Get in touch: @SMKA | smkaproductions@gmail.com
Off of Voli’s latest project, In the Meanwhile. Here’s the official video to an amazing record produced by SMKA. As we work up towards the release of The Wall, I will continue to share more & more Voli music, videos etc.
This was originally a song we did for The Report, which turned out to be one of my favorite SMKA songs to date.
Big KRIT was one of the most anticipated artists at A3C, and he did not disappoint.
The homie Dee-1 rocked the DJbooth.net showcase at A3C.
The homie Aleon Craft performing LIVE at 2011 A3C, on the DJbooth showcase.
Thanks to Paul Forrest for coming through an playing guitar like a CHAMP on the set!
SONGS off Mothership Decatur (Prod. SMKA)
SMKA collaborator and dope ass MC, K.Sparks just dropped his latest project on DJbooth.net
DL/LISTEN HERE
K. Sparks & DJ Booth present his newest album project Diagnosis: Success. The Queens New York Recording Artist chose the album title Diagnosis: Success as a statement for anyone that is on a journey to achieve their goals. “Everyone wants to be successful in life. I wanted to create an album that conveys that message while speaking on various experiences that I’ve encountered on my road to success.” Diagnosis Success is an eclectic blend of music that features guest contributions from Rapsody, Laws, ADD-2, Angelous, Jarren Benton, Charmingly Ghetto, JAYVINE, Tina Quallo, Laetitia Dana, and Lorria Michelle. Production credits include Kurser, Moe Productions, Marvel, Navi D., Slick-Beatz, and JC_BeaTzZ. Diagnosis Success stretches the boundaries of conventional Hip Hop
Mike, of SMKA, is the artists director of A3C… and we are personally VERY excited about this bill….This show is going to be on the outdoor stage on Friday, Oct 7th… and features a GREAT line-up, including:
Thanks to DJbooth.net for the continued support of A3C and hiphop
Big K.R.I.T
Pill
Jean Grae
Aleon Craft
Saigon
Dee 1
J.NiCs
Shane Eli
YONAS
The League of Extraordinary Gz
Jon Hope
Hosted by Hustle Simmons
Our good friends, the Canz, just released their new project “The Slow Rise II: Low Winds, High Sails,” which was scheduled for release today, sad to say its NOT.
They are still working to put out a complete and classic project, and decided to give ppl a little taste of what to expect. Here it is “PRVWIISRII” an EP featuring 5 songs off our new project.
Ghanaian-born, ATL-based duo The Canz have stepped into the Booth to bring fans a preview of their forthcoming digital album, The Slow Rise II: Low Winds, High Sails.
Titled Preview II SR II, the sampler features five tracks off the late-September release. Included are previously-featured, reader-acclaimed cuts “Sweetest Thing,” “Ferris Bueller (Personal Day Off)” and “Face the Truth.”
Joining The Canz throughout Preview II SR II are Laws, El Prez, Aleon Craft, Danay Mariney and Andy Slagle. Beats come courtesy of StatikMusic, Kato, Dale Danja and Marcotiks – DJBooth
K.Sparks is becoming a regular collaborator with SMKA, and if you listen to this song…or his track on The 808 Experiment: Vol 3, you will know why. Simply put, K.Sparks is a really really dope MC.
SMKA x DJbooth.net Present The Report (sponsored by Beat Thang)
DL/Listen: K. Sparks – “Wondering” (Prod. SMKA)
When it comes to hip-hop, rappers search far and wide for the right producer to work with. It’s like finding the right barber. Some give a really good cut but don’t say a word, others are your instantly your best friend but ruin your hair. Then you have a perfect barber: great quality, good customer service, always comes through and might even be a little overlooked. Well I’m guessing Booth favorite K. Sparks would agree that ATL beatmakers SMKA are in that last, rare category. It seems like every project the production team is behind they’re always on point and the Beat Thang-sponsored The Report is no different. Today’s feature, Wondering, is one of the choice cuts (pun intended) off the EP, complete with funky and space-aged production that gets your head nodding, although it’s Sparks’ flow gives that will send listeners to the chiropractor after a head-nodding overdose. If you were wondering whether or not you should download The Report, you should. So get to it right now, we promise it will leave you feeling good – kind of like a fresh new haircut. – DJBooth.net
The Report [East Coast & Midwest '11 Ed.] presented by DJbooth.net & SMKA (June 22nd)
The Report is produced by SMKA and features a handful of talented up and coming MC’s from the Midwestern and Northeastern, including: Jon Connor, YP, ESSO, Jabee, Voli, Maffew Ragazino & K Sparks.
