Aminé
25th April 2018
The Studio, Auckland, New Zealand.
Review by Sarah Kidd. Photography by Chelsea Munro.
Aminé would like you to know that he thinks you’re beautiful. Not only does he think you’re beautiful, he wants you to believe that you are beautiful. So when the Portland based artist bounded onto stage tonight looking like a throwback to the days of Woodstock with his insanely cool multicoloured tie-dye style tshirt and patched pants, his first action (following a completely in your face lit snippet of ‘Baba’) was to begin a chant; “When I say ‘You’re Beautiful’ you say ‘I know!’
Aminé (pronounced ‘uh-mean-aye’ – yes he would like you to please get that right) is all about the good vibes. And he appears to have an abundance of them along with boundless energy as he bops slides and cavorts about the stage, his four piece backing band completely dressed in white, standing in a semi-circle behind him in many ways a complex juxtaposition. Complex being a word that could also be used to describe his music. Having burst onto the scene with ‘Caroline’, Aminé went viral, despite the fact that he has actually been releasing music since 2014. Accompanied by its fresh and quirky music video it was a recipe for success; catapulting Aminé into the charts and into the hearts of fans.
And that love has certainly spread around the globe as evidenced tonight, his debut New Zealand show being completely sold out.
On the face of it, Aminé may appear to be just another hip-hop star, but scratch beneath the surface and his work is cleverly nimble, with many a tongue in cheek sideswipe at today’s society (check out the video for ‘Red Mercedes’). His debut album Good For You with its comical cover depicting the singer almost naked while perched upon the porcelain throne is a nod to his light-hearted mischievous side, while lyrics such as those contained in the track ‘Money’ provide a more transparent insight into Aminés view of the world; “Sayin’ you ain’t racist, really sound racist.”
Live, it’s as if he is illuminated from within, so much so that even Aminé himself asks for the spotlight that was trained on him to be turned off; a move that also allowed him to see his audience better as he genuinely connected with them throughout the show. Showing off his talents for music and word, Aminé cleverly morphs ‘Veggies’ into a version of TLC’s ‘Scrubs’ before deftly throwing in a couple of verses of ‘Gold Digger’ by Kanye West, the audience going absolutely wild and rapping all the words back to him at full volume.
Instructions to bounce, sing and shout were all followed to the letter by the predominantly young female audience, who pushed themselves up against the barrier and every so often outstretched their hands in the hope of a finger brush or two; Aminé often leaning out over the audience to do so. Moving through brilliant pieces such as ‘Heebiejeebies’, ‘STFU’ and ‘Yellow’, his live band gave the songs that extra oomph that really saw Aminé set the place alight, the audience never once looking bored or distracted; Aminé punctuating the set continuously with his ‘You’re beautiful / I know’ chant.
Proving he can sing as well as spit words in rapid fire, Aminé showed his softer side with his more crooner style tracks; each and every time immediately taking the energy levels back up to eleven upon their conclusion. By the time ‘Red Mercedes’ rolled around the fans could no longer contain themselves, one woman in particular down the front feverishly screaming every time Aminé even ventured towards her side of the stage. Pausing momentarily to address the fans, Aminé pointed out the patches on his pants, explaining that each one depicted a city that he had played in and that there was a blank patch on the back of his calf for Auckland. Inviting a fan to come up and inscribe the patch, you could almost hear the collective sound of hundreds of hearts shattering, as Aminé selected the sunglass wearing Felix to join him on stage; ‘Chur Bro’ being the words he etched upon the dedicated piece of fabric; before being politely escorted back into the front row so that Aminé could blow everyone away with his live version of ‘Wedding Crashers’, it’s lyrics a giant middle finger to his “ex-lovers”.
Playing every track from his debut LP bar one, fans were also treated to a version of his latest entitled ‘Campfire’ (feat Injury Reserve). But it was the penultimate track ‘Spice Girl’ that stole the show, a snippet of Spice Girls ‘Wannabe’ blasting out over the PA system to end the song, the perfect cherry on top and proving that despite ‘Wannabe’ originally being released twenty-two years ago, that the kids today still know all. the. words. Finishing his set off with a super extended version of ‘Caroline’ that was slowed down a fraction to give it a whole new spin, Aminé rapped more than several lines acapella style before almost screaming the chorus, his delicious raw delivery of the lines just making him all the more appealing as an artist.
Obviously impressed by his fans who matched him word for word throughout, Aminé instructed them all to applaud themselves before requesting that the fans “make some noise for the kids who didn’t say nigga”; the sentiment of this statement maybe being lost on some of the younger members.
With the band playing him out there seemed to be no chance of an encore; the fans dejection soon turning to joy as Aminé appeared at the balcony above the stage; first just waving and making faces and then returning a few moments later with a bandmate in an identical tshirt. Performing a killer little choreographed dance number it seemed like a completely apt way of closing out the evening. Judging by the elated fans leaving the venue, it would be pretty safe to say Aminé, that New Zealand thinks you’re beautiful too.
Were you there at The Studio for this fun hip-hop gig? Or have you seen Aminé perform live somewhere else before? Tell us about it in the comments below!
Setlist:
- Baba
- Veggies
- Heebiejeebies
- Hero
- STFU
- Yellow
- Sundays / Slide
- Blinds
- Beach Boy
- Turf
- Campfire
- Money
- Red Mercedes
- Wedding Crashers
- Spice Girl
- Caroline
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