Smino

SMINO

photos by

Abdi Ibrahim

I got the chance to speak to the incredibly talented Smino on the phone earlier this July. He was dining at a local black-owned restaurant talking with me in between bites of spicy catfish. From what I heard, it sounded like it was pretty good, as Smino himself jokingly put it “sorry if I sound like Rick Ross”. The Missouri rapper is a strong believer in supporting black-owned businesses. He voiced to me his hopes that fellow rappers will follow suit and spread their wealth across these establishments in their own communities. Maybe his community-first mindset stems from his heritage. Born in St. Louis, Missouri in 1991, Smino was raised in a strong family foundation that taught him to appreciate his culture. In fact, music was in his blood; his father is a talented keys player, mother is a singer, and even his grandfather played bass for hall of fame Blues musician Muddy Waters. Although very talented, they sacrificed careers in music in order to be more present in their son’s life. Despite their musical ability, Smino appreciates that they didn’t force him into music. Describing the impact of their sacrifice Smino said, “It definitely allowed them to be there with me to help me find my passions. They were really able to focus on me and give me wisdom. They never forced music onto me; they let me do whatever I was into at the time. My passion ended up being music anyways, and then it was cool because they got to be like ‘oh this is what you love great let me show you all this dope shit’. So yeah, them sacrificing that is something I’m beyond grateful for”. interviewed by Tyler

More than just his family life, Smino also felt his surrounding hometown environment impacted his growth into who he is now as an artist. He spent the majority of his adolescence in Ferguson, Missouri. Ferguson is a town many recognize from headlines a few years back after a black man, Michael Brown Jr., was cruelly murdered by a local police officer. When I inquired of Smino whether he perceived racial injustices growing up and if so, how that affected him. He answered bluntly, “Shit I experienced them yesterday. You know what I mean? You’re not a black man but all of us know some of the same phrases. Things like ‘always bring your ID’ or ‘look for a badge number’ that I could tweet right now and everyone would be like ‘yeah my mother told me that’- things that are just part of everyday life for us. We know how these motherfuckas feel about us and what they’ll do to us. So yeah, of course it affected me”.

The adversity he and far too many alike faced, while unfair, did give him good perspective as well as develop important traits like perseverance and awareness; traits that have aided him on his ascension in music. It also created a driving desire to be able to take care of all of his family in the area. It’s this desire that drove him to leave home to attend Columbia University to study media management. When I asked Smino about his time at Columbia he just laughed and told me, “Man I ain’t use none of that shit” he began laughing but continued, “that’s just not where I chose to get my knowledge from ya feel?”.

Regardless of where he acquired his knowledge, he clearly is utilizing what he has learned well. Having dropped two albums, “Blkswn” in 2017 and “Noir” late last year, Smino has already garnered the support of both his fans and peers alike. He’s a versatile artist who seamlessly blends his Jazz and Soul roots with modern Hip- Hop and RnB sounds. He truly embodies what it means to be a creator; as anyone who has heard his albums can understand, it is nearly impossible to pinpoint any singular artist he sounds like. His talent transcends only music too, as Smino is also a gifted performer. Somewhat of a tour veteran for such a young act, he has already accompanied established artists SZA and T-Pain on tour as well as headlined a 34 show tour around the county. When I asked him why it’s so important to him to be on the road he said, “I just love it man. Being on stage has always been my thing. I love recording and rehearsing and then being able to perform it in the same room as so many real people. There’s a connection that happens during that, when you’re in the same room with fans. That’s what’s real in all this. That’s how my fan base keeps growing, and I can’t wait to keep doing it more and more”.

Despite his large tour presence and commercial success, Smino still remains an independent artist. In an era where rappers are getting signed to a major label before they get their high-school diploma, his patience in this area stands out. When I asked him what the reason was for staying independent he proudly told me “I’ve always been kinda doing my own shit. I never had any major co-sign from any rapper or any connections that got me on. So that’s no different when it comes to owning my shit. I own all my shit, masters and all, and I’m doing what I want when I want on my own terms. That’s really dope to have so early in my career”.

While he may have never had a major rapper co-sign him while he was blowing up over the years, that certainly changed earlier this January. Smino fans were ecstatic when they saw him post his yellow invite to the ROTD3 recording sessions hosted by J Cole and the Dreamville camp. No matter how proud you are to not need anyone else to succeed it still feels good to get recognition from someone you respect. J Cole is definitely on a short-list of the most universally respected rappers. With the album being out now we know that Smino made the cut for the album, but before I asked him about that I had another question first. “What was it like to be in the room with so many talented, creative artists all trying to bring their best?” His excitement over the phone was almost contagious as he told me, “That was the craziest, most amazing experience of my life. For one, the energy was absolutely wild the whole time. But more than that energy shit those were some real people. Like real ass people, ya feel? Guapdad, JID, Bas, Earthgang, Mez, all those guys.. Some of them I was already cool with others I got to know but those are my brothers for real. I’d bring all of them home to meet my family on some real shit. Like we still gettin together and shit. Those sessions were incredible”.

