Hey, welcome to Nefarious Supply! So to get this interview started let’s talk about yourself who is Smthn, tell us about who and what inspired your love for music?
Hey man, first off I’d like to thank y’all, I’m super grateful for this opportunity and you have an amazing platform. Shoutout Nefarious Supply! My name is Christophe aka smthn (pronounced somethin’). I’m 21 years old, I speak French and English and I come from stone-cold Montreal, Canada. I’ve been producing music for 4 years. Music always had a huge place in my life from the jump. Apparently, when I was in daycare our daycare lady had a stereo on a high shelf playing music during nap time and she once told my parents I’d just stand there staring at the stereo for the entire time instead of sleeping like the other kids. Fast forward many years and I’m the lead singer in a metal band during high school. The project unfortunately died and a couple of years later I found myself studying classical music in college. I was at that time that I stumbled upon this wondrous piece of software called Ableton Live. I fell in love instantly.
I felt a need to fully understand how to recreate the sounds I heard throughout modern music (Skrillex, Flume) and how to write music. Being 17 at the time, I felt as if I needed to learn and fast because I had somewhat of an age setback starting so late. I started locking myself in day after day, putting off classes to create music. My music teachers told me what I was doing had no purpose and that I’d be better off learning sonatas. The people around me said I had changed, I wasn’t as cool as before. I wasn’t at the parties anymore and according to them, I should have been. It even reached a point where it was damaging my relationships with women I loved seeing as I was doing it so much. All things considered, spending that much time allowed me to start expressing myself through music within 2 years. This was all that mattered to me. I started out making house music but I was increasingly interested in the aesthetic and sound of trap following my first year. I naturally gravitated more and more towards hip hop as time went by. The turning point for me was when I first heard Sleep is for the Weak by Eli Sostre. That whole tape really resonated with me. Not a week has gone by without me going back to it in the last 3 years and I look up to both Eli Sostre and his producer Soriano as my mentors. Nothing but love for these two guys, they really fucked the game up in my opinion.
Where are you from and how has this area played an important role in your image as an artist as well as the sound of your music?
Glad you asked this, the exact area where I’m from is actually a really interesting place. I’m currently based in Montreal which is the largest city in my province, however, I come from the dirt roads of the countryside if I dare say so myself. The exact place is called Saint-Germain in the province of Quebec. We have lush forests in the summer and spring, multicolor panoramas in fall and come winter everything’s just this immense empty desert of freezing cold, razor-like winds and snow. This is the canvas on which my childhood was painted and my childhood was amazing.
In this area, as you might have guessed, there weren’t many kids around to play with. I was a smart, artistic and sensitive kid from an early age and that doesn’t really help in building relationships with others, more so at a young age. I’ve always felt older than my pairs, detached and not quite understood. There wasn’t much in the way of interests or hobbies I could share with others and this shaped me both as a person and an artist. I am positive that I’ll always be the lone wolf I was 15 or 10 years ago and I have come to embrace that. Part of it definitely comes from isolation.
Part of the reason I chose “smthn” as my alias as opposed to another name is just that; I’ve always felt like I wasn’t “someone” but some “thing”, that I did not belong. My sounds are all tainted with a certain melancholy and nostalgia. When I make music the feelings I have are often related to childhood memories and I might even get mental images or flashbacks, often it will be images of the countryside. I think that sometimes, just like with drugs, we’re making all this music to make contact with our lost inner child or to feel things twice in a sense. To put it briefly, my sound is just like Canada’s seasons. Some songs feel like the cold embrace of the wind in the dead the night. Others have a bit more warmth to them but put you in some sort of nostalgic stasis, like watching the leaves fall on a chilly October evening.
Who or what are your influences as a musician?
That’s a very interesting question and a topic I am super passionate about. As I’ve mentioned before, I have huge amounts of respect for Eli Sostre and Soriano, they have mentored me through their music into the artist I am today. Amir Obe is also one of my favorite artists and a major influence. A lesser-known artist which I really like is Holyrain. He laid down the blueprint for my own style through his very melodic and introspective songs. Other notable names are Drake, Partynextdoor, Bryson Tiller, JUGGER, Marr Grey, Anfa Rose, and PLAZA. I’m a big fan of Scotty Apex as well, he just always has pristine production and amazing melodies. His engineer Marvin Biano is extremely talented and Scotty’s sound quality is something that I strive to achieve.
