Skepta, Kendrick Lamar & Headache: East London rapper Zino Vinci rounds up the tracks that inspired his new EP “Late Bloomer”.
East London rapper Zino Vinci has been making an impression on the UK undergrowth across the last few years, with 2022 single “CEO of my friendship group” proving to be a totemic breakout moment. A series of EPs have ensued, with the latest “Late Bloomer” dropping earlier this month. The seven-pronged work features excellent turns from two fellow UK risers, BXKS and tendai, and sees Vinci at his crafty and charismatic best. The man himself dropped by Wonderland to give us insight into what inspired the EP in our latest On Repeat.
Listen to the EP…
Zino Vinci’s On Repeat…
A$AP Rocky – “Goldie“
Kendrick Lamar ft. Drake – “Poetic Justice”
“Goldie” and “Poetic Justice” are huge inspirations for “City Needs Me”, both songs have this haunting deep voice filter that as a kid I thought was so incredibly cool. Rocky’s use was so heavy and iconic it was almost a staple for him sonically. Rocky also had the gold grills and I thought he was the richest man alive so much so that I told myself I’d get grills one day to be just like him. Kendrick’s use was more so to set the tone and I feel both were used so well. This time around I felt like I was ready to pay homage to some of my favourite rappers at the time and do the deep voice this in a newer age and different way.
Headache – “The Pavement is my Pillow Talk”
“Every single decision you have ever made was wrong”: Hearing those words really set off a spark in my mind and I wanted to make a song (“Stratford Job Centre”) around those words as soon as possible. I wanted to talk about the regret, the uncertainty of life sometimes.
Skepta ft. Cheb Rabi & B Live – “Love Me Not”
I loved the way this song just instantly reminded me of the party scenes you’d see in like a mid 2000s London hood movie. It was jumpy, had bars and overall very smooth. I don’t think I’ve ever made a song with all three components so I made it a goal of mine to at least attempt a song like this. I’ve always wanted to work with BXKS—“Me or You”—and she didn’t disappoint. She really helped capture that same house party vibe that Skepta, Cheb Rabi & B Live created on that track.
Baby Keem & Kendrick Lamar – “The Hillbillies”
Kanye West – “On Sight”
I felt for a long time that I can be a bit too serious when writing songs, being that I grew up listening to artists such as Kendrick, J Cole, Joey Bada$$, Meek Mill, Rick Ross, Lil Wayne, Drake etc. I always tried to be more thematically originated however one thing I failed to do is just have fun and rap about the fun things in life. When I heated hillbillies that made me fully realise that being a rapper isn’t just about talking about the state of the world but your own experiences too, the fun parts included. It’s strange but I guess that just how my brain worked. So when writing “Professor X” I literally turned my brain off and just wrote what I wanted to. “On Sight” by Kanye West has this beautiful sample in the middle of the song and I thought it was so hard when I heard it, I had to have it too! So we sampled that too when making the beat for “Professor X” which is why a few people find the song somewhat familiar.
Madvillain – “All Caps”
MF DOOM is known for many things, his mask, his voice, his beats etc. I was always a fan of DOOM and his impact on rappers I loved growing up. His rap style was so potent and interesting I couldn’t help but try implement that into one or two of my songs. “All Caps” was the very first song I heard of him, and from the music video to the actual song this track was the original blue print for the creation and roll out for my song “Rice and Stew”.
Joey Bada$$ x Capital STEEZ – “Survival Tactics”
Tyler, The Creator – “NOID”
“Survival Tactics” and “NOID” give me a similar vibe in a sense that it’s not afraid to be hip hop even if it takes more of a left leaning approach. “Survival Tactics” is more so a rough and rugged example of hip hop with is hard hitting lines, with punch lines and boom bap instrumental. Whereas “NOID” is very experimental in its approach with its use of Zambian psychedelic rock being sampled and the melodic approach to rapping. With my song “TOMI” I wanted to tell a story whilst having that raw hip hop element with a few African influences which is why these two songs really helped shape this song.
Kendrick Lamar ft. Sampha – “Father Time”
I think that Mr Morale and the Big Steppers was possibly one of if not the most vulnerability Kendrick Lamar has ever shown on a project, and the stand out song on that tape for me at-least was Father Time featuring Sampha. From subject matter to sonics I really felt something, and with my song “Art of the Imposter” I wanted to evoke a similar emotion due to the nature of the song.