From how highly he speaks of it you have to wonder if this recording scheme is one that will spread across the industry. There’s plenty of other “rap camps”, if you will, that could try to emulate the energy heard on the “ROTD III” album that I’m sure fans would be excited to hear. In fact, Smino already has the roots of his own such camp. Deemed “Zero Fatigue”, Smino’s musical collective has been developing since 2012 and officially was founded in 2015. I asked him what he envisioned for the groups future. He answered very matter of fact, saying “I just want to see all my guys living out their dream and happy! Like I want my boy to call me and it be like ‘yo you got the Bentley now get the Musain for me’ type shit. I just want all my boys to be taken care of and doing what they love for real”.

In order to make sure everyone is taken care of like he said, Smino is always thinking up new ideas to bring money in. As he says, “Anyone who knows me knows I’ve got a new idea for a business venture like every week”. A shining example of this would be the very popular line of hoodies he’s created called “Silk Pillows”. Now I would put a plug here and tell you to buy them, but they’re probably all sold out already, they’re that popular. The concept is pretty simple, but also kind of genius. It’s a hoodie, but the inside of the hood is lined with silk to preserve the waves in your hair like a durag does. When I asked Smino how he thought of this idea he told me, “Man, so I was on the SZA tour, right? And I was always wearing hoodies and stuff lounging around at late nights after shows and shit. But when I’d fall asleep with the hoodie on, my hair would get all fucked up. So I was always having to be wearing Durags with my hoodie. Then, one day I just thought ‘what if there was a silk lining in the hood!’... Lots of money later, here we are”.

This story’s a good example of how funny Smino can be, a fact well known to his social media followers. In fact, if you’d ask one of his followers to tell you something about Smino they’d probably either say that he’s very funny... that, or that he makes a LOT of music. He seems like he’s in the studio almost every day, and typically stays there pretty late. Since his last album was only last November, I asked him whether we fans could expect any more solo Smino music this year. He immediately said “hell yeah, like tomorrow”. I’m not sure he meant it literally, but he did double down and said we could definitely expect some more bangers this year.

This seems somewhat generous of him, after all he did just pop up on two of the better rap songs dropped this year. “Oh Wow...Swerve” And “Sacrifices”, both off of the aforementioned Revenge of the Dreamers 3 album, and both alongside J. Cole. “Sacrifices” in particular stuck out to me as a favorite, and Smino was especially poetic over that beat. I asked him to tell me how that song came about, and he gladly went into story mode for me. “Alright so let me tell you. Room 222, that’s where we were recording that. I was like the first one in there every morning, and I’d just start cooking up. Then other people would start filling in and making music off of what I’m doing and doing other shit etc. But this one day me and my boy Groove were in there and he made that Sacrifices beat. Long story short Saba, Johnny Venus, and I love it and we all lay our verses and we’re listening and we’re like wow this shits amazing. Then Cole comes in and hears it and he loved it, and he takes the beat to a different room to do his part. He brings it back to us later that day and he’s playing it for us and we’re all yeah that’s some Cole Jesus level shit. Then he’s telling us how he cried writing that verse. I’m like ‘damn Cole you be cryin?’” He says jokingly “But for real that was so cool to me. Like we’re the ones lighting that fire under his ass and inspiring him to tears on an incredible verse. That feeling is like indescribable, I love that song“.

This one memory he shared serves as an insight into what I’m sure was as memorable a week as any for Smino and the other artists present. In fact, some of the artists bonded so well that they did not want to stop creating together when the ten days was finished. Thus, Zoink Gang was formed, an intimidating squad featuring Smino, Buddy, J.I.D, and Guapdad 4000. Now, I didn’t get a clear answer from Smino on whether we’d get a full album from the collective, but he emphatically let me know “it’s Zoink Gang bitch!” so fingers crossed! All joking aside, Smino is undoubtedly one of the most talented young artists rising on the rap scene. His family roots, impressive catalogue, performing ability, versatile sound, and support from his peers all combine to make him poised for both success and longevity in music and beyond. As a fan, I’m just excited to watch it unfold.