The Biz With D: Interview w/ Kid Ink x Netta Brielle

Kid Ink cruises past all boundaries. The Los Angeles rapper, producer, and performer can seamlessly slip from an irresistible hook into an impeccable verse, effortlessly bobbing and weaving between the club and the streets. There’s absolutely nobody quite like the tattooed from head-to-toe impresario, and that’s the first thing you’ll notice when you take his full-length debut, My Own Lane [Tha Alumni Music Group/88 Classic/RCA Records], for a spin.

Grinding as a producer since the age of 16, he uncovered this creative highway by perfecting a personal style behind the board first. His production collaborations include everybody from Sean “Diddy” Combs, Sean Kingston, Nipsey Hu$$le, and more. That experience in the studio set the stage for him to become the versatile and vibrant force he is today.

He officially started twisting the game up when he dropped his 2012 independent album, Up & Away, which spawned his mainstream breakthrough song “Time Of Your Life.” He covered XXL Magazine as part of that year’s “Freshman Class,” while the album smashed an iTunes record by debuting in the Top 5 of the Hip-Hop Albums chart prior to release and minus any traditional promotion. Cumulative single sales from the effort exceed over 500K, while it landed at #20 on the Billboard Top 200, moving over 20K copies first-week. Piping hot from the indie success, he inked a deal with Tha Alumini Group/88 Classic/RCA Records in 2013, dropping the acclaimed Almost Home EP that same year. However, everything simply laid the foundation for My Own Lane.