It takes a whole lot of living to write just a little – Big Smo
With his patented, gravel-mouthed flow and rhymes about moonshine and muddin’, Big Smo, a large, hulking country boy from Shelbyville, Tennessee, made a name for himself in the largely urban world of hip-hop. More than that, he helped carve out a whole new lane.
Country rap, or hick-hop, as it’s sometimes called, is not the black sheep of the music industry it once was. In the form of tracks such as Lil Nas X’s “Old Town Road,” which topped the country, rap and pop charts, country rap has become mainstream.
But when Smo was driving around the South, placing his music in strangers’ hands, country rap didn’t even exist, either as a style or a marketing category. Back then, many people didn’t know what to make of his hard-nosed rhymes about bush hogging a field and cruising down backroads, but others knew exactly what he was talking about.
Though Smo insists he wasn’t trying to make anything new when he and his high school friend Ray Riddle, aka DJ Orig, were toying with rapping over samples of country music, they were on the cutting edge.
“It’s really just instrumentation [that’s different with country rap]. The rap never really changed. Instead of in the hood you’re on the back road, but the story’s still the same,” Smo said. “It’s still hustling and partying, and having a good time.”
In 2014, after years of grinding it out in small clubs across the south, Smo catapulted into the national spotlight with his eponymous A&E reality TV show, Big Smo, and his major label debut, Kuntry Livin’, which reached number 9 on Billboard’s country album chart and number 3 on the rap chart.
As big as 2014 was for Smo, 2015 looked to see his star ascend even higher. He had a freshly-inked deal with Warner Music Nashville and the second season of his reality show was filmed and ready to air. But before March came to an end, everything had changed.
Chest pains staggered Smo. It got so bad, he couldn’t even walk across a room. A trip to the hospital and a few tests later, the worst was confirmed: he needed quadruple bypass surgery.
“I was 39,” Smo said. “I always thought I’d have a few more years. When I was younger I thought I wouldn’t live past 25. And I lived like I wouldn’t live past 25. Then 26 came, and 27 and 39 rolls around and you can’t walk, your chest hurts.”
As soon as the doctor told him the news, that was it. He stopped smoking, left the moonshine alone, put the whiskey back on the shelf and kept it there. He even gave up his beloved bacon.
Thankfully the surgery went well, but Smo had a long recovery ahead of him.
“I got my second chance,” Smo said. “And I feel it. . . . Now it’s all about ‘what are you gonna do with the time you have?’”
And what did Smo do? First, he followed the doctor’s orders. He focused on his health. He started exercising regularly and lost a hundred pounds, a move that inspired him to drop the “Big” from his stage moniker. And then he went back to the lab.
We the People was his “first sober album,” as he described it, and his last on Warner Music Nashville. It was a strong outing, but it didn’t chart. And in short order, Smo found himself without a record deal. But it wasn’t just the majors that left Smo in the lurch. His clean living saw him lose a number of close friends and business associates alike.
Despite all this, Smo views the five years that have elapsed since his surgery as a blessing.
“Waking up from a life-threatening scare, that’s a real second chance. Now, it’s all about happiness. You cannot achieve happiness with money or success. I know that for a fact. If you’re not content with yourself, nothing outside that will ever be good. I tell people heart surgery is the best thing that’s happened to me. I’d do it again if it wasn’t so painful. Just for the reset.”
With this newfound sense of clarity and focus, Smo walked away from his reality TV show. He realized it just wasn’t good for his family.
“I was oversharing,” he said, “letting people into the door of my home and sitting at the table with my kids and talking to my mom. If I knew what I know now, I probably never would have done it.”
It’s been five years since Smo’s surgery, and in many ways, he’s a new man. But on his new album, This One’s for You, he raps with the same hunger and passion that brought him from the backwoods of Shelbyville to the center of country rap. On “Boss 2.0” and “Tear the Mud Up,” a collaborative effort with DJ Paul of Three 6 Mafia, Smo shows that he’s not just a great country rapper, he’s a great rapper. Period.
Smo might have stepped away from the limelight, and he might not be on a major label these days, but with his natural charisma and a baritone that hits like a sledgehammer, This One’s for You makes one thing abundantly clear: Smo’s still a star. His weight may be down, but you’d be foolish to count him out.
From directing and editing videos to hawking barbecue sauce, Smo’s always kept his hands in a number of different pots. The past two years have been no different. When he wasn’t writing rhymes, he was working on his memoir with award-winning music biographer Jake Brown.
My Life in a Jar charts Smo’s years in the music business and his stint on TV, but it also offers readers a glimpse behind the scenes, touching on his rare skin condition and his time hustling on the streets, as well as a laundry list of other career failures. Much like Smo himself, it’s arresting, endearing and funny, all at once. One of my favorite stories involved Smo standing atop a float in the Shelbyville Christmas parade, rapping his custom-penned “All I Want for Christmas Is My 6 Gold Teeth” over and over, 46 times in a row.
When asked about his willingness to try new things, be it rapping as Santa, writing a memoir or hawking Meat Mud, his line of barbecue sauce, Smo turned to metaphor.
“I like rolling the dice. I like going from the blackjack table to the roulette to the craps to the slot machine. We’re just going to play this whole thing to see what wins and what loses. And what loses, we’ll try a different spin on it. Every loss doesn’t have to shut you down. It can take you back to the drawing board.”
Smo will always be an entrepreneur, but where his gut will lead him next is anybody’s guess.
“I mean, we can stop doing music today and start making pizza. I like making pizza,” he said. “It’s not about some level of success, some bank account. It’s just about happiness and the quality of my life, for whatever length that is. I could die tomorrow, but today, today I want to be happy.”
Smo’s new album and book are available at therealbigsmo.com. You can check out his Youtube series Smo on the Go on his Youtube page, SmoMotionTV. And keep a look out for the audiobook version of My Life in a Jar.
