Aminé’s recent experience working with Kaytranada has apparently had a lasting effect on the Portland rapper. His new solo single, “Familiar,” takes a different tack from his past solo material, employing the sort of four-on-the-floor dance beat favored by the Kaytraminé composer. But its lyrical content is indeed “familiar,” as he makes an entreaty to a paramour to “tell me what’s the problem,” as he reminds her that “I’m so familiar to you.”
The video is a simple but exuberant affair, opening with an argument between some Ethiopian uncles, and putting Aminé’s home culture on proud display via a team of dancers in traditional Ethiopian clothes. At the end of the video, Aminé joins them to enjoy the rain.
It has been about five years since Aminé’s last solo album, Limbo, but he’s been much more productive of late, dropping two singles in October: “Adam” and “Passenger Princess” with Smino. That would seem to suggest that he’s soon to announce a new body of work, and judging from the three songs he’s dropped so far, we can expect both a return to his proclivity for spitting clever bars and a continuation of his newfound fascination with dance-rap, a la Channel Tres or Duckwrth. We’ll have to stay tuned to find out.
You can watch Aminé’s “Familiar” video above.