In 2017, Aminé had a moment: his debut album, Good For You, introduced him as a happy-go-lucky rascal, and the lead single, “Caroline,” went multi-platinum. The project he released the year after, ONEPOINTFIVE, squandered some of that good will, catering to trendy trap and straying from the outsider charms that initially made his music so interesting. On his new album, Limbo, he’s more pragmatic, suddenly concerned with crafting a sustainable legacy, and this new attitude produces the best music of his career.
Aminé’s shift was inspired at least in part, by the death of NBA icon Kobe Bryant. (“That was like seeing Superman die,” he said.) On “Kobe,” Aminé’s friend, comedian Jak Knight, speaks of Bryant as a benchmark, his death a symbolic end of innocence. To Aminé, the tragedy represented an unofficial start to his real manhood. The shock seems to have loosened something in him. The verses on Limbo are much more relaxed, the hooks are catchier, and his outsized personality radiates. He mixes subtle bouts of introspection with kooky references to Jim Carrey’s The Mask, Allen Iverson’s infamous “practice” speech, and the guy in the AllState commercials.
It would be an overstatement to call the album mature, but it does seem to exist in a transitional state between carefree youth (as embodied by Good For You songs like “Sundays” and “Yellow”) and real adulthood. On the opener, he raps, “Beat so cold it made Aminé want to open up,” and the album is reflective of that accessibility; he sounds uninhibited. Limbo isn’t exactly The Big Day, but he places more importance on being responsible and dependable, pondering what it means to be a better son and a potential father. “To my future daughter or son/The streams from this album gon’ pay for your college funds,” he raps on “Fetus.” He’s also eager to reposition himself. On “Shimmy,” which puts a reanimating spin on an ODB classic, he’s on the comeback trail, getting his groove back “like Fela, not Stella” and shaming fake flexers.
| 1 | Burden |
| 2 | Woodlawn |
| 3 | Kobe |
| 4 | Roots (feat. JID & Charlie Wilson) |
| 5 | Can’t Decide |
| 6 | Compensating (feat. Young Thug) |
| 7 | Shimmy |
| 8 | Pressure In My Palms (feat. slowthai & Vince Staples) |
| 9 | Riri |
| 10 | Easy (feat. Summer Walker) |
| 11 | Mama |
| 12 | Becky |
| 13 | Fetus (feat. Injury Reserve) |
| 14 | My Reality |