As far as instruments go, I have a soft spot for pianos, detuned sounds, lo-fi sounding production, hard-hitting drums, and big bass whether it’s a Reese bass, stab bass or 808. I also like vintage synths, anything that has a dusty, old feel to it or things reminiscent of video game soundtracks of my childhood. Also, I do have a formal education in music so I tend to analyze the inner workings of music so that I may get the most out of what I listen to. Other than that, I am constantly inspired by looking back at the things that made me who I am, the friends and women I lost along the way, the person I came to be and how it all fits in this crazy, jagged puzzle we call life. This is an endless source of inspiration and a trove in which I reach for lyrical content and inspiration all the time.
What is your long term goal as a musician where do you see yourself in the coming years?
Whenever someone asks me this I find it hard to answer. A fellow producer I know once said: “You’re only as good as your last project”. There is some truth in this, at the very least to me and I think as an artist, if you’re doing this seriously, you always strive to make the next project bigger, better and meaner than the last. In that sense, I believe I achieved that goal with 716 when I compare it to Erode. I’m not striving to be a household name or anything, I want to make up in the morning, compose, record and mix music. I want to make a difference in the lives of others like Lei and Soriano have for myself. 5 years from now I want to be living off my art and not waking up to work another 9-5.
Let’s talk music so you released your newest album Erode this past year tell us about this album?
Sure, I have much to say about my first project. In June 2018, I moved out of my childhood home (my parent’s house) to the city of Montreal which is the second-largest city in Canada. What followed from the beginning of the summer until mid-winter was an exercise in loneliness to an extent I had never experienced. I started doing a lot of drugs to cope, lost two jobs and started flipping 50 on my own in streets I didn’t even know or understand. Some things happened and let’s just say I’m lucky to be able to talk about it now. All the while, I was also producing music so by the time spring came by I just had all these beats laying around that I really loved.
Some of my college friends back East were doing music still and seeing some amount of success. Meanwhile, I was sitting there in my crappy one-bedroom apartment thinking: “Man all this hard work and nothing to show for it. Imma be sending another pack of beats for 50$ each to someone for them to flake or lay down some trash.” Seconds after, I fired on the 7gs beat for another listen. I fired up the cheap Behringer PRO 1 mic I had laying around and around 2 hours later I had recorded 7gs. I instantly called my girlfriend and said “Babe you gotta hear this! “ I play it through the phone and she went crazy. I knew I had something right there and I knew there was no going back to simply making beats.
This EP came to be within a very short time frame at the end of April 2019 and the beginning of May. I believe it took around 9 to 10 days to have everything recorded and roughly mixed and another 5 to 7 days for additional mixing and finally mastering. I had a cheap ass mic and interface, no acoustic treatment and I was using demo software to process my vocals yet somehow I managed to do this whole project. It just goes to show that you can still make records up to par with what’s out there without the need to be at Abbey Road or pay studio time. It all starts with the need to express oneself and is completed through the execution of ideas.
What influenced you to make Erode and what kind of sound or vibe well you going for?
That’s a good question, to be honest, this was heavily influenced by Eli Sostre and his producer Soriano. I was going for a dark and ominous vibe with crystal clear vocals initially, however not having proper amenities for recording and mixing I had to get creative with the vocal effects. I’m really fond of this dark trap sound emerging from Toronto so it definitely had some influence in making this project as well. The idea of pushing through and making my first full project as a recording artist is what motivated me to complete it. With all my work I like to make the listener forget he’s listening to computer-based music. I think I achieved this with Strafes and 7gs.
So let’s talk about your newest release 716 which came out today, tell us about the EP?
Indeed, the project is out, I’m happy and relieved that the release went well. I’m super excited to be giving out the details regarding this project. First off, I’ll talk about the title. 716 is the number on the door of my suite in the Hotel I currently live in. This project is the direct continuation of 7gs narratively.
After I released Erode, I wasn’t too sure of which direction I should go towards. I was and still am searching for my sound, so I began listening to all the records that I love dearly back to back so that I could perhaps distillate a few into records of my own. I definitely took away some elements from all these people I look up to. Listening back, I could certainly hear Amir Obe for the bars and flows, Scotty and Eli for the vocal melodies or Soriano for all things production-based. Yet it felt like a record of its own and that’s when I knew I had succeeded in making something of my own. I’m back on track stronger than ever with new music, a new flat with a home studio inside and things are looking great. I put so much more into this EP and it shows.
Production-wise, I went ham. 3 songs off the EP: Renegade, Hotel Livin’ and Baron all feature switch-ups (for those not familiar with the term, the vibe of the beat or instrumentation completely changes as the song goes towards something different, much like a new section). This is something I studied in Soriano’s beats and I decided to implement it in my own work. Vocally, I surpassed myself with this. Those who will have listened to Erode first will be blown away by the amount of control I have acquired over my voice. Prepare for some amazing vocal melodies, I’m extremely proud of the stuff I laid down for this project. Lyrically this is also a big step forward. This is overall a very solid EP and one I am proud of and certainly will be for a long time moving forward.
