Premiere: Weston Allen - 'The Gloves Come Off'

In this project, Smino wanted to keep things simple, and even though he’s a bit of an acrobat when it comes to rapping he doesn’t hold back his message. Always having explored love and Blackness in his previous projects blkswn and NIOR, Luv 4 Rent feels like it’s tying up loose ends to the trilogy, but there’s always something new to learn, he says. He drops a lot of gems in this interview with office; he’s got wisdom in his words and speaks with intention, just like in his music. Take a look at what the rapper had to say about his perceptions of self, consistency, and perpetual learning.

The themes of self-love explored in your album are really important regarding the Black male community. Reaching into yourself, did you think this album would impact that community the way it has as a Black man?

I don't think I was thinking about that. I was just trying to express what I was trying to express, but it was cool to see the response, like a lot of people definitely pick their own themes that they resonated with out of it.

I love the artwork for this album, and I know it is kind of a running joke where all your album covers have you doing your hair but can you talk about your connection to getting your hair done growing up back home and give me a play-by-play of the feelings evoked from that?

I started doing my shit when I was a Chicago and started my hair journey, I guess, from there. I think it just became a thing. Like, I don't even know I had cool hair until people just start telling me and shit. So after a while, I was like, fuck, I'm gonna just make that part of my vibes. I mean, I didn't even really have a choice; I just had hair. For the second album cover, I actually did that unintentionally I was trying to be cohesive. And then on this one, I was just like, it was kind of interesting to see that all the people that were telling me to hurry up and drop was like, “I bet he gonna have someone doing his hair.” And I'm just like, I wanted to play on that but at the same time, I was just playing on the fact that influence-wise, I definitely see a lot more Black dudes doing their hair, saying good night taking care of their shit since you know back in the day. Not to say I started this shit because, Black people been taking care of their hair but I feel like I brought a little awareness to our generation, and other people behind me doing their hair in the mirror kind of represented that metaphor.

How has consistency and working at a steady pace looked like for you since your now 10-year career has begun?

Damn, let me see, you got me tweaked out. I started dropping in 2015, yeah, so damn almost 8 years. I mean, my first real one was in 2017 but, it do feel like that long. Like I always say, just only racing yourself, like being on pace with yourself. Doing shit when you’re ready. I just constantly made music, also. So, I'm just conceptualizing and thinking about ideas all day, not even trying to think of them and this is just happening to me like this shit be happening all day. So trying to sort out what’s right to put out at the moment, what I need to get off my chest, what do people need to hear right now, what do my people need to hear right now? And shit like that, that's how you stay consistent for me. Especially throughout the time, I got the homies who I affiliate myself with, real talented artists and shit. So, when they put out music, it's like I'm putting out music.

That’s real. I really like that, racing against only yourself. Comparison really is the killer of joy and creativity too. How are you always keeping ideas fresh, and how are you keeping a clear head to maintain the sense of creativity that you have?

I think I just experienced life and I just tried to be very present when I experience life. That way when I record and shit, I got a lot to say. It's not really like a thing, you had to be around a know. I'm a musician so, music is in my body. It's like Kobe shooting some shit like I've practiced a long time just so I can be able to just wake up and to do this shit if I feel like it or not, you know what I mean? Yeah, I wish I had something way cooler to say, but that’s it.

No that’s really cool. In this new album, what was the most exciting part of ideating to executing?

Two things. One, towards the last lock-in session that we had, we did it in Malibu and it's crazy it was at a big ass house right by the ocean. We just had a bunch of mushrooms, we made “Louphoria.” I made “Pro Freak” in there, I made a bunch of shit, and that was a good time. I always just like getting out with everybody because outside of what I'm making, I like to see what everybody else is making. I'm more influenced by my friends than anything. Another thing was right before my album was finished, I was trying to put it in order and sequencing like I do all my sequencing myself. I do all of the blends and shit and I was in there trying to do this shit. And I threw a listening party that same night before I was finished. To my manager like, “I’m throwing a listening party like fuck it see if you can get this spot.” And they got us a spot and I still wasn’t done with the tracklist so that's what made me finish the album, me throwing a listening party. So, that was probably like the most exciting part. I was in there tweaking but, that shit got done.

