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But in that time she’s put out only a single full-length, the 2011 mixtape Sailing Soul(s), which nonetheless featured contributions from Kendrick, Drake, Miguel and Kanye West. Aiko has been around the industry for almost a decade, signing a record deal with Epic as a teenager and eventually surfacing on a number of Black Hippy projects, a pairing that makes perfect sense when you consider that Kendrick Lamar would eventually build a track out of a Janet Jackson sample.

If you lie in bed at night in a pitch black room aglow only with the light of an iPhone, Aiko’s voice is the one that might feel the most appropriate.īut being asked to help solidify the mood of a song is an altogether different task than carrying an entire project.

(She is also currently opening for Drake on his American tour.) Despite not being a megawatt name, her inclusion on Nothing Was the Same almost felt like a foregone conclusion: no current vocalist-male or female- better accentuates the damp throb of Drake’s music. In 2013 she has starred on Big Sean’s hit single “Beware", snaking her way through the track’s ample empty space, and on Drake’s “From Time" joining Alicia Keys, Nicki Minaj and Rihanna as the only women to appear on any of his albums. But more importantly, as the sound of popular rap has continued to take on a form (in mood if not always in sound) mutated from Kanye West’s 808s & Heartbreak, Aiko’s malleable and far from overpowering voice has become a frequent accompaniment. And it is true: the sustained interest in this sound has likely contributed to her rise, which culminated in Sail Out debuting in Billboard’s Top 10 debut. It is even easier to see how the recent adoration for these singers-not just from British boys clicking through Logic, but also from stars like Drake (who has an Aaliyah tattoo) and Chris Brown-may have provided a perfect incubator for an artist like Aiko, whose music attempts to hit you in precisely the same way.