The Break Presents: $kinny

Photography By: Adrian J.

Meet Saudi Arabia's new hip-hop hope. Just weeks before Ghetto Disneyland drops on Apr. 7, get familiar with the versatile MC who once vibed out in the studio with Timbaland.

Name: $kinny

Age: 25

Hometown: Born and raised in Saudi Arabia. Living in Los Angeles.

I grew up listening to: Depeche Mode. Duran Duran. Early Madonna. Of course, 2Pac, Biggie. Big fan of 50 Cent and Eminem. Marilyn Manson. I mean, I liked everything. I played a lot of instruments too. I liked to listen to a lot of different things. It’s not just hip-hop. Just something about that old school pop music that was kind of really tight.

I remember when I was in class back in Saudi Arabia. It was weird because the kids used to make fun of my voice cause it was so squeaky and light or whatever, which was cool. I always had a thing where I never really wanted to talk or ask the teacher anything. I was really young. I remember the teacher went out and I started writing these funny rhymes about him and I just said them. I caught people’s attention. People wanted me to write more. People were asking and wanted to hear something. It wasn’t so much "Oh the guy with the squeaky voice." Oh no, he’s actually saying some funny shit. I liked that and I just ran with it.

Most people don't know I: Basically, me doing this music thing for a really long time. I think people think that I just came out or something, but I’ve been really doing it for eight years now. I’ve really been out and grinding doing my thing. I think some people that I am just some guy that just decided to rap. It was really years of practice and I had to get my accent down right.

My style's been compared to: I’ve gotten Lil Wayne. They see the dreads and just think Lil Wayne. Until today, people tweet me: “Yeah, you Lil Wayne wannabe.” What does that even mean? What? Honestly, the funniest thing I heard was “Frank Ocean and Kanye West had a stoner baby.”

My standout records and/or moments to date have been: I would say studio with Timbaland. 2010, I had the opportunity to be with him in the studio. That dude is a legend, especially because he really dug into Arabic music and sampled a lot of Arabic stuff. I met this girl at the gas station and I played her my music. She’s like, “I need to manage you right now.” So she took me to Timbaland. In the same next hour, we went to Timbaland’s studio and we were just hanging out there. I got an opportunity to play 14 records. I just caught his attention with my first record. He asked me where I was from and I told him everything. And then 20 minutes later after repeating this one record, he just called his engineer and went in the booth and started singing on my beat. I made that record fours day before I actually gone in so it was very crazy to see your own inspirations sing on your own record. That was the moment that I said, “This is it.” I’m starting to get people’s attention.

My goal in Hip-Hop is: I want to takeover. I want to be one of the greatest. I feel like I created a legendary lane. I feel like I am pretty much the bridge of that world to this world. I’m building that bridge and Ima be that one of the kind. I am that one of the kind that’s gonna do some crazy shit. I definitely be one of the greatest.

I'm gonna be the next: It’s more than just a No. 1 record and stuff. I think it’s bigger than what people think it’s gonna be.

To check out more of my music go to: Follow me on Twitter (@ihateSKINNY), Instagram, Facebook

Standout: "Talk 4 Me"