Recently Toronto-based OVO Sound-rapper Smiley spoke about his new project, I Did What I Did. The project is a precursor to his yet-to-be-titled new album and follows up a bundle of material over the past few years, including a highly regarded Drake feature on the song “Over The Top.”
Speaking with Smiley before he boarded a flight last week to Los Angeles, the Canadian emcee spoke about wanting to feed the streets as he headed west to record and rejuvenate on a self-imposed well-being retreat.
“With I Did What I Did, basically, I have so much music in the vault that I finally, like, put something together quick while I’m still working on my album. I just wanted to feed the streets,” Smiley said.
“I just basically came up with the name by just picking out a lot of quotables from the songs on the tape. And then I Did What I Did was one that stood out the most to me. ‘Cause like, it’s super relatable, and it’s just how, like, how I’m going with this, you know?”
When asked about why he thinks OVO took his music into consideration and signed him, Smiley said he knows the fans want that “raw s###,” and he tries not to “overthink it.”
“I just don’t really overthink it. Before, I used to overthink a lot, but like now, I don’t try to overthink when I’m writing and stuff,” Smiley said. “I try to really just do the same thing. Like, I don’t try to… I try to change my songs a bit sometimes, but then I realize I’m like, they want that raw sh*t from me.”
Still focused on mastering his craft, Smiley says he even catches Drake off guard with some of the lines in his songs.
“Sometimes I’ll just say s### like, and he’ll [Drake] be like, ‘No way he said that in there.’ And that’s what just makes me, me, you know?” Smiley said. “I’m still trying to, like, figure out ways to like, really like, understand my craft and get deeper into it so I could do multiple different things, you know? I’m trying to master my craft.”
Rap fans interested in checking out the newly minted OVO-Sound rapper should listen to the newly released mixtape, which features nine tracks, including the currently released songs ‘Fast Route,’ ‘Nicky Nine Door,’ ‘Eternals,’ and most recent track ‘Long Nights.”
