Live Review: Tink 'I Like'

Young female rapper TINK’s latest track has already notched up over a million plays on Soundcloud; with five mixtapes to her Timbaland-endorsed 20 year old name, the build up to her debut album release is looking positive.

Following on from the excellent, inventive and hard-hitting 'Ratchet Commandments' and her track ‘Million’, which samples Aaliyah’s ‘One in a Million’ and charted at no. 24 on Billboard’s US Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles, Tink’s next release is a stripped back, doe-eyed number.

Here Tink isn’t afraid to open up a little and show her sensitive side, something still quite novel amongst rappers, as she postulates: "are you here to set me up, get me hyped, turn around and just leave my life? / I told him that’s that shit that I’m used to / Don’t blame me for my issues".

With production from Chicago’s C-Sick, it’s a syrupy soothing track with some gentle piano and classic R’nB beatwork. Her smooth flow, vocal tone and youthfulness might put her in a similar bracket to the likes of Willo (Smith).

‘I Like’ is an honest and open homage to everything she likes about her man, and she hopes that together they’ll create a little nook of comfortable domestic bliss, with "tees and sweats, hair’s a mess, Netflix on".

It might not be the massive radio hit that is needed to propel her into the mainstream, but it shows off her pen game and vocals again to reinforce her position as a decent female rapper who’s making authentic new music. She’s found a spot to fill , and she’s doing it with integrity, excellent story telling and ear-friendly beats.

‘I Like’ is available now with the album, Think Tink, due out later in the year.

Words by Katie Rowley

LISTEN TO MORE MUSIC HERE

SEE ALSO:

TINK 'RATCHET COMMANDMENTS' (OFFICIAL VIDEO)

FUTURE BROWN 'ROOM 302' FT. TINK