Aminé Interview: New Balance Shoe, 13 Months of Sunshine, Design, XXL 2017,Kaytranada

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In this interview, Arshan sat down with Aminé following the recent release of his album ‘13 Months of Sunshine’ to discuss his creative evolution bouncing between his love of music, designing, and fashion, and the legacy he wants to leave behind when it's all said and done. The two talk about Aminé’s early projects and internships designing sneakers as a teen, and also interning at COMPLEX & Def Jam, which he talks about on his new song “New Flower!” where he had early run-ins with people like Big Sean. Aminé recorded most of his early music sneaking into his empty college classrooms to record music without having access to a studio. After getting an offer to perform at a show, Aminé decided to drop out of college during his finance final. However, he is now getting an honorary degree at that same school. Aminé dives into how having immigrant parents shaped his career, and the influence his parents’ culture has on his new album. They also discuss Aminé’s branding and how Aminé saw the KTO interview with Cole Bennett, where Cole shouted out Aminé’s gift of worldbuilding, whether it’s with Aminé’s New Balance shoes or his own projects like ‘Limbo’. Aminé also reflects on being on the 2017 XXL Freshman List with Playboi Carti, XXXTENTACION, PNB Rock, and more, and also his longstanding collabs with KAYTRANADA, including their collab album ‘KAYTRAMINÉ’.


TIMESTAMPS!

0:00 - Aminé’s & Yachty being Arshan’s fashion inspo

1:34 - Working at Complex and almost getting fired

3:25 - Importance of being human & making good impressions

4:26 - Dropping out but now getting an honorary degree

4:38 - Having immigrant parents

5:15 - Dropping out of college for music during finance final

6:05 - Recording in empty classrooms without a studio

7:12 - Aminé’s advice for young creatives

7:55 - Evolving as an artist

8:09 - Aminé’s branding & watching our Cole Bennett interview

8:54 - Aminés creative process & design

11:08 - How impactful a good rollout can be to a project

11:29 - Stating his own creative agency after music

11:57 - ‘13 Months of Sunshine’ being Aminé’s favorite rollout

13:50 - How to build a creative team

14:20 - Using Photoshop over Pinterest for moodboards

14:52 - Using AI to your advantage creatively

16:04 - Making his own New Balance shoe collab

16:54 - Designing sneakers before music as a teen

17:50 - Arshan loving Aminé’s “The Mooz” New Balance 610T

19:05 - How “Sossaup” on KAYTRAMINÉ made Arshan understand house music

19:37 - Aminé on working with KAYTRANADA since 2014

21:18 - Aminé & Arshan’s love of biking

22:16 - Legacy & the purpose of ‘13 Months of Sunshine’ for Aminé

24:10 - Aminé’s dad narrating his album

24:37 - Father accepting music & becoming Aminé’s best friend

27:00 - Ethiopian influence on Aminé’s music

28:30 - Being on 2017 XXL List with Carti, XXXTENTACION, etc

29:43 - Running into Carti recently

30:30 - How Aminé finds new artists

31:09 - Aminé being a fan & wanting to work with Jim Legxacy

31:40 - Aminé’s Charli XCX remix “360.5”

Tags (ignore):
amine amine kaytranada kaytranada playboi carti playboi carti jim legxacy jim legxacy charli xcx charli xcx 360.5 360.5 lil yachty lil yachty ethiopian ethiopian eritrean eritrean xxxtentacion xxxtentacion new balance new balance designing designing pnb rock pnb rock cole bennett cole bennett xxl freshman xxl freshman complex complex creative direction creative direction big sean big sean 454 454 interning interning