TherapeuticYellowMusic: Why Amine's "GoodForYou" is for the Soul

Written by Reyna Fallin // Image by Tariq Abdellatif

Aminé dropped the cover art for his album on June 22nd. It features Aminé sitting naked, save his blue jeans and banana undies pooled at his ankles, atop a blue toilet, reading a Good For You Post  underneath blue words proclaiming his debut album title. At first sight, the cover read, to me, as: “Let that sh*t go, it’s good for you”. Aminé stared back at me from the cover somewhat challenging my assumption of meaning from his art direction. So sitting down to listen, I kept my initial thought in mind, and naturally hoped I had foreseen the tone of the project I was about to review. 

    The album’s first track, Veggies, begins very cinematically - a theme present throughout the album. This particular track’s intro sounds like we turned on a movie as the title was fading. On it, Aminé boldly claims he’s “Andre’s prodigy,” and while both artists have made a track about their infatuation with a woman by the name of Caroline, this was the extent of their similarities that I could infer from this album. To the point, tracks one, four, nine and ten (Veggies, Hero, Turf, Blinds) were all reminiscent of Frank Ocean, for either the voice or the melancholy-mood-inducing instrumentation. On track twelve, Slide, Aminé finally references Frank, affirming the undercurrent of thought I’d had throughout my listen. Andre’s prodigy? If we’re making bold claims, definitely Frank Ocean’s,

Aminé performing Turf (Stripped) (Vevo LIFT). 2017 Our LIFT artist Aminé may be a skilled MC, but he's also an impressive talent when it comes to making videos. A firm believer in the DIY aesthetic, the Portland, Oregon rapper directed his wildly popular clips for "Caroline" and "REDMERCEDES."

Musical guest Aminé performs "Wedding Crashers" with special guest Offset for Late Night with Seth Meyers. " Subscribe to Late Night: http://bit.ly/LateNightSeth " Get more Late Night with Seth Meyers: http://www.nbc.com/late-night-with-seth-meyers/ " Watch Late Night with Seth Meyers Weeknights 12:35/11:35c on NBC.

We walked and talked with Aminé at Space 15-Twenty, to learn about the "Caroline" rapper's favorite Spice Girl and his love of John Mayer.

    Noteworthy Tracks:
    #5. Spice Girl – Aminé was required and able to get every Spice Girl to sign off on this track so I assumed it would be great, and it is.
#7. Wedding Crashers – A catchy bop. The production brought up memories of Rugrats, immediately making me happy. On top of that Offset is featured, and everyone loves a Migos.
#12. Slide – I would be surprised if this track wasn’t already sent to every radio station on the west and east coast. 
#9. Turf – The non-upbeat track of the noteworthy tracks, but here is where we get a peek behind the banana kid’s smile. Plus, it isn’t credited, but it sounds like Charlie Wilson couldn’t help but lend his voice and feels to this track as well.

Image by @calvdolloso

I tip my hat to the 2017 XXL Freshman for the feature credits he accrued on his debut album: Ty Dolla $ign, Nelly, Charlie Wilson, Offset, Kehlani. Overall, a fun project. A solid third of it I felt moved to add to my music library. Though we have one recorded instance of bold claiming, Aminé’s album just might be good for you.

Listen Here.