Yo, it's Kevin Smiley. Check me out on the Bootleg keV podcast.
Yo, Bootleg keV show Man. We got a special guest in here from Okachobe, Florida, Kevin Smiley. How you doing man, Welcome sir.
Thank you.
First of all, man, I remember seeing your first song was Paralyzed, right, sir. I remember opening my phone one day and seeing it and then like within that whole week, it just everybody was posting it. It was going crazy. That was your first song.
Yeah, like ever, that first song I ever recorded. Yeah, I've written a few, but that was like the first real how old are you? I'm twenty now, so.
You're twenty now? So when that came out with You're nineteen, yes, sir, Yeah, damn that's crazy man. So super dope visual by the way, very strong. Whose idea was like, like, are you very hands on with the whole creative process?
Not really with the visuals. That's more like my manager. He's a bit more of a film type of guy than you know obviously know our director, right, you know, So that was really much pretty much.
Then give me some of your background because you know, you make country music and it is very it's dope you know, and I never thought i'd hear NBA Young Boy on the countrything. You have a new song with NBA Young Boy Free Him by the way, Yeah, called Mattador. You brought NBA Young Boy to the country world. Just kind of give me like a little bit of your background in terms of like what did you grow up
listening to? How did you get into country music? Obviously, Florida is like a it's the South, but it's like I always tell everybody, Florida is like its own country.
Yeah, there's a bit of like.
If you just break Florida off, like there's South Florida, which is like its own thing, and then there's like Central Florida, which is way different than Jacksonville. And you know what I mean, it's like its own little ecosystem of that's just separate from the world. So how did you kind of grow up listening to country and like like what got you into it?
Yeah, so be from Okey Chelby, Florida. It's a cattle town, really cow cattle, Yeah, cattle, Okay, so tons of cows, acchual cows. Cowboys are there, yeah, yeah, actual cowboys around and then like big fishing, like so we have a big bass tournament that happens on Lake Okechobee. So I grew up listening to just pretty much strictly gospel. My dad was a pastor, so we were just listening to a bunch of gospel music and we'd go to different churches.
I would have like what's called southern gospel, so that's vaguely similar to country music. Yeah. And then my best friend growing up, his parents were ranchers, so they're always playing country around the house and in the car and my brother we spent a lot of time with them. So that's how I really got into listening in the country. Then when I was like sixteen, that was COVID.
Damn, that's so crazy. Yeah, it felt like that was yesterday, right like when I was sixteen. Then COVID.
You're twenty now it's wild gentle minute. Yeah. Yeah. So I was just playing a bunch of two k and I hated the playlist. I mean, after like six months of hearing the same time, I don't want to hear it again.
And you're stucking the house is all you got is Yeah.
So I just put some some songs in my play list, and you know, with my dad in the past. He didn't really want me listening to too much, you know, hip hop and stuff, but everybody we need to listen to country around town. So I just put some songs on my playlist and they're the song in particular called Amla by Morning because it's a legend. George Straight, he's like the gold.
Straight's the guy man, Yo, listen, I love me some George Straight. That what's that song? Throw? Uh just give it away?
Yeah?
That ship? What's the one? Uh uh Ocean? That's my favorite Arizona Okay, yeah yeah, and then write this down, great song. And my favorite Troubadour. Oh my Trouber Door is a fucking banger.
That's that's a great song. Yeah. So yeah, So I just put some of his songs in my playlist. Put some you know Luke Comb's, Camee Brown, Thomas Redd, and you know some Alan Jackson. He's a Georgia boy, one of.
My Alan Jacksons. O. G man, I remember I remember Alan Jackson when I was a kid.
Yeah, So I just put them on my playlist and I started just listening to really heavy.
Then.
I've always been musical. I've been playing drums since I was set, even getting the church.
Yeah.
Then I started playing guitar in the bass when I was eleven or twelve something around there. So then I just started posting on TikTok, just singing, singing these country songs.
Like singing like stuff that was already out.
Yeah, yeah, singing. I wasn't writing at the time. I had a video go viral. We had like five millions or something like that. So some producer him it was like, bro, you can sing, but you gotta start writing your own stuff, right, So I started doing that.
Was it harder to like put the thoughts in your head to paper to a melody? Uh not really? Would you like write with the guitar, Yeah, I.
Write with the guitar.
Yeah.
So I just kind of figure out what kind of chords I wanted to do. Then I'll just figure out what kind of theme I want to write to. Obviously, my first songs are horrible. Everybody you know should.
