Skip to main content
Sounds like: Kendrick Lamar if he went straight into the studio after hearing Tupac for the first time.
For fans of: Nas, Lauryn Hill, Digable Planets, Black Star, Joey Badass, Vinnie Dewayne.
The less beholden an artist is to history, the freer she is to make her own. At least, that's how Alia Zin seems to see it.
"I have no idea about the hip-hop world. I really don't," says the 20-year-old MC. "People will ask me, 'Have you heard this song?' And I'll be like, 'No.'" She doesn't admit this with pride, but she isn't apologetic, either: "It's a good and a bad thing. I feel like my sound is very raw, and because of that, it's natural. It's me. It's really who I am."
Zin might have shown up late to class for Rap 101, but sheâs proven a quick study. Prior to discovering hip-hop, the California native, who grew up bouncing between the Humboldt area and Santa Barbara, tried her hand at several creative outlets, from acting to playing clarinet in the school band. âIâve always had passion to do something,â she says. âI just didnât know what it was.â When she arrived at rapping, she finally found her niche. In only two years, Zin has developed a sharp, rasp-addled flow that can cut through beats like concertina wire and that she uses to address all manner of injusticeâa quality she owes to her social-worker mother. She moved to Portland last December and fell in with politically minded St. Johns rap crew the Resistance, impressing them enough to induct her as an adjunct member.
Starting fresh in a new city, Zin removed all her old music from the Web, leaving only âRespect My Tangent.â Itâs an aptly named manifesto, an uninterrupted spiel addressing media mind control, misogyny, the plight of the homeless and, in its last line, anyone who might condescend to her age and inexperience. âIâm on a tangent, but I manage better than most of these veterans...rapping about some shit that ainât even worth remembering.â Consider that shots fired.
SEE IT: Alia Zin plays Kelly's Olympian, 426 SW Washington St., with Gifted Gab, Karma Rivera and Verbz, on Thursday, July 2. 9 pm. $5. 21+.
WWeek 2015