VIN
I'm VIN, born in Rotterdam.
My relationship with music started long before I ever thought about becoming an artist. Growing up, I listened to rap and R&B because of my older brother. Those sounds became part of my life early on. I listened, absorbed, and eventually became curious about what was happening behind the music - how a beat was made, how a voice could carry a story, and how artists could turn their own lives into something other people could feel.
About five years ago, I started making music as a producer. At the beginning, it was simply about learning, experimenting and trying to turn ideas into sound. I made mistakes, started over, tried different things and slowly began understanding what I liked.
A few years later, I started rapping.
That gave music a different meaning for me. Producing lets me build the world around a song. Rapping lets me step inside that world and tell my side of the story.
I rap what I live.
My experiences, my thoughts, the people around me, the situations I go through and the things I can't always explain in a normal conversation. I don't want to pretend to be someone I'm not just because it sounds better on a record. VIN is me, and the music is another way of showing parts of myself that don't always come out in everyday life.
I'm still learning everything I can. Production, songwriting, recording, mixing, mastering, flow and delivery - there is always another part of the game to understand.
I consider myself a student of the game.
I study the artists who came before me, especially the rap and R&B that I grew up listening to because of my brother. I listen to what's happening today too, but I'm not trying to become someone else. I take inspiration, learn from it and then try to find my own way of putting it together.
I'm still developing my sound. Still making mistakes. Still learning how to turn what's in my head into something people can hear.
Five years ago, I started behind the beats.
Today, I'm behind the beats and behind the mic.
And I'm still learning.
I'm VIN. This is what I live, this is what I hear, and this is what I'm becoming.