In the post-Christmas, pre-New Year haze of 2023, London is quiet. As my Uber driver zooms through the city, a wave of unmitigated dullness is palpable. Streets are empty, traffic is lacking and the collective hangover of the holiday season has taken a toll on all of us.
In person, Zino Vinci puts a halt to the drab. Clad in a Corteiz jacket and hoodie combo and bottoms from his own clothing brand Bawne London, his presence is emphatic as we meet in a cafe in suburban north London. He orders sparkling water with a lime wedge, squeezing it carefully as it trickles into the glass. Tapping his rings on the table in front of us, a steady, percussive and his Mount Rushmore of comic book characters, Spiderman, Batman, Wolverine and the Joker. “And Black Panther, for the culture!” he amends. His fascinations, he proudly admits, are traceable in the genre-fluid music he makes. “You've got to be yourself,” he explains, now the ice is broken between us. “I was raised in east London, but I don't have to mirror what people's perceptions are of it. I chose my own path.”
