Aminé American Rapper and Singer Born 1994 in Portland

Early life

Adam Aminé Daniel, who performs as Aminé, was born on 18 April 1994 in Portland, Oregon, and was raised in the city's Woodlawn neighbourhood in the northeast. His parents are an Eritrean father and an Ethiopian mother, and Amharic was spoken in the family home. His mother worked at a post office, and his father worked part-time as a teacher and translator.

He graduated from Benson Polytechnic High School and then enrolled at Portland State University to study marketing. He left before completing the degree in order to concentrate on music. Earlier, he had worked as an intern at the hip-hop publication Complex. In June 2025 Portland State University awarded him an honorary doctorate, citing the way he had created a new path within rap and hip-hop.

Career

Aminé began releasing music in January 2014 with the mixtape Odyssey to Me. His first extended play, En Vogue, followed in September 2014, and a second mixtape, Calling Brío, arrived at the end of August 2015.

His breakthrough came with the single "Caroline", released on 9 March 2016. He directed the music video himself, and the song debuted at number 96 on the Billboard Hot 100 before climbing to number 11. It was certified triple platinum by the RIAA in June 2017. In August 2016 he began working with Republic Records, and in November that year he performed "Caroline" on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, his first television appearance. His next singles included "Baba" and "REDMERCEDES", the latter of which was remixed with Missy Elliott and AJ Tracey. "Heebiejeebies", with Kehlani, and "Wedding Crashers", with Offset, came out in the same period. In June 2017 XXL placed him among its Freshman Class.

His debut studio album, Good for You, was released on 28 July 2017 and entered the Billboard 200 at number 31, with first-week sales of 13,000 copies. A second project, OnePointFive, followed on 15 August 2018, announced only a day beforehand. In December 2018 his song "Invincible" appeared on the soundtrack of the animated film Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. The second studio album, Limbo, was released on 7 August 2020 after singles including "Shimmy", "Riri" and "Compensating", the last with Young Thug.

In November 2021 he issued a mixtape called TwoPointFive, which he jokingly labelled an "EPLPMIXTAPEALBUM". In April 2023 he and the producer Kaytranada put out "4eva", featuring Pharrell Williams, the first single from their joint album Kaytraminé. In October 2023 he was a guest on "C'mon" by the South Korean singer Jini. His third studio album, 13 Months of Sunshine, appeared in May 2025, with guest contributions from Leon Thomas, Toro y Moi and 454, and production from Loukeman, Lido and Joy Orbison, among others.

His main solo releases, as recorded, are Good for You (2017), OnePointFive (2018), Limbo (2020) and 13 Months of Sunshine (2025). His recorded genres include west coast hip-hop and alternative hip-hop. Besides studio work, he has toured under names such as Tour for You, with Towkio in 2017, TourPointFive in 2018, Best Tour Ever in 2022 and a Kaytraminé tour in 2023.

Recognition

His single "Caroline" reached number 11 on the Billboard Hot 100 and earned a triple platinum certification. He was one of ten artists chosen for XXL's 2017 Freshman Class, and in 2025 Portland State University gave him an honorary doctorate.

Personal life

Aminé lives in his hometown of Portland and in Los Angeles. He has named Quentin Tarantino as his favourite film director and has said that he would like to branch out into directing films and into fashion.