Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Marcus Smith. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Hi Marcus, thanks for joining us today. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?
The most meaningful project I’ve worked on is a song called “UONEVNO” that I wrote with my band Black & Broke back in 2013.
I was severely depressed and spent a lot of time alone in my apartment. The only times I really left were to go to work (3rd shift at a hotel) and to go to band practice on Sundays. One particular Sunday, my guitarist came up with a riff that was beautifully tragic. I felt like this chord progression and riff fully encompassed how I was feeling. So I recorded about 8 bars of him playing it on my phone and over the next week I challenged myself to expressed all of my thoughts in song form.
UONEVNO was the first song I wrote in over a year due to my mind just being clouded with dark thoughts. I took my lyrics to band practice the next Sunday on a piece of worn and folded computer paper that I had been scribbling on all week at work (instead of working). The first time I performed it for the band, I feel like I may have blacked out because I have no memory of those 4 minutes. But I remember realizing when I was finished that a couple of my band mates were tearing up. They had no idea I was going through that.
Fast forward to 2015, we were preparing our self-titled EP and performing UONEVNO live at every show. After one show, a young lady came up to me crying because she too was experiencing depression and she told me “I didn’t think anyone else understood how I felt. Thank you for that song”. It caught me off guard because I had never thought of how my words would effect someone else in a similar situation.
The title “UONEVNO” comes from my response during that summer of 2013 when someone would ask me how I was doing. The only way I knew how to respond was to say “You don’t even know.”
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
Marcus Smith is a rapper, singer, and songwriter born and raised in Cleveland, OH. After 15 years in hip-hop bands Black & Broke and SANKURO, Smith is now navigating the music scene as a solo artist.
Smith is a self-taught multi-instrumentalist. Starting with piano when he was 14, he learned a new instrument each summer for five years, including guitar, bass, ukulele, and drums. As a kid, Marcus Smith would sit in his room trying to imitate his favorite artists Weird Al Yankovic and Hanson and their influence comes through in his witty lyrics and affinity for harmonies.
“Music is such an important part of my family, with all of my 9 siblings involved in music in some shape or form. I love that I can make the music that I love while representing the Smith family name; specifically honoring my dad and older brother by way of our shared name Marcus.”
Marcus Smith released his first official EP, #Bananas in 2014, the follow up EP, #Pudding in 2016, and in 2019 his debut solo album, NILLA (an acronym for “Now I’m Living Life Again.”) Taking care of 70% of the production himself, the album mixes some Childish Gambino inspired hip-hop with Bruno Mars inspired crooning and is 100% Marcus Smith.
In July 2020, Marcus released an EP titled Milky Way Lover and is currently working on his sophomore album Unique Mélange scheduled to release in early 2023 after a successful Kickstarter campaign in the summer of 2022.
Marcus Smith has been grinding in the music scene for 17 years and shows zero plans to stop.
What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?
The biggest thing is to support, support, and support some more! If you enjoy someone’s art, let them know. That can be anything from buying their album to verbally telling them you enjoy a piece they did. Sometimes it feels like we are doing this for ourselves or for nothing. It’s an amazing feeling to hear that people support you. The only way for a scene to thrive (especially the Ohio music scene) is if we support each other and eliminate the crabs in a bucket mentality.
Are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?
I’m 32 years old and I wish I would’ve known about ten years ago how easy it is to build a fab base through touring and setting up those tours on your own. I feel I wasted a lot of time not doing that. Now that I’m older with a family and a full time job that I love, it’s harder to go on the road for days or weeks at a time and still maintain.
Contact Info:
- Website: Www.marcussmithmusic.com
- Instagram: @marcussmithmusic
- Facebook: Facebook.com/marcussmith216
- Twitter: @misterdsmith
- Youtube: YouTube.com/marcussmithmusic
Image Credits
-Amber Patrick of aterrormusical Photography -Riley Furey