Smino’s been constructing anticipation for his forthcoming album, Luv 4 Hire, for a bit now. He kicked off the album cycle with the one “90 Proof,” which featured J. Cole and lived as much as hype swirling round it. Only a couple days in the past, he shared the quilt artwork for the mission, which is a photograph of him and his mates standing in a backyard and inspecting themselves in a mirror.
Smino has constructed a profession out of marching to the beat of his personal drummer, and his latest single follows this road-less-travelled mentality. “Matinee” finds Smino at his most multifarious; the St. Louis rapper bounces between flows, pitches, and sounds with ease.
“Matinee” begins with falsetto crooning from Smino over shimmering electrical piano and a distant, looped chant. Smino talks of late nights and passionate love: “I been drinkin’ all evening / And I’m smokin’ all proper / St. Louis to Shanghai / St. Lucia, can’t lose, we unfastened, we Goose’d up, child / My child do it like she tryna pay her lease,” he sings.
The track ends with an abrupt tonal shift, with a booming kick and a name and response. It’s the kind of unpredictability you may predict from Smino. Try the track beneath.
Quotable Lyrics
I wanna hone it, I wanna bone, rattling
Pray any individual inform her I’m a grown man
I romanced her, I enhanced her
Diamonds dance within the Tesla, “Electrical Slide,” get it?
