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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Review: Amine dazzles Knitting Factory in his Best Tour Ever concert

With Women’s History Month coming to an end, I’m thinking about what makes women … women. We craft. We conduct culture. We increase the visibility of what it means to be literally be made anew by popping out a few children here and there throughout our lifetimes. (If that’s what we decide to do.)

And that’s what I realized about Aminé during his concert last week. He’s the father of a particular sound – West Coast rap style – that adores women and talks about getting paper with the homies in the same breath. It’s an effortless balance, a vibe that shook up hip hop and is now the standard.

With the help of his DJ, MadisonLST, Aminé’s authenticity and talent dazzled in his March 24 show at Knitting Factory, a stop on his the Best Tour Ever tour. Rappers 454 and A.J. Tracey were the opening acts.

Born Jelani Rice, 454’s sound is a collection of emotional outpours and electronic beats. In his songs “Facetime” and “Pisces,” his rap style is deepened with traits of the Playboi Carti and Kodak Black gene pool, toying with a wiry, high-pitch voice that dances through, sometimes around, the selected beat.

Following 454 was Tracey, a London-born act of the grime rap, a subgenre that is the son of the original, American drill music genre. Drill music took the early 2010s by storm behind Chicago masterminds Chief Keef, Lil Durk, Lil Reese and their late friend Fredo Santana.

Tracey carried a higher kind of energy in his set, performing songs like “Kukoč” and another song that’s produced by Memphis producer Tay Keith. Tracey also brought out New York rapper Swoosh God, who produced the popular song “Just Do It” in 2019.

It’s been a while since we’ve been able to see Aminé perform on a full-length tour. Much has changed, considering he’s dropped two projects, “Limbo” and “TwoPointFive.”

It was especially nice to hear Aminé’s incorporating music from his third album, and one of my personal favorites from 2020, “Limbo.” The album’s beat selection, and a few interludes about the growing pains of the mid-20s, resonated well with Aminé’s older, current sound.

Unfortunately, the album went under the radar, being released in the thick of the 2020 pandemic summer where equality and change took the forefront instead of those mystical summer vibes.

On “Limbo,” he leans directly into the classic hip-hop boom-kack beats that shine light on his lyrical ability. The album features some of the hottest acts of the rap game, including cameos from Atlanta’s Young Thug, JID and R&B songstress Summer Walker. Legendary musician Charlie Wilson also makes an appearance.

Throughout the show, Amine had spectacular energy and word play. He’s either rapping or dancing, jumping or hopping. During song breaks, Aminé kept the energy high with his “You’re beautiful!” “I know” call-and-response chant.

The stage setup resembled Woodlawn Park, a commonplace of Aminé’s Portland childhood where he went for inspiration and peace. It featured a bridge that crosses over a lake and the neighborhood corner store, possible thinking spaces where Aminé decided to go for what it is now a blossoming rap career.

In some of the songs that feature him sitting, pondering, Aminé climbed atop the faux bridge and rapped out the inspiration of his hits. He embodies the energy of his music: friendly, vibrant. Quirky, weird. But all in all, it is refreshing.

Aminé’s high energy kept the crowd encapsulated, especially during moments where he could’ve stopped the show to gauge the audience’s energy. Whenever he did pause his set, it was to make sure fans were OK or if someone wanted to sign his traveling pants.

It’s a hilarious joke for any 2000s kid who grew up in the nonstop praise for that one movie about pants that apparently travel. For the Spokane stop, a fan named Reyna signed a red patch on the jeans by his right leg, saving the back pocket for the European leg of the tour.

Aminé’s most recent project, “TwoPointFive,” didn’t feel like a shot in the dark, rather a full lean into the electronic world that Aminé’s sound heavily relies on. It was a risk, but it aligned with his hunger for something that’s alternative and excellent. My favorite off the album is “Between the Lines.”

It is the only song on the album that features Rickey Thompson, the gaudy social media star who makes Aminé’s “OnePointFive” mixtape the relatable, banger that it is through Thompson’s narrations.

The show was also infused with lyrical references and samples that Aminé uses in his recent projects. While performing Red Mercedes, MadisonLST slid in the “Drop It Like Its Hot” instrumental, which, enmeshed perfectly with Aminé’s lyrical tempo.

In the middle of the song “Spice Girl,” Aminé cut to the Spice Girls’ “Wannabe,” which prompted all the girls in the audience to look at one another, screaming, “If you wanna be my lover, you gotta get with my friends!”

Aminé makes his concerts fun by referencing worldwide pop culture, especially in the music world. I immediately locked eyes with Emily Connery, my concert date and an editorial assistant at The Spokesman-Review, screaming, “Friendship never enddssssss!”

Aminé also performed his smash breakout hit “Caroline.” (That song really colored in college for me, what a bop man.) But, instead of letting the iconic, deep voiced-intro “Listen man …” get a rise out of the audience, Aminé transitioned into the song with a slow, R&B ballad version that still radiated the beauty and nostalgia of “Caroline.”

The Best Tour Ever is a live example of what makes Aminé the heavy-hitting, impactful rapper that he is. His music is a space for the weird, a pocket that Aminé entered out of the blue and is now dominating.

He’s a beacon of light on the West Coast rap scene, something that’s been missing since the early 2010s. This is the current king of the Pacific Northwest and its quirks. His energy and execution during the Best Tour Ever solidified my opinion of that.