St. Louis rapper/singer Smino who Pitchfork said "has a melodic vocal style...stretching and warping his vocals to form a new vocabulary," flawlessly implements hip-hop, funk and soul influences on his refreshing debut album Blkswn which is equally impacted by his musical family. "My granddaddy is a bass player; he's in the Blues Hall of Fame. My daddy plays keys, my mother sings, my big cousin, she toured the world singing," Smino says. Featuring the genre bending singles "Blkswn," "Anita" and "BlkOscars" plus guest appearances by Ravyn Lenae, Bari, theMIND, Via Rosa, Akenya and Drea Smith, Exclaim calls it, "...an impressive mix of smart rapping and crowd-pleasing, futuristic R&B grooves that, oddly enough, don't sound too much like any other genre-blenders out right now."