Smoky Mo
Smoky Mo | |
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Alexander Alexandrovich Tsyhov |
| Also known as |
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| Born | September 10, 1982 |
| Origin | Saint Petersburg, Russia. |
| Genres | |
| Occupation(s) | |
| Years active | 1997 — now |
| Labels |
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| Associated acts | |
Alexander Alexandrovich Tsyhov(Алекса́ндр Алекса́ндрович Ци́хов) (was born 10 September 1982, Leningrad), also known as Smoky Mo — Russian rapper, beatmaker, producer from Saint Petersburg.
Biography
During his school years he studied karate. In one interview Alexander said - if it wasn't for music, I would have become an sportsman.
Graduated from Saint Petersburg State Institute of Culture with a degree in Manager-Producer of show business. He said he was strongly influenced by books of Robert Allen Monroe. First four albums were recorded in a home studio.
1997 year
At first Alexander Tsyhov attended a rap concert in 1997. It was a performance of the band "Life Tree" («Дерево Жизни»), organized by Baltic Clan(russian:Балтийский клан) rap foundation. The first steps in hip-hop were covers of the DA-108 rap band recorded with two tape recorders.
It was a golden time for the Baltic clan family. In one of the Baltic Clan rap festivals, Smok Mo met Vika and Dens from the local band Cubase.
Alexander offered to make a collaborative project titled «Smoke»(«Смок»). Tracks of this project «Love is horribly»(«Любовь страшна») and «Smoke-base»(«Дым-база») were released on the Baltic Clan compilation «New names of Petersburg's rap » («Новые Имена Питерского Рэпа — 6»).[1].
The first concert of «Smoke» in Velikie Luki town (approximately 600 km from St. Petersburg) was unsuccessful. The bus that was supposed to take the children to another city stopped for them later than the appointed time and, moreover, broke down on the way. The concert was broken, and the audience had to hand over their tickets. Towards nightfall, the band reached their destination and scheduled a performance the next day. The owners of the club decided that the band should answer for the originally disrupted concert, and after the event, the group was planned to explain their mistake by using physical force. A local DJ warned him about a potential incident, and the band had to return to St. Petersburg. After this adventure, project Smoke was destroyed[2].
1999—2002 years
In 1999, Smoky Mo participated in the project "Wind in the head", which lasted about a year and released the album «Senorita»(«Сеньорита»).
In 2001, Smoky made a name for himself after a victory in Rap Music festival as part of the team «Dinasty D»(«Династия Ди») [3].
2003—2006 years
Smoky Mo was largely influenced by Artem Borovkov aka Fuze and Marat Sergeev from KREC (rap band) and was introduced to them by Vladi from Kasta in 2003. By his own admission, specifically Fuze and Marat inspired him to continue rap and to make his debut solo album. Album Kara-Te was recorded at the Kitchen Records studio in the South-West of Saint Petersburg. Smoky Mo started recording tracks using lyrics written earlier. Later came fresh inspiration with new messages in the lyrics and flow.
In 2004, Smoky signed a contract with Respect Production record label (which was the label of Kasta and Yug rap bands). In the spring of the same year, his first album «Kara-Te» was released and received many positive reviews from critics[4].
After the debut album, