Nines Quits While He’s Ahead: A Legacy

With Nines bowing out from the Rap game recently after dropping ‘Quit While You’re Ahead’, as well as a final sold out headline show scheduled for next month, it feels apt to consider the legacy of a titan in the UK Rap space. From a plethora of era defining hits to his ability to share the spotlight with his peers, this is certainly an artist who has pushed his genre forward and given a blueprint to those who will succeed him.

Bursting onto the scene back in 2012 with his ‘Church Road To Hollywood’ project, Nina came out the gate with some anthemic tracks that still hold up to this day. ‘CR’ in particular has resonated with multiple audiences for longer than a decade, demonstrating the innovation that the artist brought with him when he first gained notoriety.

As a lyricist, Nines has always managed to articulate his come up from Church Road with immaculate storytelling and smart wordplay, coupled with a distinct, conversational flow that has led to countless quotables. This carried through to his next two mixtapes, ‘Gone Till November’ and ‘Loyal To The Soil’, before following up with ‘One Foot In’ and his debut album ‘One Foot Out’ in 2017.

This era of Nina’s journey saw him widely recognised as one of the country’s finest talents, and although his bars are filled with the braggadocio you would come to expect from a great in their field, he has managed to shed light onto other outstanding talents within the UK and beyond. From his long term collaborations with Skrapz and Tiggs Da Author, to bringing NorthSideBenji to Fire In The Booth, Nines has never shied away from giving others their flowers within his music and has helped birth many successful Rap careers in the process.

This humility has also stretched into wider UK culture through his penchant for directing, showcased by his ‘Crop Circle’ films that have been released alongside his projects of the same name. Not only demonstrating Nines to be an artistic polymath, this has also given opportunities to the likes of Billy The Goat, Lippy, and Hemah to showcase their acting skills. These short films feel like a celebration of the UK scene as a whole and with other cameos from the likes of J Hus and Ghetts amongst others, are testament to the pull and reputation that Nines holds within this space.

With a number one album in the form of ‘Crabs In A Bucket’ along with six other top ten projects, this is an artist who has found that his authenticity has been key to his popularity. Not many within our scene can claim to have found such consistency across a twelve year span, and while fans would have hoped to see him continue to showcase his talents, Nines has already cemented himself as an icon of UK Rap across a historic career.