Smino and Sierra “Sie” Brown’s longtime friendship dating back to 2009 after meeting online and through St. Louis’ creative and music scene has developed into a strong business partnership responsible for the city’s annual Christmas tradition known as Kribmas.
The pair launched Kribmas, a holiday benefit concert accompanied by community outreach in 2016. Sponsored by YouTube and in partnership with Sumner High School, Sie, Smino, and other fellow innovators across the city chaperoned a group of freshmen on an all-expenses-paid field trip to the City Museum. The teens also received backpacks with school supplies for their next school year. The inaugural Kribmas show was held at the Old Rock House and the students could also attend if they were interested.
The dynamic duo returned with Kribmas in 2017 at Delmar Hall. Smino had just dropped his debut album “blkswn” and was fresh off his first headlining Swanita Tour along with opening for SZA on her CTRL Tour and opening for T-Pain on his Acoustic Tour. During the second annual Kribmas showcase, media company Mass Appeal traveled to St. Louis to document Smino, Bari, and other members of Zero Fatigue’s collective immersing themselves in St. Louis’ culture.
2018’s Kribmas saw a major jump going from a smaller crowd of 750 to 2,000 people at The Pageant with Teddy Ray and SiR. $1,000 was donated to Marty Casey, founder and president of Show Me Arts Academy, and there was a partnership with Medici Space bringing youth from the organization to tour the space, along with a panel discussion. Smino also made music with the young talents and hosted a pop-up shop at Suite 100 at The Pageant, featuring clothing and other personal items from his closet for his own makeshift thrift store. 2018 was also the year Smino dropped his sophomore “Noir” album and went on tour. The “Noir Tour” didn’t stop in St. Louis.
Kribmas 2019 brought Nelly out as its special surprise guest, and partnered with a hair salon in Delmar Loop providing free haircuts and styles to the community. Smino also had a meet and greet booth and gave out exclusive merchandise.
Like the rest of the world, Smino took a break in 2020 and was nominated for his first Grammy the same year. He worked on J. Cole’s “Revenge of the Dreamers III” album which was nominated for Best Rap Album at the 62nd Annual Grammy Awards in 2020.
Smino has gone through some career transitions since Kribmas 2019. He separated from Interscope Records and is now signed to Motown Records in partnership with his independent label Zero Fatigue. In October, he released his third studio album, “Luv 4 Rent” with the label. A project, which he has said is an ode to self-love.
5th annual Kribmas Concert
Smino and Sie returned with Kribma5, the 5th anniversary of the benefit concert and charitable initiatives Dec. 15-18. Dec. 15 kicked off the private event Cards for Kribmas. In partnership with All Black Creatives, Adobe, and St. Louis Public Schools Foundation, a design workshop using Adobe Express was held at Conflux Co Learning for students, educators and creatives from the community to create Kribmas cards.
Kozy Kribmas Sweater Party was held on Dec. 16 at Sophie’s Artist Lounge and the proceeds collected were used to purchase winter and summer items for the Annie Malone Foundation.
A private “Frotoshop” event was hosted on Dec. 17 at Conflux Co Learning for St. Louis Public Schools students. The youth had the opportunity to customize their own pair of Nike Air Force 1s alongside St. Louis creatives. Frotoshop was sponsored by Adobe Express in partnership with All Black Creatives, Serving Our Communities, SLPS Foundation.
The Stifel Theatre transformed into “Smifel Theatre” last Sunday (Dec. 18) for Smino’s 5th annual Kribmas Concert. He partnered with Spotify for this year’s main event. Upon entry in the theatre’s foyer, fans were drawn in by a “ginormous” all-white low-top Nike Air Force 1 prop designed by artist Brock Seals. The prop was also displayed on stage at the last Kribmas show.
JayBaby TheGreaty, who’s signed to Smino’s label, and is also the son of rapper, Penelope Jones kicked the show off with his singles “2 Fired Up,” and “Bandz.” It came as a surprise he didn’t perform his most popular hit, “Stony” which received a lot of praise from Smino on social media after its initial release.
Bari, frequent collaborator with Smino, and former Zero Fatigue member performed “Regardless” which dropped in August and 2020’s “No Reason.” He also opened for Smino on the Swanita Tour.
Jordan Ward, south St. Louis native, who relocated to Los Angeles at 18 has shared stages with Janet Jackson and Justin Bieber. He’s recognizable for dancing alongside Beyoncé in her iconic 2018 Coachella headlining performance, “Beychella” streaming on Netflix.
