his debut single Caroline last year was that its groovy synth production and sense of humour reminded me of Outkast, and it turned out they were a major inspiration. In fact, the name Caroline is taken from their song Roses (remember, the girl who thinks her poo doesn’t smell?). The song became a huge hit for Aminé, as it went 3x Platinum in the US and just missed the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100. It has over 180 million views on YouTube, and I’m sure Aminé’s entertaining performance and chemistry with his crew in the self-directed video had a lot to do with that. Since then he’s collaborated with labelmates Kehlani and Offset from Migos and appeared as his usual smiley self in Charli XCX’s Boys video (look out for Portugal. The Man’s John Gourley in there too). This week he released his debut album Good for You, and the latest single Wedding Crashers is currently trending on Spotify worldwide. Aminé is a unique, distinctive artist who fits in with the hip-hop scene of 2017, but also brings a fresh take which I think will appeal to a much wider audience just like his idols, Outkast.