Get Hip to Tink's Best Songs Before Her Debut Album Drops Next Year

With her debut album in the works for next year Tink’s days as a cult favorite are numbered.

Not Available Lead
Complex Original

Image via Complex Original

Not Available Lead

During his visit to Power 105.1’s The Breakfast Club earlier this week, Timbaland gushed over Chicago double-threat Tink, the rapper and singer who officially signed to his Mosley Music Group imprint last month: “She was music, and she saved my life…. You can’t believe somebody at 19 got it. We don’t see that no more. The past person we saw [like her] was Drake.” Strong words, but for those who’ve been following Tink (born Trinity Home, in Calumet City, between Chicago and Hammond, Ind.) since her startlingly mature 2012 debut, Winter’s Diary, it was only a matter of time before she blew up.

Over two years and five mixtapes, ranging from tough-talking drill to vulnerable, super-sexy R&B—and slaying at both—Tink’s been bubbling just under the radar, and with Timbaland’s passionate co-sign, it feels like it’s finally her time. On “Movin' Bass,” which Timbo premiered on The Breakfast Club, she trades verses with Jay Z and Rick Ross like a seasoned pro, and though the official version of the track ultimately landed on Ross’ Hood Billionaire album sans Tink, it’s the biggest look of her career so far.

With her debut album—executive produced by Timbaland, naturally—in the works for next year via Epic Records and Mosley Music Group, Tink’s days as a cult favorite are numbered, and that’s a good thing. Until then, it’s not too late to get familiar (or re-acquaint yourself) with her catalog, which runs deep for her deceptively brief couple years in the game. From sex jams to broken-hearted ballads to drill bangers, we’ve compiled the 11 best Tink songs: Get in tune.

Meaghan Garvey is an artist and writer, born in Chicago and currently living in Brooklyn. She's on Twitter @moneyworth.

“Bonnie and Clyde” (2012)

Not Available Interstitial

"Bad Girl” (2012)

Not Available Interstitial

“Fingers Up” (2012)

Not Available Interstitial

“When I’m Lit” (2013)

Not Available Interstitial

“Rarris and Rovers” (2013)

Not Available Interstitial

“Kilo (f/ Lil Bibby & Lil Herb)” (2013)

Not Available Interstitial

“HML” (2014)

Not Available Interstitial

“Talkin About (f/ Lil Herb)” (2014)

Not Available Interstitial

“Don’t Tell Nobody (f/ Jeremih)” (2014)

Not Available Interstitial

“Men” (2014)

Not Available Interstitial

Released this spring via Yours Truly and Adidas Originals’ Songs From Scratch series, “Men” found Tink and DJ Dahi—the producer behind Drake’s “Worst Behavior” and Kendrick’s “Money Trees”—joining forces for the second time. They originally linked on an early installment of Songs From Scratch, along with Kelela, another quiet R&B powerhouse, but “Men” takes their chemistry to another level. It’s a glossy, prismatic ballad that combines strength and vulnerability like only Tink can: “You don’t care like how I care, and that’s fucked up/And what hurts the most is you don’t want my love.” 

“ABC Fantasies” (2014)

Not Available Interstitial

Tink shines when she’s most vulnerable, but she’s just as good when she’s being playful, and recent loosie “ABC Fantasies” shows her at her wittiest. The half-sung, half-rapped track has her cycling alphabetically through her extensive list of contact (along the lines of Lil Wayne’s “Alphabet Fantasies”), cheekily riffing on each one: “P is for Preston, I cheated on him with Quinton, but I left that boy by his lonely when I found out they was homies.” It’s a fun exercise in wordplay, and probably won’t appear officially anywhere else, but it shows that just because Tink can get deep doesn’t mean she’s above being silly.

Latest in Music