Jon Stojan‘Figures’ is a deep dive into what it takes to stay sane and focus on your goals in a world where it’s difficult to trust anybody.
New York artist NiiKo has shared his latest single ‘Figures, ‘ which is about as fresh a drill-rap track as you’re likely to encounter anywhere.
NiiKo, born Ryan Francesco DiMartino, hails from Batavia, in New York State. The 29-year-old artist comes from what he calls an “old-school Italian upbringing.”
Growing up, DiMartino wasn’t always sure what direction life would take him in. After receiving a scholarship to play in Florida, he was a committed athlete and thought he was set up to be a professional baseballer.
But his life took a turn when he tore his UCL, meaning he’d never be able to play again. He left college feeling more uncertain about his life’s direction.
As he describes it: “After college, my life was constant ups and downs, getting involved with the wrong people, constantly partying and doing drugs, working the same boring job.”
Then reality hit him, and he decided to get out of this funk and focus on what he wanted from life.
“One day, I was hanging out with one of my good friends, and we turned on an instrumental to freestyle,” he said. “After I’d finished freestyling, my friend immediately told me I needed to write something and get in a studio.”
DiMartino – now under NiiKo – immediately took his friend at his word. He got into the studio and dropped his first song, ‘Listen to Your Heart,’ in 2022. NiiKo’s music is inspired by his heritage and roots, and he has adopted a “melodic drill style” with lyrics focused on staying motivated and sane in a high-pressured world.
Despite having only started releasing music two years ago, NiiKo has already made a significant impact on the music world.
His previous single, ‘show me your light’, charted highly on its first release day in December 2023 – encouraging him to drop the follow-up single a few weeks later.
The single in question, ‘Figures,’ dropped on January 28, with an official video coming out in February. ‘Figures’ is as intense as all good drill tracks are. It documents the artist as he tries to navigate friendship groups, success, and who he can trust in his orbit. NiiKo is an exciting artist who can take you on highs and lows with his music. In the song’s chorus, he throws in the dark line, “I just wanna see figures/But I was caught up twisting fingers.” But even as he revels in the darkness, this two-and-a-half-minute song is full of motivations, surprises – and triumphs. NiiKo shares how he dropped old friends and helped himself get ahead. His advice? “Take steps, keep your head up, stay moving, get your bread up.”
This is an excellent song.
