Spotify lists Fakemink’s first upload as being released in 1938. While I’d love to believe that someone made a jerk-cloud rap fusing banger one year before the start of World War 2 – not to mention the track itself being a remix of a 2024 freestyle – it seems more likely that this is just one of Fakemink’s many online misdirections. He might be quite literally the hottest name in underground rap right now, but the 20-year-old Londoner manages to consistently shroud himself in mystery. 

For instance, why does he almost systematically wipe his Instagram presence every month? Who is the “Tina Le Temps” who is credited as a composer on each of his releases? How did he manage to drop no less than 80 individual tracks on Spotify in 2024 alone? Some of these questions, it seems, may never be answered.

In one of the very few interviews Fakemink has given, he explains that his name manifests a mix of luxury (‘mink’) and dirty (‘fake’). It’s a dichotomy that’s written large across Mink’s era-defining sound; his most emblematic releases blend highly complex digital production, evoking 2011-era Drake, Dean Blunt and Nettspend with semi-freestyled, train-of-thought rap flows about drinking lean and linking supermodels. 

Existing somewhere within the now-sprawling jerk-rap-cloud-rap-plugg-rage-hyperpop nexus of net-native genres, Fakemink’s quintessentially Gen Z sonics have attracted collaborations with internet legends Surf Gang, Xaviersobased, Ecco2k, Mechatok and more. Despite all the online hype, however, Mink sums up his legacy more concisely on his debut 2023 album: London’s Saviour.

Below, we break down five tracks charting the rise of underground rap’s hottest name, Fakemink.

“PLAYED” 

Recorded when he was just 18 years old, under his original alias 9090Gate, downtrodden lo-fi hip-hop track “Played” is powerful listening in view of the success Mink later achieved. “I can’t stand it here, feel like nobody like it here / Hear things only I can hear but I feel like I just waste it here,” the young Mink raps in the 2023 release, affirming his dedication to making music but also a lack of direction. 

“Played” is obviously a lot more subdued than Mink’s later releases, missing his signature jerk rap drum pattern and frantic melodies, but his unorthodox approach to production still shines through. On the track, Mink’s pitched-up vocals are at one point replaced by a scream sound effect and, elsewhere, briefly cut altogether. 

“LONDON LIFE”

Releasing a of couple months later in December 2023 as part of debut album London’s Saviour, and arriving on the cusp of Mink’s transition from 9090Gate to Fakemink, “London Life” marks Mink settling into his persona as one of the capital’s brightest rap prospects. On the track, Fakemink’s distinctly cut British delivery takes centre-stage, while lyrics reference the London Eye.

“London Life” is also significant for incorporating storytelling elements that Mink seemed to forego in favour of more spontaneous rap verses in his later releases. On its surface at least, the track appears to tell a tragic tale of a girl seeking lavish London excess and a boy who can’t afford to provide it. After all, what’s more British than talking about the cost of living?

“BLOW ME” 

Leading 2024 EP Wild One, “Blow Me” marks Mink’s elevation out of the underground. Vocals are no longer loosely processed lo-fi and now stand front and centre against an instrumental which perfects Fakemink’s now signature combination of party-ready jerk rap percussion and seductively simple hyperpop-esque melodies. Meanwhile, where Mink rapped about feeling lost on “Played” just nine months earlier, he now brags: “I can’t stop winning, addicted to the music man I can’t stop singing.” Let’s go, Mink!

“LOUIS V SANDALS” WITH ESDEEKID AND RICO ACE

And here’s where everything really changed. Mink performed “Louis V Sandals” no less than three times at London’s Trance Party event in March of this year, each iteration devolving into a new level of chaos. Not that it mattered, anyway – everyone already knew all the lyrics. 

On the track, Mink delivers an anthemic hook about none other than Louis Vuitton sandals over dystopian jerk rap production from longtime collaborator Wraith9. What really made “Louis V Sandals” a hit, however, was the contrast between Mink’s rockstar delivery and razor-tongued rap verses from fellow rising Gen Z rap stars EsDeeKid and Rico Ace. 

“MAKKA” 

Collaborating with Drain Gang goats Ecco2k and Mechatok on the recent banger “Makka”, Fakemink is now no longer just a heavyweight on the UK scene, he’s an international star in his own right. On the cough-syrup-inspired track’s chorus, cloud rap pioneer Ecco delivers an ethereal companion to Mink’s infectious train of thought flows, while producer Mechatok’s guitar-led production has all the hallmarks of a new-gen pop hit. 

And, while Mink might now be in the company of legends, he hasn’t lost his knack for spontaneity. Speaking to Dazed last month, Mechatok explained that the track was born from a chance encounter between Ecco2k and Fakemink in the hallway of the studio they both happened to be working in. “When I played [Fakemink] the idea he just went straight to the booth and recorded his whole verse, it was pretty much a one-take kind of thing,” Mechatok explained. “We also shot the video that night right outside the studio.”