With the constant churn of new music these days, it’s easy to overlook gems, which is why D Smoke‘s latest is worth taking a listen to. “Shame On You,” which he dropped on Friday, deserves a little space of its own for its defiant and motivational message praising the independent, righteous rebels of the music industry. He also advocates switching up the usual shootouts that many of his rap peers propagate in favor of good, old-fashioned fisticuffs: “Put the Glock away and sock on they face / Show your pain if you brave,” he challenges in verse two.
The Rhythm+Flow champion from the City of Champions has kept a relatively low profile in 2021 as he works on the follow-up to his Grammy-nominated 2020 debut Black Habits, but that hasn’t stopped him from poking his head out to deliver a few choice shots of his hard-won Inglewood wisdom. After opening the year with the motivational “It’s OK” and its accompanying video, in March, he joined Nigeria’s Fireboy DML for an inspiring track titled — what else? — “Champion,” and contributed to another Netflix project in the form of the “Basketball” theme song from the basketball-themed Last Chance U reboot.
From the fraught first year that the Grammys acknowledged hip-hop, it was clear that the then-emerging genre and the old-Hollywood music business establishment that puts the show on each year would never see eye-to-eye. Hip-hop is a youth movement; the average age of the Recording Academy was well into middle age until very, very (seriously, like 2018) recently. Hip-hop comes from the experiences of mainly underserved Black, Latin, and Asian creators; the Grammys — again, until recently — have always been very, very white.
And while the Grammys have made a concerted effort to address its shortcomings regarding its treatment of rap and hip-hop, the genre itself has undergone massive changes since The Fresh Prince first led a hip-hop boycott of the 1989 ceremony to protest the Grammys not televising the new Best Rap Performance award. For one thing, The Fresh Prince is now better known for his extensive filmography and the extreme dad energy of his Instagram and TikTok posts than he is for his mic skills.
Meanwhile, the very attributes a rap performer must display to be taken seriously have changed from night to day. Rather than reeling off rapid-fire punchlines about how “Fresh” you are, you’re more likely to switch breezily from chattering double-time cadences to cool crooning. The synthesizers and programmed drums of the early years have given way to cavernous 808s thundering away over warped samples from classical music and drumless soul loops spinning away behind intricate, ultra-violent drug tales.
So, it’d be difficult for the Grammys to “get it right” even under the best circumstances. Yet somehow, incredibly, that’s exactly what the show managed to do this year — even if no one will ever be truly satisfied with the results. The field, which included projects from California newcomer D Smoke, Midwestern coke rap kingpin Freddie Gibbs, New Orleans mystic Jay Electronica, New York veteran Nas, and Motor City rhyme mechanic Royce Da 5’9, represented one of the most balanced group’s in recent memory, pulling from multiple regions, generations, and sounds, with one thing in common: A commitment to the original tenets of “dope rhymes over dope beats.”
And while any rap fan could find plenty to complain about — once again, there was a dearth of women nominated, despite the sharp uptick in overall representation over the past several years, and no artist nominated was under 30 — there’s going to be a breaking point between having legitimate concerns and just plain moving the goalposts. In prior years, the complaint went, “The Grammys are too commercial,” only selecting projects from artists with sales numbers and widespread press, letting the importance streams overtake the value of artistic vision.
While this is a position that’s already hard enough to defend, considering the subjective nature of artistic vision in the first place, the fact remains that the Academy took long strides in addressing those concerns this year. Acknowledging longtime underground favorites like Freddie and Royce, paramount musicianship from D Smoke, and the bulletproof legacy of someone like Nas, the Grammys sent a clear message: That they heard those prior years’ complaints and took them seriously.
So, of course, it’s only natural that rap fans find something else to take issue with — namely, Nas’ win over Freddie. While both albums were collaborative efforts between two of rap’s top technicians and a pair of well-established producers in Alchemist and Hit-Boy, the fact remains that Nas is the more recognizable artist between the two among Grammy voters. He’s been a perennial contender for Best Rap Album, and while playing “what if” is always dicey, it’s almost certain that a win for Freddie over Nas would have drawn just as many vocal protests after the Queensbridge icon was once again “snubbed,” adding to his double-digit list of losses.
The fact someone like Freddie Gibbs could even receive a nod is a victory in itself — especially when you consider how many other artists were considered snubs this year. Lil Baby had one of the most-streamed albums of 2020, a No. 1 single in “The Bigger Picture,” and many rap fans’ hopes riding on him to legitimize the trap rap movement in the mainstream purview. Despite multiple female artists releasing worthy projects in 2020 or late 2019, none were nominated. No year’s field could ever be perfect, but the Gibbs nomination proves the Grammys are trying.
It also shows that maybe just adding more Black, female, or “young” voters isn’t quite enough. There’s no guarantee that these measures will ensure significant variance between voters’ tastes — after all, Grammy voters also tend to run more “intellectual” and “refined,” which helps explain why rough-edged rappers like Lil Baby might fly under their radars. That said, the show’s producers picked up the slack elsewhere; newcomers like DaBaby, Lil Baby, Megan Thee Stallion, and Roddy Ricch not only appeared on the show — one of the biggest platforms to help them launch their future bids for mainstream recognition — but Megan also won for other categories, while Chika and Doja Cat were mentioned among the Best New Artists of 2021.
Those moments count too. After all, Nas’ win was as much a result of his stature among Academy voters as it was a consolation for all the other golden gramophones he never got to display on his mantel. Cardi B pointed out as much before the show; just giving these under-the-radar artists the look helps them further their careers, which is the real goal. The Grammys aren’t the be-all, end-all. Like Nipsey Hussle — another Best Rap Album “snub” who won a different award posthumously the next year — said, “It’s a marathon, not a sprint.”
