Portland rapper Aminé makes orchestral debut with the Oregon Symphony

Adam Aminé Daniel — better known by his stage name “Aminé” — is frequently heralded as one of the most successful hip-hop artists to come out of the Rose City. Since releasing the hit 2016 single “Caroline,” the Portland-born rapper has performed at Coachella, made political waves on “The Tonight Show,” earned a Grammy nomination and toured internationally. And on Nov. 9, he’ll return to Portland to make his orchestral debut with the Oregon Symphony. Aminé joins host Dave Miller to talk about the upcoming performance and his career so far.

The following transcript was created by a computer and edited by a volunteer:

Dave Miller: This is Think Out Loud on OPB. I’m Dave Miller. Adam Aminé Daniel - better known as just “Aminé” - is often talked about as the most successful hip-hop artist to come out of Portland. Since releasing the hit 2016 single “Caroline,” Aminé has performed at Coachella, dropped numerous albums, made political waves on “The Tonight Show,” earned a Grammy nomination, directed his own videos, acted on the HBO series, “Insecure’' and toured around the world. Next week, he’ll return to Portland to make his orchestral debut with the Oregon Symphony. He joins us now to talk about it. Welcome to Think Out Loud.

Adam Aminé Daniel: Hey, how’s it going?

Miller: Doing very well. Thanks for joining us. The last time you spoke to OPB was in September of 2020. We were all still in what turned out to be the early months of the pandemic. You were 26 years old and you told our former music director, Jared Walker, that you were going through a quarter life crisis. How are you feeling now two years later?

Aminé: I completely forgot I said that. I feel kind of the same way. I don’t really feel like a lot of our birthdays and a couple of years of COVID felt like real birthdays. I still feel like I’m 26 because it just felt so stagnant.

Miller: Suspended animation?

Aminé: Yeah, it just didn’t really feel like anything changed. It’s just kind of sad I guess, but it’s just reality, we all went through it.

Miller: But meaning you’re still in the quarter life crisis which is a phrase, I guess you said you didn’t remember saying, but it seemed like you were trying to figure out who you were going to be as an adult going forward. And you’re saying you still sort of feel that way?

Aminé: Yeah, I guess I feel like anybody can relate to it. I don’t necessarily know when the moment is that you officially become an adult, because in my head I still kind of feel like I’m 16 and I know I don’t know anything. I’m just learning as I go.

Miller: Your album “Limbo” had come out just a month before that. That was August of 2020. And it dealt with some big themes and reckoning with how to put an honest version of yourself onto an album, or a version that wasn’t just about lighter themes. But then you couldn’t really you couldn’t really tour with that album because of the pandemic. What was that like having this album out but then the pandemic was still raging?

Aminé: Yeah, it definitely sucked, but luckily what my team just kept reminding me was that every artist can’t tour right now so it’s kind of like an even playing field. It’s like I can’t be mad at the world because it’s not like I’m not touring and someone else is. We all couldn’t make money in that sort of way, so it’s totally fine. One of the joys of making music is performing it for me. So, I definitely was sad about it, but I got to tour literally the next year.

Miller: Let’s hear part of a track from “Limbo.” This is “Burden.”

(excerpt from “Burden”)

Miller: That’s “Burden” from “Limbo.” Compared to “Limbo,” your new release “TWOPOINTFIVE” is more upbeat. Critics have compared it to a burst of color and a controlled sugar rush. Was it fun to make it?

Aminé: Yeah, it absolutely was. That project is called “TWOPOINTFIVE.” I had a project before called “ONEPOINTFIVE,” and these “POINTFIVE” projects are kind of like a two-month process of just wild expression for me as an artist where there are no rules. Usually when making an album like “Limbo” or “Good For You,” my actual studio albums, those take a lot of time, those take a couple years. Those have a rigorous process of writing for it for me and the “POINTFIVE” projects are more of these like two-month process of recording and mixing and mastering, and then putting it out right away and not having to really think too hard about the writing or the song structure or anything that kind of makes me feel like a kid making music in his bedroom again.

Miller: So you call them EP/LP/mixtape/album.

Aminé: Yeah, yeah. Exactly.