I mean, if your first song is Paralyzed's not terrible.
Well that was so yeah. I just started doing that, started picking up steam a little bit. Then I got signed to my production company. Uh, flew out to Vegas and recorded Paralyzed here in Vegas.
Yes, what do you think about Vegas? Being a Florida boy who grew up in the church life, did you did any of those Like did you walk the strip?
No? I drove through it, so you gotta walk it. Yeah, I ain't done that. Yeah, yeah, I don't know.
But people will pass you all these cards with phone numbers on it. Don't call the numbers.
Okay, got it, got it, got it. Thanks for the tip. Yeah, I'm not a big fan of Vegas, to be honest with you.
Yeah, I lived there for a while. I loved it, but I'm also degenerate. I have a gambling problem.
Dana White type stuff.
Huh no, he's got a real problem.
Yeah, I've seen some of those videos with the note boys and stuff.
Right, So you ended up we should go to Vegas and that's where you recorded Paralyzed, Yes, sir. Nice. Yeah.
Then we just started, you know, posting some uh just videosn't me singing it, and they went viral.
How I want to know, because you put, like you said, like how many different pieces of content did you shoot to push that push that one song before it went viral? Because I wanted people to understand, like, sometimes people will post one thing and if it doesn't go crazy. They get discouraged and then they don't put anything else up and then they stop pushing their music.
And yeah, so I think we had we had filmed maybe about six or seven, and it was probably like the sixth or fifth or six that went viral. But that's after me posting hundreds of times on my TikTok. You know that's so.
I mean, I just people give up too soon on their records.
Definitely. Yeah, so yeah, fine with viral. The big push was when DJ Academics he had reposted it, and that that kind of took it off a bit. That that was a pretty cool moment. I started getting hit up by you know, some of my favorite artists and stuff like that.
Who hit you up where you were like, what the heck?
The first big one was that was crazy with Swaye.
That was cool.
I remember waking up at like six am. I think I was. I don't remember what I was doing about it.
He's got to be right in some country swally feels like they kind of looking at that country genre like, well, yeah, I think I could do that.
And I've heard he's an incredible writer, so oh he is amazing. I think he could do. So.
Yeah, he's an amazing writer's a beast. He's also somehow become very underrated over the last like four or five years. Definitely, who else besides Swale A great guy.
Loved that kid a little dirt, So you loved all of that stuff while also loving George Straight. Yeah, it's so crazy because I just did this podcast and I flew out to Portland to do this podcast with this guy, nam Phil Becker, who's the head of a radio company called Alpha Media.
They own one hundreds of radio stations, and we were talking to he wanted me to come out there and do a podcast. The theme of it was this Country the New hip Hop, And I didn't necessarily say it was, but I did say that there's so many correlations between the two worlds, right, Like if you think about like hip hop, like like I like on the West Coast, we got low riders, but like the country, they got their trucks. You know what I'm saying, a lot of
music about women, a lot of music about partying. And now with the Internet, I feel like, you know, when I was growing up, like you, we either in hip hop or you were into like it was really like you really when I was a kid, I was never in the country. I barely got into the country more recently because of Jelly Ropes. I've been friends with Jelly for like twelve years. Yeah, and so I would put his stuff on and then other shit would start playing.
I'm like, oh, this country shit ain't too bad. But I was saying, like the genre barriers are gone now because like you might open your phone and like, like you said, academics posted your shit, which is country, right, and then you know, if somebody's into dark, they could also be into Morgan Wallen. I mean, look, they have two songs.
Again, great songs.
Yeah. So it's like I just feel like the whole, like the world seemed to be blending together. The fan bases are. I mean, obviously there's still people who aren't going to listen country, who aren't going to listen to hip hop on each side, but it does feel like, you know, more than ever, there's just people just are music fans. Again. It's like, yo, if it's country, it's country. If it's hip hop, it's hip hop, and people are doing songs together. You see people jumping genres now post Malones.
Dude just did his ship. Yeah, I mean Jelly. I knew Jelly when he was like an underground rapper, you know, like I DJ when Jelly, When me and Jelly first link, he was doing like one hundred people at a fucking show Saint Petersburg, Florida.
Wow.
Yeah, that's crazy.
And he decided his new tour is stadiums.
