Beloved internet comedian Rickey Thompson returns as a narrator on Aminé’s TWOPOINTFIVE (out today) after serving as the connective tissue of the Portland rapper’s last project-in-between-albums. “Fuck all the bullshit you going through right now,” Thompson urges stringently at the start of Aminé’s latest release. “Fuck that! It’s time to get up, go have some fun. Shake some ass! Ow!” Falling in line, on TWOPOINTFIVE Aminé tries on a range of breathless, lively styles. “Dididumduhduh” feels like a brisk ride with the windows down, channeling Don Toliver’s dark, bass-heavy sound. “Charmander” twinkles like a hyperpop reimagination of Doja Cat’s booty-anthem “Juicy.”
One of the project’s most satisfying experiments is “Sh!t2Luz,” a two-minute microdose of U.K. garage influence with racing percussion and dreamlike synths that could make the 1975 jealous. The song finds Aminé brushing off a flighty lover who’s complicated their relationship with insecurity and indecision. Aminé sounds exhausted: “I’m over you, on mamas,” he says, his indifference accented with cartoonish pitch-shifted vocals layered on top of his gravelly singing. “Sh!t2Luz” is a soundtrack for shaking ass and shaking a nuisance off your back at the same time.
Find a playlist of all of our recent Songs You Need to Know selections on Spotify.