Aminé at House of Blues, 3/4
Portland rapper Aminé hit the stage at House of Blues with an energy and charisma that I have never seen. In the leadup to his set, his DJ played some big hits from other artists to get the crowd hyped up before transitioning to “Mad Funny Freestyle,” a lighthearted and fun track that features absurd but amusing lyrics such as “we finna make babies tonight, goo-goo-ga-ga.” Shortly after the instrumental started, Aminé came bursting out of the elaborate stage setup, which included a Mini-Mart, a bridge, a neon sign, a huge sculpture of his dog, a small version of a Jumbotron, and a park sign with the name of his neighborhood on it. They all served to show off things about his hometown, which he proudly represents.
After finding myself smiling from the comical lyrics from “Mad Funny Freestyle” and Aminé’s energetic dancing, he played the song I was looking forward to the most: “Charmander.” The colorful instrumental on that song combined with his hypnotic flow makes for a perfect song. I was so mesmerized by his performance (and so focused on getting good pictures of him) that I forgot to get a video of the song on my phone until the very end of it.
Past this point, I was really quite unfamiliar with the rest of the songs on the setlist, as I have only listened to TWOPOINTFIVE, his latest release. However, this did not stop me from enjoying the concert in any way, shape, or form. Going in almost blind was a fun experience, as I was headbanging to songs that were completely fresh to me, although I felt a little left out when everyone was screaming the lyrics except for me. This definitely inspired me to give his earlier projects a listen, though. Other highlights of the concert for me included the Pi’erre Bourne-produced “Mrs. Clean,” as well as “Pressure In My Palms” from Limbo. From TWOPOINTFIVE, I also enjoyed his performances of “meant2b” and “Colors.”
The last leg of the show was easily the best though. Starting with “REDMERCEDES,” he played the song as normal to begin, but then transitioned it into the instrumental of “Drop It Like It’s Hot” by Snoop Dogg and rapped the rest of the song over it. Then, after he played “Spice Girl,” he performed a cover of “Wannabe” by the Spice Girls, which was a welcome surprise. To close out the show, he played his biggest hit: “Caroline.” To be honest, I thought he was completely done after that and I even started to leave before something inside me told me he wasn’t done quite yet. I turned around and saw his DJ still hanging out on stage, and before I knew it, the people that stayed were all jumping to “REEL IT IN” as Aminé came back out for one last song.
Aminé definitely exceeded expectations for me with this concert. From his stage presence to his setup onstage, he showed why he is such a well-liked artist. It is also worth noting that opening act 454 had a fun set as well. Overall, I would definitely recommend that you go to an Aminé concert, and if you go to Tufts, make sure to catch him at Spring Fling in April!
