D. Smoke recently revealed why he didn’t sign a contract with DJ Khaled after his success on Rhythm + Flow
On the latest episode of Won of One: A PLLRS Podcast, D Smoke shared why he never inked a deal with We The Best Music.
“Khaled is an incredible executive and producer, and he’s still supportive. For me, I didn’t feel like my artistry and what he does matched at that time. I wanted a lot more creative freedom,” D.Smoke told host Reginald Calixte. “The music industry is like the ocean. There are sharks and all of this stuff. Your business that you build is a quality ship, your vehicle. I focus on my nucleus and core to make sure that’s tight.”
D. Smoke also feels like he’s the perfect artist to represent the new era of Death Row Records.
“I do believe I’m the right person to carry the legacy of Death Row. As it relates to rap, there are brilliant artists already on Death Row,” he said. “October London, Jane Hancock –but they’re soul artists. I’m a bridge between what Snoop’s vision is for the label, with the soul and gospel coming out of it and rap.”
As an actor, D.Smoke appears in the Paramount+ + hit thriller Mayor of Kingstown. He shared how it was to work with Jeremy Renner after his accident.
“You can’t even talk about what he’s doing now without mentioning he was in an accident that almost took his life. They had to do reconstructive surgery all over his chest,” he says. “To now be doing his own stunts and have a trailer specifically set up for fitness rooms, his regimen and special kind of chairs, while still being a lead character, running and doing fighting scenes, is incredible.”
“There were some accommodations for him. They kinda wrote up some of the characters around him, so it wasn’t too demanding on it initially. However, he still came back to do it. I think the first season back took us longer to shoot because they didn’t want to overtax him and cram it, so it was spread out over more months.”
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