And no it starts I think it starts tonight. Yeah, yeah, yeah, he's It's tour starts tonight. So yeah, it's just crazy to see. Like, just like you know, at the end of the day, good music, s music, and the other dope thing I think about some of the newer country that I've gotten into is it's like pain driven, Like I love like Tyler Childers, Oh my goodness, yeah, oh my.
God, he's good.
He's amazing and I just got you know who put me on him. Was that Mexicano Tal. Yeah, Mexicano t was like, yo, listening to Tyler children He has a song called White House Road, which is fire. It's about him getting as high as the grocery bill and doing cocaine. It's amazing. But like this ship is very I'm like, this is a dope ship.
Great songwriting, that's what I love about country, the songwriting, storytelling for sure, it's great.
Yeah, no, it's super dope. So for you, like, that's that's pretty cool that you were able to bring in a chopper or not chopper rather NB a young boy. How did you get NBA boys attention?
Like?
How did because I wouldn't saw him in Utah. That yeah, super great guy but very like you know, he's literally before he went into jail, he was. He's at the house, he's recording, and he's he can't leave. So how did you get that done?
Just their lawyers? Yeah, yeah, my lord knows him well, so so did you guys chop it up at all? I've never talked to him. Wow. Yeah, I'd love to.
Talk to him, but obviously you got to write him now man. Yeah, he probably would appreciate the letter probably, Yeah, did you uh listen to that? A lot of young boy.
I want to say a ton, but a definitely good amount.
It feels like that's your your generation.
Stupid. Yeah, especially.
Everybody who's like seventeen or eighteen, like NBA young boys there Tupac. It's kind of crazy.
And then in Florida, especially where I'm from, a lot of people listen to him when I was like in middle school, high school.
Kodak Oh, Kodaks I love in Florida Kodaks to go. Yeah yeah, it's like him and like the New Goats Roadway. But like, yeah, I lived in Florida when Kodak Black first came out and I never seen no shit like that. Kodak Black had Florida in a chokehold.
Yeah definitely, yeah, yeah yeah, as he said, Rod Wave dudes in my hometown, they go crazy.
Like if rod Wave did a country collab, it would be so good because he's already doing like he first of all, he loves like a Dell. He loves so many different like genres of music. But if I heard like rod Waved like a collab with like Zach Bryant or something, that shit would go crazy. Yeah, because he's doing that like he's singing.
He's an actual singer. So yeah, it could work. It would be pretty cool.
So what's it been like for you? Like going viral so quick? Is it hard to adjust? And okay, now we're viral. Now everybody's looking at you. Now you got to make records because that your your your team is just saying that you that happened unexpectedly maybe, I mean, obviously the goals to blow up, right, Yeah, but you're you don't expect it to happen to what happens? Now, you got to make some more music.
Yeah, you gotta go to work. I've been fortunate so the people that I've been working with. I've been working with a lot of the guys that like write for uh Luke Holmes and and Morgan Walling, a lot of guys that big Loud, which is uh yeah, they're right for Morgan. So I've been working with a lot of those guys and they're they're incredible. They've been helping me figure out what kind of what way I want to go, and and and just learn about songwriting because then i've
been working in Nashville, everything is about the song. Yeah, for sure, everything's about the song. So they've been helping me. I've been really fortunate, and I've been I've been picking up pretty good. You know, I write or co write all my records.
What's it like going to Nashville. It's very like I always tell people, It's like, you know, we always in the hip hop world, we think in New York, Atlanta and La Right, But Nashville is like the only place that matters in the country world.
Yeah, Nashville and Austin, Texas. That's about it.
Austin's come. I didn't know Austin was on the com up. But it's just so crazy because Nashville's like this. It's like it's literally the entire music industry the country is there.
Yeah, all on music rowe pretty much. Yeah, it's cool, but honestly is cool. I like the way that they work in Nashville. Like you go to the studio at like eleven, you're done by five, and everybody goes home or goes to the bar or whatever.
Nah hip hop, man, it ain't like that.
No.
No, I've been in studio for like fourteen hours. Oh we wow, waiting for a feature. Remember when we were trying to get that Tory Lanes where we were hanging out Tory Lanez in the studio all fucking day, just waiting for the drop of verse for my artists.
Was he was he there or was he just like not writing.
On and off? It was. It's like, you know, like hip hop sessions, they can either be very productive or they could be very like social. Okay, a lot of drugs we need people coming in and now maybe a jewelry guy pulls up, open the suitcase with a bunch of like, yeah, it happens. By the way, if that ever happens to you, if the jeweler ever comes to your studio with a suitcase, he's fucking you over where he All those jewelers that come to studios, they're all
fucking scam artists. Not that the jewelry's fake, but they're over Yeah, charging everybody d do not buy.
