"Do they like me? I'm not asking but they're staring anyway," Shine mumbles on the title track of his latest EP 'Mens Van Wie'. He sounds downright paranoid with the way he raps that no one can help him, that he doesn't want to go outside anymore and that he's 'leaving to a place where it will never be light again'. In the background a harp sounds, a male choir sings: 'Whose man? Man from where? Man why?'
Today, Shahine El-Hamus' alias Shine debuts with an EP full of deadly serious, sample-heavy hip-hop, in which he asks himself the big questions. The conflict of growing up: “Who do I belong to? Which group? What do I want with my life?” People who know me well are surprised: “You always smile. How do you make such dark music?” But everyone has multiple sides. When I write, something very bleak comes out. Moreover: this tape was made during the first lockdown. I was going through a dark period, thinking, 'Fuck man, should I change my plan now?''