I love that. Your intro and outro sound the same, and it really makes the album feel whole and poetic to start and end the same way; how’d you come up with that idea?

I like to look at that shit like book ends. Like when I'm thinking about my intro to blkswn was “Wild Irish Roses.” The intro to NØIR was “Kovert” and the intro to this is “4rm Da Source” and “No Ls.” So, I like to think of it like that's the cover, so I'm just always trying to like, color up the cover real good. And then the backend, I ain’t know how to match how I started. I wanted to start different and different than how I started, but like still have it similar, because “No Ls” was so turnt at the beginning. So I was just like, shit I’ll just put this part back. I wanted it to come twice to make it feel like it was going into the next.

In this album, I can feel a spiritual essence of church. Do you still go to church or pray?

I pray a lot. I ain’t been to church in a while but I pray a lot.

Same, I grew up in church too, but I haven’t been to church in a long time, but I pray a lot too. How would you say that that influenced your sound?

Every way, every way possible 100%. Like, I'm a drummer naturally, like, I've been playing drums my whole life. All my flows come from that, I've never run out of pockets. Ain’t no pocket I can't find then like, all my harmonies and shit come from being a drummer and having to just sit there, not be able to play but, have to just hold the tempo and listen, and then try to figure out the harmonies and the parts that go together. Subconsciously, I just know harmony because I grew up in that shit like that. Then the actual desire to make motherfuckers feel something when you on stage, the desire to like really touch someone's heart and their soul like that come from church too. My showmanship on stage and my crowd interaction. I mean, almost everything. Rapping, that's the only thing I didn't pick up in church.

Luv 4 Rent is about these different kinds of love. How has your sound evolved with your self-love journey?

I feel like even with relationships now, I just kind of keep shit separate. It's not like it's transactional like I require a lot, you know what I mean, it's just like, if-it’s-love-it’s-love-type-shit and when I was making these songs, I felt like I was just doing the same thing just keeping shit simple. Like lot of times where I like go off on a tandem and just do my beaucoup, my acrobatic shit I can do. I didn't, and I was just more so focusing on, like I want to just like bask in the moment on this pretty part. I think can just treat everything more simple as I get older.

How did you get comfortable with being this vulnerable as an artist in this particular album?

Shit, I mean, on my momma man, I ain’t never been no lame, I've always been cool just being myself. I always noticed people drawn to me and I never felt like, I gotta bend or some shit. So if I feel like talking about love, I’ll literally walk in and tell all the guys, I'm sad right now, I’m finna drink this drink, and then make “90 Proof” or something. That’s literally how this shit go, it be all love, I got real niggas around me. I mean, they might talk shit too, that’s why they real too. That's what I real to feed me. So it's just like, all this shit, you know I don’t really hide my emotions from myself.

That's really beautiful and very healthy. I feel like mental health, especially, doesn't really get talked about a lot with Black men. So that's really beautiful that you have that, and do you feel like your parents kind of shaped that, like do you feel like you had an upbringing where you could be yourself?

Yeah they still raising me like that is just like cool shit I be noticing that just put me on as I’m grown, as I’m older. Like running a business and doing all this shit like, my momma still teaching me shit.

What’s one of your favorite childhood memories?

One of my favorite childhood memories, let me think. I’d say my first time ever getting drums my grandma made my pops buy me some bongos, and I didn’t know what to do with them but, I had to do something in the school talent show in first grade and that was my first time just like I'd like everybody to chanting my name and shit. I vividly remember the day, shit was tight. It kind of made me want that more. 

You’re returned home to perform for kribmas. How would you say St. Louis in general has shaped your sound?

St. Louis like more so sound-wise, my lyrics raunchy, like, the reason my lyrics just like straight force. I’m very explicit with my lyrics even if I'm talking about something positive but, that’s just some hood shit. We just talk how we talk and allow that to at the same time. I say the Midwest in general, we're like St. Louis is real soulful,m church of St. Louis, but, the Midwest, in general, is probably like one of the most just soulful places on earth. I don't know what the fuck t we figured out but just a lot of like crooners out there. Everybody, like y'all most of the rappers even the Detroit niggas be doing all their cool shit. They got a little bit of croons to them. I don’t know, I think it’s just like endless, the blues element experience. They got soul.