Well, I'm heppy. I'm on this show man getting good tips.
Yeah, you don't see strike me as the jewelry guy.
I love jewelry. Oh I didn't get like that one day. Yeah, just a little Yeah, it's just from like the Golden Shop. This ain't none serious.
Yeah, but one day.
Yeah, I love jewelry.
So you'd get like a chain of the big penditt.
Oh maybe not a big penditt. I like like tennis chains and cubans. I'm not really a big pendit guy. But I love watches.
Well yeah, I mean watch It is like you can have a really expensive watch, but it looked like modest. Yeah, you don't want to get the bus down, never to rob me. You know, yeah, you rob me.
You know you're getting messed uff on those diamonds too.
I was gonna ask you, what do your parents think about everything that's happening now.
That I'm kind of picking up Steve there obviously super happy. I mean when I first started, it was it was definitely scary.
Were they like a little you know, like like suspect on you doing music at first? Yeah? Yeah?
And then you know, when I signed to my production company, that was kind of a crazy situation. I mean I had never been on a flight before, and then I flew to Vegas. They're like, so you never know what he's gonna you know who this person is.
Even go to Sin City, they're gonna, you know, hey, man in the South, they'll be hearing some crazy shit about the music in distry. Oh yeah, they're gonna sacrifice you in a room full of just crazy ship. Let me be careful.
Yeah. So they were definitely nervous, But everything's pretty good.
Nice.
You know, I'm always talking to my mom and my grandma, you know, letting them know what's going on. I live with my mom and grandma right now in West Palm Beach. Uh, So that's cool.
Have you been to uh Mar al Lago. Isn't that in West Palm Beach.
Yeah, it's in Palm Beach.
Yeah, okay, so not West Palm I mean it's it's like they call that like.
The Florida White House pretty much. Yeah, yeah, it's crazy. Right now, Palm Beach is pretty much on lockdown because jumps in town.
So when Trump comes to town, there's the whole city like it's.
On lockdown, like that area of Palm Beach.
Have you seen his motorcade before?
Like no, I've never I've seen it. I've seen his plane at the airport, but that's it.
Yeah, yeah, no, it's crazy, Like, uh I heard Palm Beaches first of all, very hell of people retired there.
Yeah, it's like a retirement town. Yeah, lot of you got by. Yeah, if you got big money with any.
Amount of super wealth, there's also super poverty. I'm sure outskirts probably Yeah.
Yeah, once you over the bridge, because it's it's like, what's Palm Beach and you go over a bridge and it's Palm Beach, Pump Beaches, the island. So they kind of if you ain't got that, kind of kick you off.
What what your parents wanted you to do if you weren't doing music where they're trying to push you into a certain field.
U not not really just wanted me to kind of get a job or what.
Would you have done or what did you want to do if you didn't work out what.
I wanted to do? Shoot, I don't really know. I wanted to be actually, when I was younger, I wanted to be a YouTuber of course. Yeah everybody nobody wants to do hard labor, you know.
Yeah, that's where we're screwed if we go to war. Oh yeah, everybody wants to be a streamers.
Yeah, oh yeah, I wanted to be a YouTuber.
Hey, but there is something to be said about call of duty. There's some hand eye coordination there that you know, might help them. I don't know, maybe, but in China they ain't got no fucking streamers and YouTubers. They they got that, They're right. Yeah, what YouTube channels did you like growing up?
My favorite was Casey knistat case Yeah, Casey Knice, that was good, Casey Nice. That was like the best videoographer on YouTube.
Apparently in New York. What was he doing?
He was just fumbing this voggin his life.
Log life so you like the nel boys.
I heard you say, yeah, boys, I love Nick never seeing those dudes.
They're cool. The O. G. Nelk stuff was the best.
Yeah, that's what one of my older brothers, he would watch that stuff like when that it was like Jesse, Yeah.
And they were pranking people. And then when they started to make real money, that prank's got super elaborate, yah and crazy, like they did this. Do you ever see the prank where they it was like the fake bigfoot prank. Dude, they did this fool They went to like Oregon or Washington State where like oh Okay, and they like found like this, they like hung out with this big foot guy. It was like a big foot, Like this guy spent
his whole life hunting big foot. Yeah, And so they pranked this dude and they put like a bigfoot in the forest while they were rhythim and this dude started freaking out because he was like he finally found bigfoot. But it was a dude in the suit.
