Spark one and watch STL rapper Smino Brown’s new doc ‘Day Zero’

On March 21st the constantly changing landscape of hip-hop found home to a fresh new sound when St. Louis native Smino Brown dropped his debut LP, Blkswn.

Since it’s release Smino has been able to collab and work with some of the most talented up and coming stars, touring with Mick Jenkins and featuring on Saba’s Bucket List Project and Noname’s Telefone. Even now, he’s on tour with SZA, who has one of the biggest songs in the country.

Blckswn, and everything leading up to it, made this all possible.

With a background in gospel music, Smino has managed to craft an organic sound of live instrumentation and unique chord rifts fresh from anything being heard in hip-hop right now and as a result, the artist has developed a buzz that has catapulted him into the national spotlight.

From songs like “Anita” and “Amphetamine” to “Nextflix and Dusse,” if one thing is clear, it’s that the Midwestern MC has a high music IQ and the stage presence to back it up.

With less than a third of the year left, Smino’s debut still surfaces in album of the year conversations and rightfully so.

Now, with the assistance of Mass Appeal, Smino takes us behind the scenes of where he’s from, in a mini-doc titled Day Zero.

In the doc, he invites you into his life where you meet his mother, cousin, childhood friends, and other influential people who took part in making him who he is today, both as an artist and as a man.

From the origin and culture of Zero Fatigue to the assembling of his musical family in Chicago, Smino unveils intimate details about how one of the year’s best efforts came about.

The last time there was a talent out of St. Louis of relevance he rocked a band-aid under his eye with one pants leg rolled up, so the timing could not be better. Knowing this, Smino makes sure to take the influence of his city with him everywhere as he shows in the documentary.

As the last quarter of the year comes around, the insight of Day Zero serves as a great refresher for the album and when you see Smino’s journey, it inspires you to embark on your own.

If anything can be taken away from this doc, it’s that Smino is just getting started and that Blckswn is the beginning of something bigger. Watch the doc above.