Reared in the Midwest in northern St. Louis, MO, Smino was born with creativity coursing through his veins. His grandfather, father and mother were all musicians, encouraging Smino's early curiosity towards the art form.

After releasing his 2017 album, blkswn, the St. Louis native is reopening the gates of the Gateway to the West. His path toward that goal has been paved with both commercial success-sold out shows in New York, Chicago and L.A.-as well as critical praise: Pitchfork lauded Smino's "melodic vocal style ... stretching and warping his vocals to form a new vocabulary," while Pigeons & Planes marveled at his "totally unforced confidence" and versatility.

To cap off a huge year, Smino performed on T-Pain's acoustic tour, released a remix to "Anita" with the pop legend, and played on 30+ dates in direct support of SZA on her Ctrl Tour. The 314 native continued his upward trend in 2018, juggling a laundry list of festival appearances with tours of Asia and Australia, notable collaborations with Noname and Mick Jenkins, and the preparation of his second full length album.