In 2024, British rapper Nines retired. Over the previous decade, the Northwest Londoner had released six albums each marked by his laidback lyrical flow, metaphor-laden tales of hustling, and soul-inflected beats. He’d been rapping since he was a teenager—and by the time Nines reached his mid-thirties, he was ready to release his aptly titled final album, Quit While You’re Ahead, and step away from the limelight to focus on family life with his daughters. The arrival of the 15 tracks on Young Nina therefore came as a joyous surprise. Compiled from early recordings made before Nines found fame with the 2017 release of his debut album One Foot Out, Young Nina is a sonic document of a fresh talent on the cusp of success—but making rhymes without knowing if that success would ever arrive. Tracks like “All I Know” pair Nines’ signature internal conflict between making a life on the streets and a life clean of crime with a cinematic beat anchored in sweeping strings melody. Displaying a remarkable sense of storytelling maturity, “All I Know” and other numbers like “Nu Crack” lay the blueprint for the Nines that the wider public would come to know. There are also glimpses of a different, younger artist still finding his sound. “Monday to Sunday,” for instance, lays an easygoing flow over a sped-up version of A Tribe Called Quest’s “Electric Relaxation,” while “14 Years Old First Song” features a teenage Nines’ higher-pitched voice spitting over a hard-hitting ’90s East Coast beat. Revealing the building blocks of Nines’ future stardom, Young Nina is testament to his restless creativity.