Bino is about to wake you up

You can only dream so big until it is time to wake up. For L.A. Based rapper HoodTrophy Bino (“Bino”) the balancing act of the two is kind of the whole point. he dreams big, he always has and he still must, but he's also all about waking 'em up. Bino (Tadashi Sayres) Raised by a single mother in a house with fourteen brothers and sisters under one roof in Palmdale, California and later the crime-ridden projects of South Central LA, HoodTrophy Bino (“Bino”) succumbed to the gang life that surrounded him. Finding an important outlet in music when violence surrounded him, Bino began rapping himself – first being exposed to freestyle through his older brother.

Bino's story is one of teetering over the edge of perdition but ultimately being able to find his way back. A tough life filled with privation and trauma led him down a dark path where he became involved with gangs and would end up going in and out of jail continuously. There he would meet rapper Soulja Boy, striking up a friendship sealed by a letter and a bag of hot cheetos. This was perhaps the start of his upward swing, as shortly after his release, Big Draco reached out and signed Bino to his S.O.D.M.G. (Stacks on Deck Money Gang) label having been impressed by his determination and musical talent. Venturing into the studio soon after, they recorded their first song “Racing In Traffic” in 2021.

Bino's music became the linchpin of his new life, the tool with which he would end the cycle of violence and poverty he was once trapped in. Today he stands up as an advocate for young people growing up in the same kind of violent and unstable environments. "I had nothing growing up,” recalls Bino. “Trauma became an everyday part of my life. My pops is serving a life sentence in San Quentin. My best friend growing up was kidnapped and executed when I was 17.”

Today, his music comes from that strange overlap of facing up to reality in order to make a dream come true. He's striving and working hard to pour his very soul into his music, and his most recent release "Wake 'em Up" is precisely about that struggle of staying focused and hungry, fully engaged with the present moment.

"Wake 'em Up" is a fast-firing and almost overwhelming feast of dexterous flow, but it doesn't all come from Bino alone, as he recruited the prowess of acclaimed female rapper K Shiday to both bolster his message and act as the female foil to the visual narrative of the music video.

You can wake up on different levels,” says Bino about the song and video. “You can become woke about your life – how you want it to be, instead of how it keeps crashing out of control.” The video shows Bino thrashing in bed, having a nightmare. Past excesses torment him, but he finds himself living the life he had always dreamed of - a gorgeous girlfriend (played by K.Shiday), a lit luxury beach house in Marina Del Rey, and close friends celebrating his new house, lifestyle, and accomplishments.

HoodTrophy Bino has opened for Soulja Boy, Tee Grizzley, Bow Wow, Snoop Dogg, Chris Brown, Omarion, Flo Malcom, Skinnyfromthe9, YN Jay, and Ohgeesy. With a successful nationwide Back-to-School Tour with rising Asian American artist Star2, and an upcoming EP on the horizon, HoodTrophy Bino is a prolific rapper and motivator for his generation. “I’m not here because I’m the best, I’m here because they tried to break me and they couldn’t.”

MEET THE AUTHOR

Samuel Aponte is Venezuelan-born raised and based. 

I joined Rival Magazine after a few years of doing PR work for independent musicians of all stripes; understanding their struggles to be heard in a sea of constant  ADHD noise and paywalled access to platforms, I now bring a willingness to always appreciate and encourage the effort and creativity that artists put into their work . Can also find some of my writings on LADYGUNN and We Found New Music