fakemink Is The Hottest DIY Artist In The World Right Now
Minks are often thought of as rodent species, or when they are contextualised into a jacket, can be a show of wealth. But, put ‘fake’ before it and either you are getting ripped off by a coat seller, or you are about to become indoctrinated into the viral UK rapper’s fakemink’s fandom.
Last weekend, Drake headlined Wireless festival, and surprised the crowd with a performance from fakemink, to which the crowd went positively bonkers. We are only halfway through July, and fakemink has dropped a new music video for ‘Same Mistakes’, released a new song titled ‘Under Your Skin’, and now has been co-signed by one of the biggest artists ever, on one of the biggest stages in the London festival scene.
Naysayers and the uneducated may scream “industry plant!” (whatever that actually means), and in an era driven by TikTok virality and paid promotion, it’d be easy to assume fakemink is in fact backed by a major label. Yet such an assumption would be wrong. fakemink is fiercely independent, releasing all his music through Etna Vera Vela - his own label.
Fans speculate endlessly about what Etna Vera Vela actually is, alongside other bits of elusive lore about the artist himself. Sometimes he may be seen on Instagram Live telling viewers he supports West Ham, or simply getting hit by a car. But other than this dripping tap of information, there is not a lot of background story out there for those trying to find out more. So, if even die-hard fans don’t know much, how are the rest of us meant to?
Let’s make a list of what we do know:
In a post on X on April 29, fakemink clarified to fans he was Algerian and Indian after internet discourse on the topic - geographically, he’s from Essex (In ‘Just Kitten’ he raps: “Essex boy, only thing I’m missing is the spray tan”). Fans debate about the exact location in the county, but eagled eyed sleuths have spotted Basildon landmarks in some of his music videos, perhaps signalling his home to be around there.
He used to make music by the alias 9090gate, until a “spur of the moment” decision was made whilst sat on his ex’s bed to change it to fakemink. He is also known to fans as ‘London’s Saviour’, a title which he also gave to his independently released debut album, released in 2023.
As revealed in an interview with Hyperpop Daily, he makes music “for feeling your best”. Whilst he produces and raps, he also has an elusive “Creative Director” behind the scenes known as ‘Tina’ who is often credited in his songs. Mystery isn’t fakemink’s only selling point however. He has been papped with many other underground and viral musicians such as Nettspend, Xaviersobased, and Snow Strippers (who he has been an opening act for previously), all of which opt and contribute to the similar lo-fi, filtered Instagram aesthetic online that fakemink sports, as if stuck in 2012.
While aesthetic certainly plays a role in his appeal, fakemink’s music is the true driving force behind his rise. Take Easter Pink, for instance. Produced by Snow Strippers collaborator and Surf Gang member Suzy Sheer, the track is a 1-minute-20-second jerk rap glitch - it’s just one verse, looped twice. That brevity makes it ideal for viral looping, yet experimental enough to irk fans of traditional long-form tracks (Fans of Kanye’s ‘Runaway’ or Frank Ocean’s ‘Pyramids’, beware).
Its lo-fi charm - vocals so deep as to be underwatery - feels deliberate. Lines like “my sprite like Easter Pink, bad b**** in the Ann Demeulemeester zip” cut through buzzing synths and choppy stabs, producing a dreamy 86-second microverse. The track even earned a co-sign from PinkPantheress, who posted it on her Instagram story - bringing fakemink into an entirely new spotlight.
Later in the track, he raps: “Get money dirty and I get it legit.” This could be a nod to his self-described style of “luxury and dirty,” which he once explained to No Bells as akin to getting a £5,000 meal split on a clean white shirt. The “luxury” appears in lines like “two hundred for the Uber lux, take me home / This is Givenchy, you know I ain’t rocking chrome.” The “dirt” lies in the grainy vocal textures that could have been recorded in a fishtank.
His influences run deep. fakemink cites Drake’s So Far Gone and “Headlines” as key inspirations. His track Over My Dead Body Freestyle reimagines the Take Care opener into a woozy, glitched-out remix (a generous 85 seconds long this time).
But perhaps fakemink’s most impressive musical feat is his crate-digging approach to sampling. His selections are bold and weird - in the best way. In ‘china city’, he slows down ‘Behelit’ by Susumu Hirasawa (from the 1997 anime Berserk) into something that sounds like a crying cyborg. In ‘bambi’, he flips Metallica’s ‘One’ (1988)—pitching it up, reversing it, and layering it with bass slides and snare rolls until it becomes a kind of post-apocalyptic pirate-radio banger.
His ear for samples isn’t just from eras past. The song ‘Crush’ samples The Hellp’s 2024 song ‘Caustic’: an amalgamation of hyper pop and punk, which when mixed with fakemink’s mutated jerk raps summarise an exciting picture of the 2025 underground sonic climate.
He and his producers clearly know their music. Their sampling is adventurous, obscure, and often beautiful. Just don’t let a major label’s legal department find out—or bang goes the £5,000 meals.
These same labels will most likely be sniffing around fakemink’s ‘management email’ trying to get a piece of a ‘luxury’, but slightly ‘dirty’ pie. So far however, fakemink has done it all himself. His individuality is distinct, and beyond the quite avant-garde mullet, sleazy graphic tees and deep-fried Instagram filters exists an independent musician who is pioneering a fresh London underground sound which no doubt will soon have many imitators, none of which will have the authenticity or pizazz fakemink has.
Words by Finn Cliff-Hodges
Listen to fakemink in our UK Rap & Drill & Grime playlist below.
