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When someone thinks of the major geographical areas of hip-hop it’s generally separated into four quadrants: Atlanta, Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York. For a variety of reasons, those locales tend to pump out the culture’s biggest stars at the most consistent clip. On his new song “Shimmy,” Aminé is determined to shed light on Portland, Oregon, a city that’s known for tracks & field, Nike, that show Portlandia, and at time being “The Whitest City In America.”
Throughout the song, Aminé interpolates and samples Old Dirty Bastard’s 1995 hit “Shimmy Shimmy Ya,” while partaking in a variety of very Oregon activities. He rock climbs, drives through the wilderness, rides through the street on orange Nike bikes, and wears a lot of sportswear. In essence, the “Shimmy” visual is striving to do for Portland what Drake’s “Headlines” video did for Toronto. On the song’s opening verse Aminé raps, “It’s been a whole year, my nigga / Let’s not front, it’s my year, my nigga.” Maybe it’ll be Portland’s year, too.