So 5 tracks tell us about each of them?
Certainly, with pleasure.
So first off we have Hotel Livin’. I would best describe this song as nostalgic, moody and ambient. I take a look back at what I have now, how it feels like to be where I’m at and how the life I’m living now is the one I dreamt of two years ago. This song is a statement of gratitude for whoever’s out there blessing me with the the life that I have.
Fav Line: “My mind is way too sharp I’m cutting through life like it’s butter/ If smthn’s on the sample best believe that it’s a banger”
The second song, Dreams, is much darker in vibe and topic. It mentions the things I’ve sacrificed for the craft, the women I have let down through doing so, and how emotionally detached I now am. I also touch on how I feel towards others, both friend and foe and how I view myself as an artist.
Fav line: “Hit em’ with the rhymes, leave em in the zone / Dedicated to the grind put it on my tombstone”
The third one is a personal favorite of mine called Baron. I experimented with a lot of tones and flows on this one and I’m way more obnoxious and arrogant. It starts off as somewhat of a typical trap song but it’s designed that way to lead into the real meat of the song, which starts about halfway through. For this particular piece I wanted to express part of the inner rage and resent I have. I also wanted to touch on how music has always been and always will be the element that holds my life together. I did some clever stuff with the production in relation to what I say which some people might pick up on, we’ll see. This song is also things I’ve wanted to say to a lot of people around me but I never got the chance. I’ll summarize the song in one sentence: “You knew me as the scrawny white kid with the glasses in the past, now I’m the guy that goes hard and doesn’t give a fuck.”
Fav line(s): I’m moving silent so I can acquire / The skills required to move higher life that I desire / Been sending out so many shots but imma keep firin’ / United Nations on the phone tell me to cease fire Won’t take no for an answer cause I’m movin’ stubborn / I’m cuttin’ people off, the baggage, Ion need the clutter She got the keycard to the suite don’t even need to call her / Only one to have my back will always be the choir.
I hold the fourth song very dearly and to me, it’s the best song on this EP. It’s called Renegade. I won’t reveal too much regarding this one other than it touches on the themes of Baron, albeit more seriously.
Favorite line: New suite old woes I stay motivated / Doing shit all on my own modus operandi
Last but not least is Rogue. Much like Erode, I’m ending the EP with a banger, because no hip-hop project is complete without at least one pure banger. the main theme here is how frustrated I am with my relationships and contacts in the game, the Montreal rap game itself and the current state of it. The overall song is much more aggressive than the rest of the EP.
Fav line: I got love for the rhymes but motherfuck the streets / Y’all rappers need to resign your spot is on the seats
So what’s next for you in 2020?
I think I recently tweeted that 2020 is back to the blueprint, thinking back on that it’s absolutely true. I’m going head first into darker, meaner and bigger sounding production aesthetics moving forward. The next project will be an absolute slap-in-the-face-you-can’t deny-it type of thing but I’m also moving away from 808s (bass sound in trap music aka “boom”) for now to try some different things. I want to improve on my engineering, my vocals and put out more songs in 2020.I’m just starting out, I’ve been rapping for 6 months now so I think that all in all, I’m off on a promising debut. Needless to say, I am very excited about what’s coming and I am pumped up.
Any last words?
Sure, I’d like to take a moment to thank you guys at Nefarious Supply. When starting out, it’s hard to put yourself out there and people like y’all allow us to get heard and you don’t even ask for anything in return. Y’all the real MVPs, underdogs for real. All of y’all who are reading this go show some love to Nefarious Supply on social media, they deserve it big time. While you’re at it, go show some love to my own socials as well. @smthn98 on twitter, Instagram, and Soundcloud. Come and say hi, I’m always happy to answer questions or talk music. Stay tuned, the best way to do so is either Twitter, Instagram.
Big shout out to smthn. for coming on and interviewing with Nefarious Supply you can find his new album 716 which is available on all streaming platforms right now. If you enjoyed this interview be sure to follow him Instagram, Twitter, and check out his Soundcloud which can be found above!
If you want to stay up to date with news and content coming from Nefarious Supply you can find us on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook, and to get articles as soon as they drop you can sign up to be on our newsletter below, we also recently just dropped some new Nefarious Supply Merch so if you want to support you can purchase here!