Perhaps that’s the view rap fans should take with the Grammys’ halting progress toward a more perfect relationship with hip-hop. While rap is too broad and diverse a genre to ever be able to honor every artist in every nook and cranny of rap’s various versions, there’s nothing wrong with giving them credit where it’s due, even as we ask them to consider angles they haven’t yet. That’s what they’re trying to do — heck, it’s what we should all aspire to do — and when even getting “snubbed” helps artists so much, that’s an effort that should be appreciated.
Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
Just a day after Chika’s Grammy-week Spotify Singles release found her covering Billie Eilish, Chika’s fellow Best New Artist nominee D Smoke drops his own Spotify Singles package, including a remix of his Snoop Dogg-featuring “Gaspar Yanga” and new song “Sade.” “Sade” is an ode to the music of the British singer, but it’s also an homage to the healing power of music overall, as he addresses the hardships of his upbringing in Inglewood, California, and how music helps to ease his mind.
Meanwhile, on the more aggressive “Gaspar Yanga,” D Smoke does a little chest-beating, boasting of his success and strength. The remix is a rarity in 2021, as it’s an actual “remix” of the beat, utilizing a different sample after the original took its leading looping from the Koutev Bulgarian National Ensemble’s 1991 rendition of “Bre, Petrunko.”
D Smoke discussed his Grammy nominations — he’s also up for Best Rap Album — with Ebro Darden on Apple Music, explaining what the nominations meant for him just a year after his breakout in the wake of winning the first season of Netflix’s Rhythm + Flow. “I appreciate that because a lot of people think popularity is the determinant factor,” he said. “A lot of people determine their success by the numbers. When you got artists on their own dime and their own time that make something happen, that’s worth recognizing. It’s artists that stream more than me. It’s artists that have more radio play than me. But if we’re talking about what I put out and the company that I’m amongst, I’m proud to see that list.”
Listen to D Smoke’s Spotify Singles, “Gaspar Yanga (Remix)” and “Sade,” below.
In the video for Fireboy DML’s “Champion,” the 25-year-old Abeokuta, Ogun, Nigeria native recruits burgeoning Inglewood-born superstar D Smoke as the two recite defiant, self-confident lyrics over an uptempo Afropop beat. The two indie labelmates stage an international link-up to deliver a fist-pumping anthem amid sweeping backdrops, declaring themselves legends in the making as a choir sings the refrain.
Fireboy DML is half a year removed from his latest full-length release, the Headie-winning Apollo. The project obtained Best R&B Album honors earlier this year, while Fireboy himself earned a Viewer’s Choice award. The album single “Tattoo” also won Best R&B Single. Last month, Fireboy told DJ Booth of “Champion,” “I want to go down a legend. I want my music to live forever and continue to change people’s lives long after I’m gone. I also want to be remembered not just as a good musician but as a good person.”
D Smoke will seek to follow-up on his collaborator’s success at this year’s Grammy Awards later this month. His album Black Habits is up for Best Rap Album while the Netflix Rhythm + Flow winner also contends for Best New Artist.
Watch Fireboy DML’s “Champion” video featuring D Smoke above.
Despite its title, D Smoke‘s new theme song for the latest season of Netflix’s Last Chance U is not a remake of the 1984 Kurtis Blow classic “Basketball.” While that’s slightly disappointing, the song itself is a success, thanks largely to the Inglewood native’s natural charisma, deft lyricism, and self-assured musicality. Starting with a basketball court sound effects-riddled intro and building to a lush orchestral crescendo, the new track conveys all the emotion of a championship game in progress, from warm-ups to heart-filling finale (although, the fake-out of not using the court sound as a beat a straight-up, a la Reebok ads from the 2000s, hurts a little too).
The placement is another victory for D Smoke, who launched his career as the winner of Netflix’s Rhythm + Flow contest show and is currently up for a Best Rap Album Grammy at this year’s Awards ceremony later this month. Although his debut album, Black Habits, flew a bit under the radar for folks who didn’t catch his heartfelt performances on Netflix, the intervening year certainly helped him make a mark on the rap game as he performed a virtuoso Tiny Desk Concert, lit up the BET Hip-Hop Awards alongside his family, and linked up with well-respected peers throughout the year, including Rexx Life Raj, Rapsody, and Tobe Nwigwe. Coming back to Netflix with “Basketball” is a full-circle moment for him, but it’s also only a waypoint on his journey to even bigger things.
Next month, D Smoke will have the opportunity to take home a Grammy award in the Best Rap Album and Best New Artist categories. The former comes as a result of his Black Habits project, which he released at the top of 2020. With help from Snoop Dogg, Ari Lennox, SiR, and more, the album proved to be a stellar body of work as it was met with positive reviews across the board. A little over a year removed from the album’s release, and weeks after its deluxe reissue, D Smoke stopped by Ebro Darden’s Rap Life Review show on Apple Music to discuss the nominations.
“I appreciate that because, a lot of people think popularity is the determinant factor,” he said in regards to being nominated in the Best Rap Album alongside Royce Da 5’9″, Freddie Gibbs, Nas, and Jay Electronica. “A lot of people determine their success by the numbers. When you got artists on their own dime and their own time that make something happen, that’s worth recognizing.” He added, “It’s artists that stream more than me. It’s artists that have more radio play than me. But if we’re talking about what I put out and the company that I’m amongst, I’m proud to see that list.”
Next, the Inglewood native touched on which one of his Grammy nominations is more important to him. “People ask me, ‘What’s more important, the Best New Artist or the Best Rap Album?’ I’m like, the Best Rap Album, because for the culture, I think it says so much, even to just be considered amongst those names.”
You can watch his full interview with Ebro Darden here.
