Smiler: Momentum
Momentum Music Fund Recipient 2014
It doesn’t take too much coaxing for south London artist Smiler to wax lyrical about the place that his favourite artists from rap and hip-hop hold in their respective genres. Without prompting, he’ll happily take you on a journey through the evolution of nineties East Coast rap. “And then I stopped listening to everyone,” he says, stressing ‘everyone’ to really mean every single rapper that he has so far mentioned. “I realised that the more I listened to people, the more I started to sound like them.”
As much as Smiler loves the genre’s heritage, he’s also passionate about helping to drive the music into bold new territory – as evidenced with upcoming collaborations with crossover sensations Rizzle Kicks and Ed Sheeran. Respect for Smiler flows from a variety of leading artists. Professor Green personally invited him to support him on tour, while he also played with BoB and Nas.
Activity
The funding will be supporting a campaign to release and promote a single and album in 2014.
“I am thrilled that PRS for Music Foundation and Momentum have offered to support my forthcoming independent single and album campaign, due for release later this year. ‘The Tonight Trilogy’ is a 3 part musical story about love and betrayal, delivered in a unique creative format that will include music videos, live performances and social media elements. This will be followed by an ‘official’ single and then the release of my debut album. As a self-funded project, the Momentum funding will play a massive part in delivering my project.”