An assured singer and rapper whose songwriting is resolutely forthright, Tink was one of many young talents to arise from Chicago during the 2010s. Technically a native of Calumet City, a southern Chicagoland suburb, the artist born Trinity Home began singing as a young child and got into songwriting at the age of 12. While she was still a teenager, she released her first several mixtapes, with much of the material developed and recorded beside her father, an engineer and producer. Winter's Diary, Alter Ego, and Blunts and Ballads were all released in 2012, and Boss Up arrived in 2013. Winter's Diary 2 followed in 2014. Also in 2014, there was a wave of singles, including "Molly Love," "Used 2 Know," and "2 and 2," that hit streaming services and digital download outlets through her management, Lyrical Eyes. By mid-2014, Tink had collaborated with the likes of Future Brown (a group consisting of Fatima Al Qadiri, Nguzunguzu, and J-Cush), Jeremih, Kelela and DJ Dahi (on "Want It"), and Timbaland.nn A deal with Timbaland's Epic-supported Mosley Music Group yielded several singles through 2015, highlighted by "Million," an update of Aaliyah's "One in a Million" that reached number 38 on Billboard's R&B/hip-hop chart. Third and fourth volumes of the Winter's Diary series were issued in 2015 and 2016. Meanwhile, an album Tink recorded for Mosley Music Group remained shelved by Timbaland. Tink eventually went independent, and in early 2018 released Pain & Pleasure through Mikkey Halsted's Machine Entertainment. The six-track digital EP debuted on the Billboard 200 at number 147. ~ Andy Kellman