Miller: Are you going to keep this up, this kind of as you say, the rigorous full multi-year to make albums and then the experimental sonic play boxes?

Aminé: Yeah. To be honest with you, I don’t know if I can answer that fully. I just knew that’s what I wanted to do at that moment. So I just luckily got to do what I wanted. So hopefully I’ll continue doing it.

Miller: You mentioned that you were able to tour last year. Your stage decorations for that one, were really Portland’s heavy. There’s a facade of Alberta Market, Old Town sign, the Broadway Bridge, a gigantic cut out of your pandemic labradoodle. So not a piece of Portland, but a piece of home. What’s it like to go all over the country, but to have Portland, a version of it, literally behind you?

Aminé: Yeah, it was very, very special for me. I know I said that “The Best Tour Ever” tour was last year on accident, but it was actually earlier this year in March. In that show, I got to do this thing on stage where I got to take fans in every city through each piece that was on stage. I got to explain to them what the Broadway Bridge was like, what moments on stage with the Alberta Market mean to me when I used to go there when I was a kid and stuff like that. So, I really got to just bring Portland with me on tour, which was really, really cool for me.

Miller: Why do you do this? Why have those places there and then why take people in Boston or wherever on a tour of Portland?

Aminé: For me, the main reason is growing up as an African American in Portland and letting people who didn’t know anything about Portland know that I was from Portland was very, very surprising for every single person that I told. So it that the main reason I do it is to let people know that there are people who look like me in that city and there’s a lot of us there and we’re kind of a community that isn’t really spoken for most of the time. And that was a little tough for me growing up there, getting to see Portland’s represented in sports or in other like things, but never really in the Black community or the African community in that city and it was very strong. So I think I do it for that reason, really.

Miller: So the people who are surprised that you come from Portland, are they white people, are they Black people, are they People of Color? Who doesn’t know that there are Black people in Portland?

Aminé: A lot of people. It’s so funny that I have to explain it, but nowadays I don’t really have to because I’ve repped Portland so hard. When I came out a lot of news articles and people would always say that I was from Los Angeles or New York or Atlanta. They didn’t really want to believe that I was from Portland and I had to really reiterate that like a million times. It isn’t really just one race. It is white people, it is Black people. It is any type of people. They didn’t really know.

Miller: How do you prepare for that kind of performance [with the Oregon Symphony]?

Aminé: I think it really takes the artist having a really good team around him, just people that I can depend on. I have an amazing musical director, Irvin Mejia, who is from Portland and went to Portland State University (PSU) as well. I have an amazing band. I have an amazing management team who can help me kind of just figure out when we’re supposed to rehearse, when we’re supposed to do all this. It’s honestly nerve wracking. I’ve always wanted to perform with the Oregon Symphony. And to be able to do it now is kind of like a dream come true for me. So, hopefully things go well.

Miller: What’s nerve wracking about it?

Aminé: The most nerve wracking part that I think a lot of people don’t know is that we don’t have multiple days to rehearse with the Oregon Symphony in person. We have audio recordings of exactly what they’re going to play and that’s what me and my band are going to be rehearsing with, but I don’t get to meet them or see them till the day of, because the Oregon Symphony is booked almost every day of the week. They have certain days when they perform and they have a very strict timeline.

Miller: So just the day of, that’s when you’re going to have your actual musical meeting and actually hear what it’s like to be with them.?

Aminé: Yeah, yeah, so I’m going to get a fake version of it for weeks on end. It’s a thing called MIDI, just a mini version of what they’re playing, which is just like a computer version of what they’re playing basically. It is going to be my first time meeting them on the day of the show.

Miller: What about the site itself? You’ve done shows at the Crystal Ballroom, at the Roseland, at the Moda Center. Have you performed at the Schnitz before?

Aminé: I have never performed in the Schnitz and that’s why I’m really excited. I’ve kind of done almost every venue in Portland. I’ve done 20-people shows where no one ever showed up at the Hawthorne. I’ve done so many cafe shows. I’ve done almost every venue except the Schnitz. So it’s really exciting for me. It’s just kind of like a bucket list moment.

