Chicago-based St Louis-born rapper Christopher "Smino" Smith, debuted with the
mixtape Smeezy Dot Com (2012), followed by
the three-song EP S!Ck S!Ck S!Ck (2015), with
the stuttering orchestral soul-rap ballad Ruby Red and
Monte Booker's surreal arrangement in Ballet,
and by the five-song EP Blkjuptr (2015), whose
soul-rap ballads Blkjuptr and Poppa rely on vocal acrobatics,
while the liquid beat is the highlight of Zoom.
Blkswn (2017) is too long at 18 songs but it includes two groups of songs that stand out. The first group is the ones with catchy refrains:
Anita (Jean Deaux sings the soul refrain),
Maraca (a lot more original) and
Glass Flows (the real melodic peak, which Ravyn Lenae sings).
The second group is the raps that highlight Smith's vocal skills:
his signature song Wild Irish Roses,
Father Son Holy Smoke, and the
frenzied Innamission.
The atmospheric ballads are generally tedious, with the exception of the
eight-minute Amphetamine which evolves into a complex narrative.
The album is overlong.
Obviously Smino didn't learn from his mistakes because his second album
N0IR (2018) is again an 18-song tour de force.
A psychedelic feeling pervades half of the album, like in the
somnolent/stoned Summer Salt and in the
hazy/lazy Kovert, and sometimes coupled with jazzy accents.
Even the Ravyn Lenae wailing in MF Groove sounds influenced by
jazz singers.
The catchy Z4L stands out.
Lots of underdeveloped ideas, and some filler.
Smino also founded the musical collective Zero Fatigue and played in the hip-hop groups Zoink Gang and Ghetto Sage (this one with Saba and Noname).
Booker is still the main producer on Luv 4 Rent (2022), but is joined
by a cast of 15 other producers. And for the first time Smino incorporates samples. Thus the album is his most eclectic yet, with bangers like
Pro Freak and Pudgy next to jazzy ballads like
Blu Billy and to the funky soul-rap hybrid 90 Proof.
