Last night, rapper Aminé brought Portland hip-hop to The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon—and, subsequently, to the rest of the country.
Performing his viral hit "Caroline"—62.5 million Spotify plays and counting—backed by a string section and vocal support from rising Stumptown artists Blossom and the Last Artful, Dodgr, the 22-year-old transformed the bubbly summer jam into something slightly more regal but no less infectious. And in its final moments, Aminé—the son of immigrants from Ethiopia—took advantage of the rare opportunity to speak to a broad swath of the country, tacking on a verse addressing the new president-elect: "You can never make America great again/All you ever did was make this country hate again."
Check it out below. Aminé plays a homecoming show at Hawthorne Theater on December 27.
Willamette Week