Rina Balaj

Rina Balaj, known on her records simply as Rina, is a Kosovo Albanian rapper and singer. Her music is trap with touches of R&B and hip hop. She was born on 27 January 1999 in Peja and grew up in Istog, in Kosovo, and that is why she is on Muzika-Balkan under Kosovo. Her career has since played out in Albania and Greece; the sources do not say where she lives today.

She tried her luck early: at sixteen, in 2015, she auditioned for the fourth season of X Factor Albania without getting through. Two years later she was the featured voice on Endri's single "Janari", which reached number 6 in Albania. In 2018 she signed with the label OnRecords and released her debut single, "Për ty", in March.

The rest of 2018 made her name. "Ska konkurenc", recorded with the Kosovo rapper Fero, and "Fly", with Fuego, both reached number 2 in Albania. In September came "Gigi", a duet with the Greek-Albanian rapper Sin Boy. It was her breakthrough: number 1 in Greece and number 5 in Albania.

Rina and Sin Boy kept working together. Their joint album MM came out in May 2020, and from it "Tentacion" reached number 4 in Greece, with "Sari" and "Fallin In Love" also in the Greek chart. In 2020 she moved to the AlphaPop Original label, and her own album Balerina followed in 2021. "Addiction" reached number 16 in Albania that year and "Sativa" number 17 in 2022. Critics have compared her sound and her look to Cardi B, and she has named Post Malone as her favourite artist.

The playlist comes from her own channel and holds her newer songs, from "Harro", "Ego" and "Qika" to "Kanarina", "Vibe" and "911", made with DJ A-Boom.