Review: "Limbo" Album by Aminé

In March of 2016, Aminé made a big entrance into the music industry with his song “Caroline”. The song and video went viral and were on repeat for the rest of the year. In 2017, he dropped his debut project, “Good for You”, and he also made the 2017 XXL Freshman list. Needless to say, Aminé started off his career on fire.

One negative thing about having a song such as “Caroline” is feeling like you may never top it. There’s also the issue of feeling like you can’t make any songs that don’t sound exactly like that one. I felt like Aminé’s debut album was average. I don’t believe he experimented much sound wise and to me, it felt like he was trying to make more Carolines. Fast forward to 2020, and after releasing a couple singles, Aminé has now dropped his sophomore album, “Limbo”.

Off the bat, I will say that this project has put Aminé in a different light for me. With a song like “Caroline”, he was in instant danger of becoming sort of a one hit wonder. This project is well rounded, experimental and really just good.

“Limbo” has a lot of different elements to it. I appreciate that Aminé made it clear that he can truly rap as well as sing. There are several tracks where he raps over boom bap beats and it shows me that he takes rapping seriously and that he’s good at it. Songs such as “Burden” and “My Reality” prove this.

Aminé does a good job with feature selection on this project. Whereas on his last project, I felt like some of the features were more for the name and didn’t really fit. Artists such as JID, Young Thug and Summer Walker not only have the names to draw attention, but their sounds are perfect for the songs they were used on.

There are songs on this project that won’t just get a lot of replay, but are also quality records. The tracks “Compensating”, “Riri” and “Easy” are all songs that can and will get major play on the radio and even in clubs once the world opens back up. I believe each of these songs achieves the goal of outshining “Caroline”.

Aminé touches on several topics such as love, happiness vs. materialism and even how he feels about his mother. One specific person, however, is brought up throughout most of the project. That person is Kobe Bryant. Aminé makes it clear through both bars and skits that Kobe had a big impact on his youth and that his death affected him tremendously. RIP Kobe.

Overall, I really enjoyed this project. Aminé shows that he has grown as an artist since 2016/2017 and that he’s much more than a one hit wonder. I feel that there is at least one song on this album for every type of Hip-Hop fan. If I had to give it a number, It would be about an 8 out of 10. I’m proud of Aminé and I’m excited to see what this album does for his career.

Stream and Share “Limbo” on: Spotify | Apple Music