The Come Up: Tink

Chicago’s hip-hop scene has been covered extensively in recent years. The explosion of talent comes after drill received a national spotlight in 2012, which was largely in part due to Chief Keef’s GBE movement. Just when you thought it was all said and done, guys like 2014 XXL Freshmen Chance The Rapper and Vic Mensa opened the doors for budding artists like Caleb James, Tree and Alex Wiley. Other subgenres are getting attention in Chicago hip-hop and it’s getting stronger by the minute.

Boys aren’t the only ones running this scene, though. There’s been a wealth of female rappers—Sasha Go Hard, Katie Got Bandz, Dreezy—that have been laying down their marks and creating their own lanes. Tink, the 19-year-old singer/rapper from Calumet City, is quickly rising as the next one to pop. With a lot of good things thrown her way like collaborations with Jeremih and Sleigh Bells, she got plenty of potential to keep us interested.

During her New York City visit, the Chicago MC spoke to XXL about the message she’s trying to convey in her music, the status of her Timbaland-produced album, how there’s an open lane right now for younger artists and much more. It’s safe to say we’ll be hearing a lot about Tink this year, so familiarize yourself with her in The Come Up.—Eric Diep

XXL: Where did you grow up in Chicago?
Tink: I grew up in Calumet City, which is just South of Chicago. Chicago is a very tough city. Growing up in it, especially when you are coming up in the music you got a lot of haters from my own city. I think they are haters ‘cause people rock with who they know. It’s not really [any] unity in the city. So people often compare our artists like “I like so and so.” You know what I am saying? People just wanna rock with who they want to rock with instead of feeling out everybody. It just makes me go harder. My city, they show me love for the most part. Coming up, definitely I had to do extra.

I was in the suburbs, but at the same time, I still saw a lot. I went to the school in the city and I transferred, so when I was in the city and going to school there, it was tough. Young people die all the time, you know what I am saying? It’s like everyday now. I just got introduced to a lot of things young and I seen it and I know a lot.

What did you do to stand out from your peers?
To stand out, I just use my talents. I rap and I sing as well. With that being said, people kind of know me for bringing that emotion in music. Of course, Chicago’s known for the drill. Keefs, Lil Durks, and whatnot. My music on the other hand, it has a message to it. I think that’s what sets me apart. I think it gets deeper than saying anything on a trap beat. I’m putting stories together and people are relating to what I am saying.

How did music come to play?
I’ve been writing since I was like 12. My father was an engineer so I had a studio in my basement as a kid. So I’ve just been around music since forever. I dropped the “3Hunna” remix, that was kind of the first song that kind of blew up in Chicago. When Chief was out, I did the remix to “3Hunna.” After that, things just kind of shined. People caught on to me and started following my movement.

When did you start rapping?
When I started rapping, I had to be like 15.

Did you write in school?
It’s crazy, I came about rapping kind of like an accident. Me and my brother, like I said, we got a studio in the basement. So my brother put on a Clipse beat. The “Grindin’” beat. I’m just playing around with words. He like, “Yo, record this right now. Let’s see how this gonna sound.” We dropped the shit on Facebook. That was when Facebook was poppin’ and shit. When people was liking it and commenting it, it was like, “Man, she cold. She got some talent with the rapping.” And after that, “Let me run with this and see what I can do.” I was just playing, saying silly shit and having fun.

From the remixes to “Grindin’” and “3Hunna,” when did you decide to make your own music?
That’s the thing, I was dropping original music before I was rapping. But the “3Hunna” remix took off so that’s what people saw first, you know what I am saying? I’ve always been writing and dropping songs, but once I start rapping, that’s what people saw and took me for. I had been putting out music for a long time, but two years ago was when everything started picking up.

What about singing?
It’s just been around me since forever. I sing in school and in church. My dad, he engineers and he plays guitar so I was just singing for the hell of it. I took music in school, which probably helped me out a lot. It was easy.

I’ve read you recording all your music with your dad. Is he the most critical?
No, that’s what crazy. When I record with my dad, he doesn’t like to say anything. He just lets me do me. That’s what makes my music so authentic ‘cause it’s not like filtered or sugarcoated. He’s like, “You ready? Let’s go.” I don’t record with him often anymore. I’m kind of in the studio with producers and stuff like that. When I was coming up, he would just record me and mix it up.

What are your influences?
As of now, I really look up to Drake. I listen to a lot of his shit. Not only because he cold, but the fact that he does both singing and rapping. His singing and rapping he does equally well. He’s a guy doing it, so there’s room for a female to do it too. That’s inspiring.

There are other scenes besides drill now. Where does the separation come from?
I made that separation as an artist. Just because I knew that its more to the music than just what I was talking about at first. [Drill] was [what] took off at first. The more I got into my artistry, I got a bigger responsibility, the kids in Chicago they look up to the rappers. We influence them. If I took that and ran with it, if I can make a difference by not saying, “shoot a nigga in his face, everyday blah blah blah,” of course, I am going to do that. Me as a person, I am growing up now. I think about what I say a lot.

What was a project that a lot of people checked out from you?
My latest project, Winter’s Diary 2, that mixtape it was a lot of singing, but it had a lot of rapping as well. I think people stuck to it because I kept it 100 percent honest on that mixtape. They drew to it and they was attached to it ‘cause it was real shit that I went through. It’s Winter’s Diary 2, so it was like a journal of my everyday life.

Why are you writing about personal things? Is there a deeper issue?
I just feel like its not really any artist out that kind of just talk to my age group. When people listen to artists and you turn on the radio, it’s a lot of gimmicks. And that’s real. So I take it like there’s nobody keeping it honest and truthful no more, especially as far as young teenagers and females. We don’t have that artist that we can just play and be like, “Yeah, I went through that or I feel where she’s coming from.” So I took that and like I said I ran with it. It’s an open lane for that, for that real female rap.

How did your record "Don't Tell Nobody" come about?
Jeremih and I actually created that. He laid the hook down and I got in the studio with Da Internz. The producers. And they played it for me and I kind of hopped on it ‘cause it was cold and it needed a female perspective to balance that. I don’t think anybody is doing it the way I am trying to do it. I wanted to be where you could still jam to it, but at the same time, you like, “Yeah, she saying some real shit.”

And you got Timbaland helping you out right now?
Yeah, actually, we are in the studio working. Working with Timbaland is such an amazing experience ‘cause he is a legend. He kind of pulls some shit out of me that I didn’t even know I had. The music we’ve created is crazy. With the way we are working now, we just cutting songs. I believe it’s going to be a full project. I don’t want it to rush it. I just want to be able, like I said, put together a beautiful project people can play 10 years from now. It’s going to take time.

Where do you see yourself at the end of the year?
By the end of the year hopefully I be looking to travel overseas. I get a lot of love from the UK. I just have a photographer from Paris who he was like, “Yeah, I heard about your music. And they was playing it all the way in Paris in a studio session.” So, I’m looking to just expand. Take this shit as far as it can go. By the end of the year, I want to be traveling and performing outside of the states.