Miller: Cool. A symphony hall, though, does not normally match the energy of, say, a 50-person small show or the Moda Center for that matter. General people are going to be sitting down if they go to a concert at the Schnitz. How are you going to bring the energy in a place like that? People are used to hearing great music, but not necessarily showing energy themselves?

Aminé: Yeah, honestly, I think my goal is to make it so good where people are just gonna want to stand up.

Miller: They have no choice.

Aminé: They have no choice. Their body is just going to immediately want to stand up. So hopefully we make them do that and hopefully we get a couple of claps in there.

Miller: Do you have a sense for who’s going to be in the audience?

Aminé: Yeah, a lot of family and friends will be there. Any show I do in Portland is always like a reunion guest list. It’s just like tons of family and friends and people that I grew up with and just adore. I’m actually excited to perform for my loved ones as well.

Miller: I want to play one of the really catchy songs among many from the new album, or EP/ LP/mixtape, as you call it. This is “Charmander”.

(excerpt from “Charmander”)

Miller: How are you going to translate some of this sort of bright synth pop bubble gummy sound to an orchestra?

Aminé: Honestly, it’s really exciting because we get to kind of shy away from the exact sound of the mp3 and the songs that you’re used to. We’re going to get to actually use this orchestra as much as we can, honestly. So I’m really excited to translate “Charmander” into a symphony performance. I feel like it’s not going to sound exactly like the song, which is exciting. People are going to get to hear this one and only night of a performance.

Miller: That makes sense. It shows, I think, the problem with my question, because in other words, you’re not going to use the orchestra to try to approximate a sound that it could never do anyway. You’ll use it to come up with something new.

Aminé: Yeah, yeah. That’s what’s really exciting about this. I think the person who’s doing all the arrangements, his name is Tim Davies, and he is kind of like a legend in that world of basically being able to translate songs that people love to these symphony versions that sound absolutely beautiful. And he’s worked with huge artists like Nas and Kendrick Lamar and all these people. I really wanted him to be the person to do all the arrangements for this performance.

Miller: We’ve been talking this whole time or largely about sound, but I think of you as somebody, an artist who is maybe as focused on visuals as on sound throughout your career, whether it’s in live performances or as a video director. What’s exciting you these days, visually?

Aminé: Wow. That’s a really good question. Visually, I guess, I don’t really know. I’m trying to think. I watch a lot of movies just for inspiration most of the time, just of the way things are shot. I always find new ways and new angles and new creative ways as to how to portray a character on screen just from movies most of the time. And for me, I try to use movies as inspo for music videos all the time. I don’t really watch other music videos as inspiration for my music videos. I usually either let movies or my actual life kind of influence what we put on the screen. So, for me specifically, I can’t really name anything that’s been influencing me right now, but I usually go to movies to influence me.

Miller: I mentioned there’s a big dog in your stage set for your most recent tour. There’s also a huge dog in the video for “Charmander,” the song we just heard. Where did that huge dog come from?

Aminé: Where did the idea come from? It honestly came from a psychedelic trip that I had. I imagined my dog to be very, very huge one day and I thought that would look really cool on a performance stage and in the music video. And I thought this is hilarious and it would be really cool to do that. I love my dog to death. His name is Oliver and I knew I couldn’t take him on tour with me, so I really want to bring him on stage.

Miller: The great thing about that is that it could be kind of a terrifying vision, but based on the way he looks, there’s nothing scary about him. He could be 100 feet tall, but he still looks like he’s just going to lick you.

Aminé: Yeah, that’s honestly the issue. If someone broke into my house. I don’t really think Oliver would be much of a threat.

Miller: Aminé, it was a pleasure talking to you. Congratulations on your upcoming bucket list performance.

Aminé: Thank you so much. I’m really excited to see you guys soon, hopefully.

Miller: That is Aminé, a Portland-born hip-hop artist who lives in L.A. now, coming back to Portland to perform at the Schnitz with the Oregon Symphony. The show is Wednesday, Nov. 9.

Contact “Think Out Loud®”

If you’d like to comment on any of the topics in this show, or suggest a topic of your own, please get in touch with us on Facebook or Twitter, send an email to thinkoutloud@opb.org, or you can leave a voicemail for us at 503-293-1983. The call-in phone number during the noon hour is 888-665-5865.