Kid Ink helped create Los Angeles’ post-rap scene where strip club verbiage is pervasive and words are sung, not spoken. Alongside peers like Tyga and Ty Dolla $ign, Ink, born Brian Todd Collins in 1986, brings pillow talk to the streets and isn’t afraid to sing about things that would make your mother blush. Blessed with a knack for creating earworms, Collins began producing beats—indebted to early 2000s idols like Pharrell Williams and Swizz Beatz—back in high school. At the age of 22, he focused full-time on rapping, eventually developing his signature style that blends traditional flows with Auto-Tune-soaked melodies and nods to the sex jam. After his first mixtape, World Tour, which he released under the name Rockstar in 2010, Ink officially changed his name and found a hit with 2012’s “Time of Your Life”, a club banger that reveals his deeper, more empathetic side. “Show Me” (feat. Chris Brown), about Ink’s lustful search for his dream girl, introduced him to a wider audience taken by the track’s icy synths. Collins may indulge in a jet-setting lifestyle befitting his one-time Rockstar stage name, but that doesn’t mean he’s not a hard worker―and his unrelenting hustle has provided him with longevity. For 2020’s “45”, he raps, “Know we need the trophy ring/Baby, I’m bringing it home”. Once content with a long night in the club and a woman on his arm, Kid Ink has turned into a credible MC with the ambition of becoming the pride of the City of Angels.