Content Warning: This album contains explicit language and content, in addition to heavy reference to drug abuse.
The third studio album by Lil Shine, “Get Rich Or Die Sippin’,” is now here for all to listen to, after much hubbub and controversy. However, this discourse is not aimed towards the Minneapolis rapper, nor the content of his music. Rather, the circumstances surrounding this release are what has garnered the interest of many aficionados of underground and cult rap. This just may be the last project of Lil Shine we will be hearing for quite some time, due to his legal affairs being in turmoil. A real shame for those who enjoy his musical stylings, as this project may just be his best yet.
While Lil Shine is a ubiquitous name for those well-versed in the broader Plugg musical scene, many of our radio listeners may not be familiar with his body of work. Understandable, as he’s more of an obscure act that you have to be in the know to be listening to. Plugg, if you aren’t familiar, is a offshoot of trap music that relishes in an ethereal and smoky atmosphere. With a myriad of seemingly disjointed harmonies, punctuated snares, and plodding baselines, the sound coagulates into a style akin to trap, but more jarring and electric. It’s as if Young Thug and Future grew up on obscure video games like Rez, Killer7 and P.N.03.
Lil Shine, however, is regarded as a pioneer of the offshoot-offshoot known as Pluggnb, which as the portmanteu implies takes more inspiration from modern r&b production. His earlier works with the now-defunct collective Reptilian Club Boyz helped ferment the new genre into a state where it was recognizable as its own distinct fare. With the termination of said group in 2021, his subsequent solo releases allowed him to garner a fanbase that was hooked on his synthesis of medicated cough syrup abuse and Nintendo sampling. With every release of his receiving acclaim from those in the know, his career seemed to be on the up and up. However, this would not last.In December 2024, Lil Shine, along with two other compatriots, was charged with conspiracy to acquire and obtain controlled substances by fraud, 11 counts of wire fraud, and 4 counts of aggravated identity theft. He and his cronies were accused of hacking into the Drug Enforcement Administration’s digital repository of practicioners and physicians from December 2022 to August 2023, in order to purchase 300 pints of promethazine and codeine. Valued at $750,000, this was no small amount of narcotics, with prosecution arguing that this amount is only justifiable to purchase for those intending to sell them on the street. Lil Shine, known in civilian affairs as Jasper William Johnson, entered a plea agreement on January 20th of 2026, which included a 3-year stint in federal prison for his criminal activity., beginning on July 28th of 2026. As such, it is almost certain that “Get Rich Or Die Sippin’” will be the last project of his until he is released from prison. While this is by no means an endorsement of serious criminality, it is a little tragic for those who enjoy his work to have to anticipate such a break. At least we can be take some satisfaction in the reality that this is one of his best projects to date.
If there’s a buzzword that you can apply to the internet-adjacent underground scene at present moment, it’s “homage.” Everyone and anyone is rushing to showcase their appreciation for what is their personal perception of the halcyon era of music. Lil Shine has been seeming bitten by this bug as well, as is evident throughout this album. Take the album cover, for example. While clearly pertinent to the legal issues surrounding this album’s debacle, it’s also a callback to the trend of courtroom sketches of rappers that have been permeating the internet in the modern social media era. The cover for “Get Rich Or Die Sippin’” calls back to one such viral fan-made image of Atlanta trapstars Young Thug and Gunna in trial for the Young Stoner Life Records racketeering trial which took place from 2023 to 2024. Given the online prominence of this legal case, which sparked many a cyber-watercooler-conversation in regards to whether rap as an art form was being reasonably or unreasonably scrutinized for criminal reference unlike other such genre, it makes perfect sense to draw inspiration for such an album rollout with many striking parallels. It’s a clever artistic choice, especially given that Jasper William Johnson has fervently denied any such involvement in criminal activity.
With that connection to trap being laid out quite blatantly, the audio experience furthers the connection with the diversity in sound. While keeping the core ethos on Lil Shine’s body of work, being drug abuse and romance foibles, the production is uniquely perked-up and peaking constantly. This change in sound, almost as if pure voltage mas being intravenously mainlined, excites and astonishes. It’s a deviation from his more soothing and lush environs which he previously dabbled in, but it fits the tone of this album quite well. It’s almost as if you can detect the urgency in his delivery, both in production and vocals, with wish he wishes to deliver a project that can serve as a fitting capstone to an era.
Tracks like “Like What?” showcase effortless delivery which glides over digital drums thoroughly percolated through the production. It’s cathartic music that puts a spring in your step. The two tracks with features, being “Still Sippin’ (Ft. Summrs)” and “Red Dot (Ft. Kankan)” showcase Shine’s abilitically to authentically synergize with other darlings of the Plugg scene. A poorly done feature can marr an otherwise excellent release, with how artists not otherwise privy to the spirit of a project can interject and add frivolous and fodderesque verses that serve as nothing more than audible lapses in judgement. Utilizing only two features, both of which perfectly slot in with the sound of this project, only serves to bolster the strengths this release capitulates on.
In my opinion, however, the standout song from this project is “Forever.” Yet another homage, this time to Drake’s mega-hit track of the same title with Kanye West, Lil Wayne, and Eminem, the original posse cut is heavily interpolated, and essentially amalgamated into Shine’s signature sound. The hybridization of the two approaches to rap results in an oddball mix of cranked crooning and crashing clicks. Shine’s signature sample of Mario’s sound effect when he’s set of fire in Super Mario 64 serves as the most jarring element, when it comes to the way I see it. This isn’t to say I dislike it, to be fair. It’s a perfect of example of why pluggnb is still so exciting even with a few years of being firmly established. “Forever” works because pluggnb is a school of thought that allows for the clever to succeed, and it’s blatantly obvious why this track was pushed as the primary single, with an album teaser referencing Drake’s iconic Sprite commercial to boot. If you had to listen to one track to summarize Lil Shine, I wholeheartedly endorse this.
In all honesty, I would implore you to listen to the full release, if any of this sounds interesting at all whatsoever. “Get Rich or Die Sippin’” pulls off the difficult task of both appealing to the uninitiated and the well-versed of Lil Shine’s audience with aplomb. It’s a 18-track adventure through a sonic landscape unlike any other that doesn’t overstay its welcome whatsoever, given its consise 40 minute runtime. The sequencing is strong, with each track leading into the next almost like tidal waves crashing into the shoreline. If this truly is the terminus of Lil Shine’s career, brief as that may come to be, so be it. We have a rosetta stone for the scene, one which future creatives can utilize to both understand why the genre has its fans, and iterate on to create trailblazing works with of their own. It may be a shame that we’ll likely be waiting for about three fourths of a batchelor’s degree for the next studio album from Lil Shine, but at least we have “Get Rich Or Die Sippin’” to end off an era for the scene. It’s a career-defining project, and serves well to lay the moniker of Lil Shine to rest, at least for now.