Los Angeles isn’t just where Bino Rideaux grew up—it’s the place that taught him how to turn sound into atmosphere. Long before record labels and streaming numbers, he was a kid with rhymes woven into his days, a habit that started when a teacher entered him into a poetry contest in third grade. That early assignment didn’t just win applause; it planted a sense of purpose that would carry him through the unpredictable pipeline of music creation and street life.
Rideaux’s path wasn’t laid out on a map. It took shape one project at a time, defined by self‑released tapes, collaborations, and steadily building credibility in the West Coast hip‑hop community. In 2015, his standout single “100 Days 100 Nights” caught the attention of Los Angeles icon Nipsey Hussle, setting the stage for a creative partnership that led to a joint project in 2017 called No Pressure. Hussle wasn’t simply someone Rideaux worked with—he became a mentor figure, pulling him closer to the core of what LA hip‑hop stood for in that moment.
As Rideaux continued to find his footing, his sound evolved. His 2020 LP OUTSIDE offered a fuller picture of his range—both melodic and reflective—while later releases like Sorry 4 Tha Wait II continued to expand his palette. Collaborations with peers like BLXST and recognized West Coast producers helped cement his role not just as a local voice but as an artist capable of steering contemporary rap conversations.
That evolution reached a defining moment in 2025 with the release of Tha Language. Coming out on June 27, it marked the end of the longest gap between full‑length projects in Rideaux’s career, and he approached it without apology. The album moves with intent and urgency: tracks like “Rollin’” push a rhythmic momentum that acknowledges critics’ claims about his pace while using that same pace to carve out space for his voice. Other pieces, such as “Jamaica Pt. 2,” integrate stylistic elements from various regions, demonstrating Rideaux’s growing awareness of how broader hip‑hop currents can interplay with his own California roots.
Tha Language isn’t long—13 tracks in roughly 27 minutes—but it’s layered. It speaks, literally and figuratively, about understanding the codes people live by, the unspoken vocabularies of survival, loyalty, and ambition. The title track urges listeners to “understand the language,” a line that could double as Rideaux’s own artistic blueprint, one shaped by experience and perspective rather than convention.
The record brings in a range of collaborators—Blxst, Hunxho, Tracy T, and 03 Greedo among them—yet it never loses focus on Rideaux’s central message: he is accountable to his environment and to the culture that raised him. Guest verses and shared production add texture, but the core of Tha Languagestays rooted in what Rideaux has lived, observed, and chosen to articulate.
