The 17-year-old Tino Szn looks to be the next big artist out of North Carolina. He has gained momentum in 2021 starting with a collaboration with $not on his first single of the year, “Vice.” He followed that up with two singles, “Crash the party” and “Long Way Home” to lead into his project, 4 seasons. Learn more about Tino Szn below.

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Tell me about what got you wanting to make music at such a young age.

I started making music in 2018 when I was 14 years old. I saw this kid at school making music and getting all the attention. I didn’t quite like that, because I always wanted to do music. I kind of put my pride to the side and reached out to this kid and he showed me how to do music. After about a month of showing me stuff, and how to make music on the phone, I ended up doing stuff on my own time. Since then, I fell in love with music.

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What moment specifically did you know it was time to take this thing seriously?

It was when I first got a manager which was last year. That is when I noticed I started getting more traction. Once I got my first manager, the more label meetings I was in, then came the streaming check. I knew I had to take it serious and lock in.

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There are a lot of people that come out of North Carolina. Do you find inspiration from all of the big artists that have come out of there?

As far as inspiration from North Carolina, I can say when I first started, I was motivated to be another rapper out of North Carolina because I saw what rappers like DaBaby and J Cole were doing.

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What is the biggest thing you’ve learned so far as an artist?

The biggest thing I have learned is that consistency is key, and you shouldn’t really expect stuff to happen over night.

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Take me through what your track "Crash The Party" means to you?

The thing about "Crash The Party," it was February of this year, and I knew it was special before I made the song. Once I heard the beat, I knew whatever was going to come out of the song was going to be special. The beat was different. It was even pitched up when I first got it and I told my producer to pitch it down. I knew this record was going to be crazy. There was already a reference version I had so I took it to the studio because that is how I do a lot of my records. The people in the session watching this unfold were like this is my best unreleased song right now. Around that time, I just finished the record with $not. The song means a lot to me.

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You mention the $not collaboration. Take me through that and what it means to work with someone as talented as him.

The crazy thing about that $not collab is that it wasn’t supposed to happen. He hit me up July of last year and he told me my music was hard. At the time, I knew who he was but I wasn’t familiar with his music. I just knew he was up and coming. I showed my manager and he said we have to get a collab out of this. A couple of days later $not adds me to his live and tells me to send him something. I sent the record and when he sent it back it was crazy. I think that song is pivotal in my career.

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Has he given you some game? Are you on that level of having that kind of relationship?

He’s given me plenty of keys. It even got to the point where on his tour when he came to Charlotte, I got in free all-access. I got back stage and met him for the first time in person.

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Your latest project 4 seasons, what does that mean to you? What’s your favorite song?

My favorite song is "Crash The Party," "DND," "Supa Clean," or "Firedrill." Literally the whole project is full of fire records. That’s why I love it so much. I restarted on this project two or three times. It went through a few name changes. The original name was "Lone Wolf." Then we came up with 4 Seasons after we heard all the records. The name is fitting because you have fall, winter, spring, and summer. 4 seasons is versatile. Like the seasons, there isn’t a stale moment.

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What do you want your fans to get from your music?

I want my fans to takeaway that I’m very versatile. I feel if I were to make just one theme, it would box me in. No matter how in-depth I go into that theme it will feel boxed in. I want to talk about everything. I want to talk about the cars. But then I want to talk about some person being sad somewhere. I also want to talk about how I got my heart broken. There is always something in my songs for everybody.

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Five years from now, what are your goals?

Hopefully, I have my own label, having my own artists. I want to be an international artist. I want to impact people with my music and do things for my community.

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Outside of music, what do you like to do?

I get on the game. I play Call of Duty a lot. I play Far Cry. GTA. I’m a big gamer outside of music.

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What can fans expect from you that you can talk about?

I don’t want to give too much, but I am already on the next project. I’m a person who is ahead of the game. I’m also working on getting my new clothing line out. This next project is going to be 20 times better than 4 Seasons.

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Check out Tino Szn's 4 Seasons below:

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