About five years ago, he saw a long line in the Delmar Loop and realized he missed Kribmas. Fast forward to the 2022 Kribmas show and he joined this year’s lineup. Ward said he’s looked up to Smino for as long as he’s been making music.
“Yo, man since I’ve been making music I’ve been inspired by this dude,” Ward said. “He [Smino] paved the way for people like me, so I gotta give much love to him.”
Ward’s magnetic strong presence included quirky dance moves and his songs “Straight Forward” and “Lil Baby Crush.” He announced his “Forward” album drops at the start of next year.
The man of the hour hasn’t had a Smino show in four years. After the crowd yelled his name for a couple minutes, he appeared on stage rocking his natural hair in two afro puffs and two side braids, while wearing a Charlotte Hornets jersey with the #1 and Commander on the back.
Highlighting the theme of his latest album “Luv 4 Rent” his set featured a heart shaped stop sign and a bus stop bench advertising “Luv 4 Rent Open House.” In his introduction, a woman appears on the screen FaceTiming him and they exchange words then walks off stage and comes back to perform “Blu Billy” with his “Da Band Band,” background singer Schenay Mosley, and Grammy nominated engineer Jeff “Jeffontheboards” Thompson.
“St. Louis, did we come to party tonight?,” Smino asked the crowd. “It’s been so long since we did Kribmas, man. We went through a pandemic, mugs had the vid. Make some noise if you caught that [expletive], ugh, me too. But we ain’t getting that [expletive] tonight because we under God right now, ‘errbody protected and ‘errbody covered in this room.”
His next song was “Lee & Lovie” dedicated to his “papa” and grandma. This was the first time he performed songs from his newest project, ahead of his joint co-headlining “Luv is 4Ever” tour with J.ID., which starts Jan. 22, 2023, and concludes Mar. 29, 2023.
He announced he will continue giving back to youth in St. Louis by soon launching his own arts school, the Kribmas School of Arts.
“We’ve always given proceeds to the kids in the city making sure we got something to look forward to,” Smino said.
Lashay Wood, a concert goer who became a fan after hearing Smino’s “blkswn” album said she’s proud of his progression.
“It’s cool seeing him now compared to the first show I saw him at which was his Swanita Tour,” Wood said. “He has a certain aura that stands out about him. Not everybody can vibe with that type of aura.”
Smino performed “Curtains,” “Rice & Gravy,” “Summer Salt,” and “Z4L” before taking a brief wardrobe change into a fuzzy jogging suit.
His set design changed into a classroom setting with desks, a locker cabinet and white board with the phrase “Blk Luv Ain’t Ded.”
In a skit similar to the classroom scene in “The Wood,” NandoSTL portrayed a teacher at the podium calling role and reacting to a rambunctious group of high schoolers featuring Smino and other creatives from St. Louis.
From there he performed “90 Proof,” the lead single from “Luv 4 Rent” featuring J.Cole.
He invited three fans on stage to twerk to “Pro Freak,” a nod to the free-spirited women who are unapologetically themselves and sport gold teeth. He followed “Ole [Expletive] Kendrick” and “Klink.”
Republic Records signee Big Boss Vette twerked and busted out splits, causing the crowd to go crazy to her viral hit, “Snatched.”
Brothers Murphy Lee and Kyjuan of the platinum-selling St. Lunatics graced the stage for “Wat Da Hook Gon Be.”
Chicago native Saba, two-thirds of the Ghetto Sage supergroup with Smino and Noname, was a pleasant surprise. He performed his hit record “Life.” Smino teased that a Ghetto Sage project is coming soon.
Smino’s homecoming production also included “Spinz,” “Netflix & Dusse,” “Anita,” “Defibrillator,” “Louphoria,” and “Pudgy.” His finale song was “Matinee.”
Sie astonished Smino with a video clip from St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones.
“I wanna congratulate him [Smino] on his outreach in the community and just being a wonderfully talented artist,” Jones said in the clip. “It’s my pleasure as mayor of The City of St. Louis, I declare today Dec. 18 as Smino Day.”
Sie wasn’t the only one with something up her sleeve. Smino told Sie to look behind her and in walked her family with an abundance of flowers, acknowledging the hard work and dedication she’s put into Kribmas from the beginning.
“We wanna show you how much we appreciate you,” Smino said. “Don’t cry yet, yo makeup looks so good.”
Proceeds from Kribma5 supported Almost Home, a non-profit assisting homeless young moms and their children, and provided new coats to Annie Malone Children and Family Services.
