''Kaytraminé'' is the debut album by the duo of the same name, consisting of American rapper

Aminé Adam Aminé Daniel (born April 18, 1994) is an American rapper, singer, and songwriter. He first gained notability for his commercial debut single, " Caroline", which peaked at number 11 on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart. Aminé released ...

and Haitian-Canadian record producer

Kaytranada Louis Kevin Celestin (born August 25, 1992), known professionally as Kaytranada (stylized as KAYTRANADA, shortened as KAYTRA), is a Haitian-Canadian music producer, rapper, singer and DJ. Celestin rose to prominence after releasing a series of m ...

. It was released on May 19, 2023, by CLBN, Kaytranada, and Venice Music, and features guest musicians

Big Sean Sean Michael Leonard Anderson (born March 25, 1988), known professionally as Big Sean, is an American rapper. He met Kanye West as a teenager, and signed with his record label GOOD Music, an imprint of Def Jam Recordings in 2007. He gained popul ...

, Amaarae,

Snoop Dogg Calvin Cordozar Broadus Jr. ( ; born October 20, 1971), better known by his stage name Snoop Dogg (previously Snoop Doggy Dogg), is an American rapper, record producer, and actor. Rooted in West Coast hip-hop, he is widely regarded as one of t ...

Freddie Gibbs Fredrick Jamel Tipton (born June 14, 1982), better known by his stage name Freddie Gibbs, is an American rapper and songwriter. He signed with Interscope Records in 2006 and recorded his debut album for the label; however, its release was cance ...

, and

Pharrell Williams Pharrell Lanscilo Williams (; born April 5, 1973), also known mononymously as Pharrell, is an American musician, singer, songwriter, rapper, record producer, and fashion designer. He first became known as one half of the music production duo ...

. The album was nominated for Rap Album/EP of the Year at the 2024 Juno Awards.

Background

The first connection between the duo came when Aminé released an unofficial remix of Kaytranada's song "At All" in 2014. Kaytranada produced three songs from Aminé's 2015 mixtape ''Calling Brio''. Kaytranada also produced the Rejjie Snow album ''Dear Annie'', which included the Aminé-featuring song "Egyptian Luvr".

Recording

The duo rented a house in

Malibu, California Malibu ( ; ; ) is a beach city in the Santa Monica Mountains region of Los Angeles County, California, about west of downtown Los Angeles. It is known for its Mediterranean climate, its strip of beaches stretching along the Pacific Ocean coa ...

, in 2021, where they recorded together nonstop for two weeks. Kaytranada composed instrumentals during the daytime and Aminé wrote lyrics to them at night. Kaytranada took several months to find samples for the album, including pieces from

Bollywood film Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, is primarily produced in Mumbai. The popular term Bollywood is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (former name of Mumbai) and "Hollywood". The industry, producing films in th ...

Style

The album took inspiration from sources including jazz pianist Bob James and rapper

Don Toliver Caleb Zackery "Don" Toliver ( ; born June 12, 1994) is an American rapper and singer. He emerged to fame in 2018 with the release of his debut mixtape, ''Donny Womack'', and his feature on the song "Can't Say" by fellow Houston rapper Travis Sco ...

Release

On April 4, 2023, both artists shared a teaser video to social media in which Kaytranada remixed the two's names together into their combined duo name and Aminé danced along. The posts were captioned "Kaytraminé by Kaytraminé, coming soon". On April 7, they released the album's lead single, "4eva" featuring

, along with announcing a release date of May 12. On May 9, they released the album's cover art and track listing and announced the album's new release date on May 19. The second single, "Rebuke", was released May 15. The album was released on May 19 by CLBN, Kaytranada, and Venice Music. The instrumental version was released on September 15, 2023.

Live

On April 14, 2023, Kaytranada had a set at

Coachella 2023 Coachella 2023 was a music festival that took place over two weekends in mid-April 2023. The 22nd Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, Coachella 2023 was held at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California. The festival was headlined by Puerto ...

. During that set, he brought out Aminé as a guest, where the duo performed the live debut of "4eva". On July 12, the duo announced a five-date tour with stops at their hometowns of

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

and

Portland Portland most commonly refers to: *Portland, Oregon, the most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon *Portland, Maine, the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maine *Isle of Portland, a tied island in the English Channel Portland may also r ...

, as well as performances in

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

and

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

Reception

''Kaytraminé'' was included on the long list for the

2024 Polaris Music Prize The 2024 edition of the Canadian Polaris Music Prize was presented on September 17, 2024 at Massey Hall. The longlist was announced on June 11, and the shortlist was released July 12. The award was won by Jeremy Dutcher for his album '' Motewo ...

Year-end lists

Track listing

Personnel

Musicians

– vocals *

– vocals (2) *

– vocals (3) *

– vocals (5) * Amaarae – vocals (7) *

– vocals (10)

Technical

– producer * Aminé – producer (5) * Pharrell Williams – producer (3) * David Nakaji – mixing engineer * Lauren D'Elia – mastering engineer, recording engineer (3–11) * Emmanuel Gallegos – recording engineer * Rafa Alvarez – recording engineer (1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 11) * Aleksei Savchenko – recording engineer (1, 2, 4, 7, 11) * Tom Kahre – recording engineer (5) * Travis Shaggy Marshall – recording engineer (10)

Charts

References

{{Kaytranada 2023 collaborative albums 2023 debut albums Kaytranada albums Aminé albums Albums produced by Kaytranada Albums recorded in a home studio