Describing his music as a “vitamin D genre” in an interview published three years ago with the YouTube channel, Pitchfork, Amine as an artist definitely creates good energy with his music. Not only does he take pride in creating these high-energy songs, but his involvement in the creative process, production, and engineering of his music creates a unique sound that everyone in my generation can pinpoint. His collaborations with house music/EDM artists Kaytranda, Young Thug, Pharrell Williams, and Big Sean to name a few, showcase the fluidity of his style of hip hop and music making. Being able to make music for a range of audiences with big steppers from different genres, eras, and music styles is an underrated quality that Amine has mastered at this point in his career. Coming from an Ethiopian family, Amine’s cross-cultural influence has been huge and although many of his songs are in English rather than Amharic, I can remember many fans of his in my high school belonging to the Ethiopian diasporic community. 

A few of my favorite songs from Amine are of course “Caroline” released in 2016, “Compensating” featuring Young Thug, and the entire Kaytramine album which was released eight months ago. A few of my favorite songs on the album being “K&A” and “Let’s Talk About It” because of the smooth and nostalgic rhythms throughout the songs. In the “K&A” visualizer, the glimpse into the studio where this magic was made in shows the color and vibrancy Amine brings to the studio and is able to transmute into his tracks. His emphasis on creating unique sounds that can stand alone and build off of the creations of old and new artists has really elevated his music above many modern-day hip hop artists who are comfortable creating derivative works. Amine as an artist is a perfect example of an artist that is creating the framework for his own sound while paying homage to the world of music that existed before him and will exist after him.