DL/Listen: Jon Connor – “Money Comes Fast” (Prod. SMKA)
“There’s nothing fast or easy about the grind to make a living in the rap game but, as the Morton Salt girl could tell you, “When it rains, it pours.” Having put in overtime to plant the seeds for future success, Michigan emcee Jon Connor takes a moment to luxuriate in the fruits of his labors on freshly-leaked EP cut Money Come Fast. Making its world premiere right here on our frontpage, this ambitious joint finds Booth-approved beat crew SMKA working their magic behind the boards, serving up a mellow, street-ready bass-keyboard groove as the freestyle series alum extols the virtues of hard work and resilience “I was grindin’ since 11, before I even scratched the surface / doubters that would try to deter me only made me determined.”As for his less successful rivals, Connor has a few theories on why they’re unable to make any progress “I run amok, you n*ggas stuck, your shoes is made of semen.” Gross—but dope! Those who like what they’re hearing can find more fresh tunes on DJBooth.net, Beat Kangz’ and SMKA’s The Report EP, a seven-track project showcasing a variety of Midwestern and Northeastern buzzmakers.” – DJBooth.net
Very few media outlets take the time and effort necessary to review Independent project…DJBooth.net just so happens to be one of those outlets. I can’t say enough about what they do over there, but they have quickly asserted themselves as one of the most respectable hip-hop blogs on the internets.
CHECK OUT THE DJBOOTH.NET REVIEW OF… Jarren Benton meets SMKA: Huffing Glue with Hasselhoff
I didn’t realize it until I finished my first pass through Jarren Benton’s new, fantastically titled album, Huffing Glue With Hasslehoff, but music hasn’t been fun in a long time. I’ve hated music, I’ve loved music, I’ve heard music that makes me want to make (another) baby and I’ve heard music that makes me want to fight a bouncer, but I honestly can’t remember the last time I just purely enjoyed music. So right out the box, I have to thank Benton and Hasslehoff’s co-creators, Atlanta creative construction crew SMKA. Huffing Glue With Hasslehoff is pretty good times. (Note to kids: That was figurative. Don’t huff glue, and if you do, don’t do it with alcoholic ex-TV lifeguards.)
Let me be clear, Huffing Glue isn’t good times in the “birthday cake and piñatas” sense, more like in the “getting hammered and throwing a television off your roof“ sense. (Kids, see note above about things you shouldn’t do.) From beginning to finish, Benton and SMKA have created a destructively creative work that punches holes in the rap clichés that hold us all hostage. Lord knows rap could use some punching.
CHECK OUT THE DJBOOTH.NET REVIEW OF… Jarren Benton meets SMKA: Huffing Glue with Hasselhoff
If I compared Benton’s rhymes to an early Eminen’s, would everyone freak out? Or am I only allowed to compare other white rappers to Eminem? Whatever, I’m doing it. As dope as Benton is, he doesn’t have nearly the range Em does, or at least I haven’t heard it yet, but his willingness to say absolutely anything, to somehow make the darkest bars imaginable also sound hilarious, immediately reminds me of a pre-fame Slim Shady. Think I’ve completely lost it? Go listen to Ima Murder and Em’s Wake Up Show freestyle back to back. I’ll leave the comparisons there before all the rap traditionalists have an aneurysm, but even putting all that aside, it’s safe to say that there are very few emcees out there, if any, delivering the kind of spasmodically hard verses we get on tracks like Get a Load of Me and F*ck That Sh*t. “I’m paintin you portraits / they feedin you horse sh*t / they vision’s distorted / leave em dead in they Porches.” Yep, that about sums it up.
Side note: Regular readers know I’ve been on a multi-year campaign to end skits. Every rapper thinks they’re funny, none of them are. Meet the exception to the rule. Both the DJ skit, which not so subtly mocks DJs who won’t shut up (cough Flex cough Khaled cough), and their version of the Dos Equis Most Interesting Man in the World commercial (shout out to Fruit Roll Ups), are legitimately hilarious. But I want to make this clear; rappers, this is not permission for you to bust out some skits on your next album. Don’t do it. Trust me.
CHECK OUT THE DJBOOTH.NET REVIEW OF… Jarren Benton meets SMKA: Huffing Glue with Hasselhoff
Since Huffing Glue is truly a collaborative album it’s only right I take a moment to turn the spotlight on SMKA’s production work. With the exception of Justin Bieber, which finds Kato crafting a Lex Luger-ish banger, if Lex Luger chopped samples about the Biebster, the entirety of the album owes its boardwork to 808s Blake and Justin Padron. Like their previous release The Stargazing Soundtrack, the men of SMKA continue to develop a style that’s simultaneously in orbit and street level. As far as I’m concerned A Spacesuit & Parachute could have ended with the perfect Back to the Future clip, making the lightly blinking and ambient distorted beat that follows is icing on the proverbial cake. I could say the same thing about the aforementioned Get a Load of Me, which lifts a booming bass line with sharp keys hits, and the speaker blowing F*ck That Sh*t. From the first note you always know when you’re listening to a SMKA beat, and that usually means good times are on the way.
This isn’t an album that will change your life, except to the extent that the more musically sheltered among us will find their horizon significantly expanded. This isn’t an album that will inspire you, except to the extent that it may inspire some to something more like themselves. Instead, Huffing Glue With Hasslehoff is simply one of the more enjoyably albums I’ve come across in a minute, and apparently making enjoyable music is harder than it should be. Or maybe Jarren Benton and SMKA are just better at it than everyone else. Yeah, that might just be it.
CHECK OUT THE DJBOOTH.NET REVIEW OF… Jarren Benton meets SMKA: Huffing Glue with Hasselhoff