That's tough man.
Honestly, Honestly, it was funny because once they found bigfoot, then the NLK boys had like the fake FBI and CIA pulled up with like a helicopter and kidnap everybody because they don't want anybody. It is I don't know about it was one of the best pranks of all. Shut that out. Yeah, the Milk Boys are solid, man shure, they're nice guys too. Manute where shouts to Steve will do it. We gotta get back on YouTube. They took him off, man, they banned him or yeah, yo, Uh
so are you are you just doing singles? You're working on an album? What do you do?
You just it'll be a EP first. Uh so that's gonna be coming out next month on the twenty seventh.
September twenty seventh, The Nice How many songs? Seven oh seven? That's any other features? No, not for this just I mean, look, once you get into a young boy, you're good. Uh you know, we still want to go for anybody in the country world embrace you and uh you know, kind of big homie you yet.
Uh yeah. One in particular's Shaboozi.
Great cool. I mean he's a grown man, great guy. Yeah.
Yeah, I met him like before he was famous. I met him about a year ago.
He was kind of famous year ago. I worked with Empire for years, so I've been very I've been very hypnoshaboo but not but for sure just before Beyonce, Yeah.
Yeah, way before. So, yeah, we hung out a bit, chopped it a bit. They've been what someone that's followed me the cool is your boy Jelly Roll? He followed me a minute ago.
I was cool.
I've never been a talk to him though, but you.
Guys don't hang out one day. Yeah, he's the best.
Yeah. Everybody I've heard talk about him like they have nothing but good things to say about him. Yeah, they've been some, you know, smaller artists like Chase Matthews. Uh, we hung out a bit.
There's this one dude, what's his name? He's got a song called We Ride, We Ride?
Oh, I know who that is?
Is it?
I don't remember his name right now?
Damn I forget his name. I m him. He got like sixty yes, yeah that fool. Yeah, I m him. I was like, yeah, I like this song. It's like he followed me back. I was like, yeah, he only had sixty thousand followers. I'm like, this song's fucking fire.
Yeah, the song's big, going like Spotify. So that's crazy you only have sixty thousand. I got sixty thousand country is booming.
Man, Uh, would you would you ever do anything outside of the country, like sonically, Like, would you ever do like anything else? Or you're kind of like holding in on the on.
The it's been like the most right now, the most pop or urban thing I have. It's a song with young Boy. Yeah, then I got somebody.
Would you do some gospel ship?
I would probably in like within it, probably a little later, once I really established like myself in the genre, probably like a year or two, I'd probably do some gospel stuff.
I feel like gospel music we need better people making it.
H hmm.
Some of the gospel music I'll be hearing. It's like if somebody can make a bunch of Kanye Jesus Walks, that'd be great.
Oh my goodness, such a great record.
And it's technically a Christian raper, so yeah, you know, I like, like we should all try to like not we because I'm atheist, respectfully, but if I was like a Christian rapper, I'd be like, how do we do Jesus Walks? But like, you know, we don't want to, Like, you know, sometimes I feel like the Christian rap can be a little preachy. Have you heard of Miles Minnick I have for the name. He's a Christian rapper. He's dope. He's actually dope. I interviewed him. He's actually really cool.
Who else who's the craze fire to the og? Yeah and mineo, Mineo. He's dope too.
That's what I listened to when I was like fourth grade.
Jesus. Oh man, I'm old or you're young or both?
Yeah, yeah, it can be both.
So September twenty seventh, what's the name of your EP?
Hurts worse?
Oh? I like that hurts worse man any too?
Stuff? And he shows uh not right now, we're looking to see what's going on. You know. Hopefully that's the song picks up.
I'm sure you're gonna be doing some showcases like popping up with your guitar and yeah, that's what's up man, We'll look. I appreciate you pulling up. Go support this kid on the twenty seventh pre orders I'm sure dropping soon for the EP. Yeah, go support Mattador their Hopefully you get to meet NBA Young Boy, even if it's on the phone. Oh yeah, yeah, you know, I feel like there's NBA Young Boy features popping up, but he don't even know about he's like, but shout out to
young boy man. Shout out to you. I appreciate you. Uh and yeah, keep keep keep fighting. Good fight man. You're putting out dope music. Brother, I appreciate that boom.