Smino's "blkswn" and "NOIR"

What’s up guys! So on Tuesday, I decided to listen to an artist I’ve heard about for a while due to my friends. His name is Smino, and he’s a part of a trend of hip hop that I’ve noticed has taken a space in the rap atmosphere with its usage of funk, electro-beat, and chill hip hop beats. I didn’t listen Smino before, so it was something new to experience as I played his music. Upon listening to the starting track of his album “blkswn”, I knew this was going to be something different. Smino uses his opportunity to use his debut project as a chance to combine his identity and his unique sound he’s created. Songs like Glass Flow, B Role, and Amphetamine show his usage of calmer yet sophisticated rhymes as he talks about his complicated life surrounding maturity and substance abuse. One thing I personally enjoyed about Smino was his ability to experiment with his lyricism, having unique and fun word play with examples being “Edgar Allen Poe’D Up” and “Father Son Holy Smoke”. Upon finishing the album, I felt like what I got out of the album was an artist that chooses to create his own path towards how he presents us his story, going outside of the box with unique beats that take inspirations from jazz, funk, electro-beat, and R&B.

I also decided to listen to his second album, “NOIR”, and it’s again furthering the uniqueness Smino brings to hip-hop along with a new sense of confidence. The album name shows this bravery as we hear lines of his girlfriend talking about how the word “noir” means extravagant and purely black in the first track. This idea is furthered through the album as we hear snippets of influences Smino has gathered in his life to create an album like this, featuring voices of his friends, family, and strangers in St. Louis. I enjoyed this developed charisma, and it was also nice to see that his wordplay hasn’t changed with tracks such as “L.M.F” and “TEQUILA MOCKINGBIRD”. Overall, these two albums did a great job in showing me a rounded picture of who the artist “Smino” is, and a glance at this unique form of music that’s circulating today.

Favorite Songs:

“blkswn” : Wild Irish Roses, Glass Flows, Spitshine, Netflix & Dusse, Father Son Holy Smoke, B Role, Blkoscars, Amphetamine

“NOIR” : KLINK, SPINZ, Z4L, WE GOT THE BISCUITS, PIZANO, FENTY SEX, KRUSHED ICE, MF GROOVE

IMPORTANT: none of the music heard on the video is mine and are owned respectively by their artists and music labels.