Corbin (musician) explained

Corbin
Birth Name:Corbin Beckner Smidzik[1]
Birth Date:20 February 1998
Birth Place:Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.
Origin:Saint Paul, Minnesota, U.S.
Years Active:2013–present
Past Member Of:Thestand4rd

Corbin Beckner Smidzik (born February 20, 1998), better known as Corbin (previously known as Spooky Black and Lil Spook) is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, and record producer. He was a member of the hip hop/R&B collective Thestand4rd.

Career

Smidzik gained popularity on the internet through a series of solo releases on the website SoundCloud.[2] His first release Forest was put out in late 2013 and exhibited a hip hop sound with Smidzik rapping on every song, in contrast to his later and more recognized R&B-stylized singing.

By 2014, Smidzik was gaining mass exposure with the help of SoundCloud and YouTube. The video for the song "Without You", from the mixtape Black Silk (released in February 2014[3]), went viral, attaining more than a million views on video-sharing websites YouTube and WorldStarHipHop.[4] Noisey declared the video an "instant classic" and published an article titled "Is Spooky Black Going to Take Over the R&B Game?", while Consequence of Sound and Complex magazine named "Without You" one of the best songs of 2014.[2] [5] [6] [7]

Smidzik is noted for releasing his material without promotion, and has frequently declined requests for interviews.[2] [7] In August 2014, he released the EP Leaving and a music video for its track "DJ Khaled Is My Father".[8] By October, Smidzik was being managed by Canadian producer Doc McKinney.[4] In December, he premiered a new song, "Worn", under the new name Corbin.[9] On Twitter, Smidzik's reason for the name change was because "Spooky Black is a dumb name."[10]

Also in 2014, Smidzik and fellow Minnesota musicians Allan Kingdom, Bobby Raps, and Psymun formed the hip hop/R&B group Thestand4rd. They released their self-titled debut album, Thestand4rd, in November 2014, produced entirely by the group and Doc McKinney.[11] [12] [13] During November 2014, Corbin and the Stand4rd embarked on a US tour, which included a gig at SOB's in New York City where they were introduced by DJ Khaled.[14] The group ended up selling out all seven of the shows on their debut headlining tour.[15]

After the release of Couch Potato with Bobby Raps in 2015, Smidzik remained quiet and rarely did performances for 2 years. On January 16, 2017, Smidzik unexpectedly uploaded a song, "Destrooy" onto his SoundCloud.[16] On June 25, 2017, he announced on Twitter that himself, Shlohmo, and D33J would be going on a North American tour later in the year.[17] Later, on August 24, Smidzik announced his debut album, Mourn, which was released on September 5, 2017, on Shlohmo's record label Wedidit.[18]

In American recording artist Janet Jackson's State of the World Tour, she uses the song "Idle" from Corbin's Leaving EP as a video interlude before playing the song "What About".[19]

On January 1, 2019, Corbin began releasing singles to his SoundCloud page. The first to be released was "Wretch"[20] as a New Years gift to fans. Over the course of the year, "Wretch" was followed by several more singles both new and unreleased. Later, in August of the same year, Corbin lost access to his Spotify account.[21]

In 2020 as a response to losing access to his Spotify account, Corbin started uploading previous SoundCloud uploads to a new Spotify page under his name, Corbin Smidzik.[22] Included in these uploads is a previous version of his album Mourn, simply titled: Mourn 2016.[23]

On July 24, 2020, Corbin was featured on the Kid Laroi's song "Not Fair" from his debut mixtape, F*ck Love. Corbin also appeared in the accompanying music video released the same day. The song was certified Gold in Australia by ARIA in 2021.[24]

The song, "Interlude" on his E.P. "Leaving" appeared at the end of the documentary, released on August 24, 2021.

Corbin has written songs for artists including SONNY, Future, NAV, and Dua Saleh.

Discography

Studio albums

Mixtapes

EPs

Singles

Notes and References

  1. Web site: ACE Repertory.
  2. Web site: Look Meme, I'm Famemeous: The Year the Music Internet Left Blogs Behind. Noisey. Andrew. Winistorfer. December 11, 2014. September 1, 2015.
  3. Web site: Spooky Black "Leaving" EP. Mass Appeal. Devin. P-B. August 11, 2014. September 1, 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20150913103541/http://massappeal.com/spooky-black-leaving-ep/. September 13, 2015. dead.
  4. Web site: Trying to decode MN's viral sensation Spooky Black. Star Tribune. Chris. Riemenschneider. October 2, 2014. September 1, 2015.
  5. Web site: Is Spooky Black Going to Takeover the R&B Game?. Noisey. Ryan. Bassil. August 12, 2014. September 1, 2015.
  6. Web site: Spooky Black shares new song "Worn" — listen. Consequence of Sound. Josh. Terry. December 16, 2014. September 1, 2015.
  7. Web site: Spooky Black "Without You" - The Best Songs of 2014 (So Far). Complex. Chris. Mench. July 1, 2014. September 1, 2015.
  8. Web site: PAPERMAG: Meet Spooky Black, He's Kinda Like a Cross Between Yung Lean and King Krule. Paper. Justin. Moran. August 15, 2014. September 1, 2015.
  9. Web site: PAPERMAG: Spooky Black Changes His Name And Releases "Worn". Paper. Kyla. Bills. December 17, 2014. September 1, 2015.
  10. Web site: Spooky Black Is Going By His Real Name Now. City Pages. Reed. Fischer. December 16, 2014. May 26, 2020.
  11. Web site: Meet The Minnesota Misfits Behind thestand4rd. The Fader. Eamon. Whalen. October 29, 2014. September 1, 2015.
  12. Web site: Spooky Black "Without You" - 11 Songs That Made 2014 The Year of the Rap One-Hit Wonder. Complex. Max. Goldberg. December 26, 2014. September 1, 2015.
  13. Web site: Stream and Download thestand4rd's New Album From Spooky Black, Allan Kingdom, Bobby Raps, and Psymun. Complex. Zach. Frydenlund. November 6, 2014. September 1, 2015.
  14. Spooky Black & The Stand4d Perform at NYC's SOBs - Billboard. Billboard. Andrew. Flanagan. November 10, 2014. September 1, 2015.
  15. Web site: TheStand4rd @ Varsity Theater [Recap]]. Made. Depdillinger. December 6, 2014. December 23, 2016.
  16. Web site: Corbin a.k.a. Spooky Black Returns With New Track "Destrooy". The Fader. Jordan. Darville. January 16, 2017.
  17. Web site: Corbin (F.K.A. Spooky Black) Announces Tour With Shlohmo And D33J. The Fader. Jordan. Darville. July 25, 2017.
  18. Web site: Corbin FKA Spooky Black Announces Debut Album 'Mourn'. High Snobiety. August 25, 2017. February 11, 2018.
  19. Web site: Janet - Spooky Black (Video Interlude) & What About (Live - San Diego). YouTube. Ant hony. October 13, 2017.
  20. Web site: Corbin – Wretch (Soundcloud). SoundCloud. April 20, 2020.
  21. Web site: anything on corbin spotify tht not mourn or couch potato not me idk how log on. Twitter. Corbin. July 12, 2019. April 20, 2020.
  22. Web site: Corbin Smidzik. Spotify. April 20, 2020.
  23. Web site: Corbin – Mourn 2016. Spotify. April 20, 2020.
  24. Australia. 2021. 4 February 2022.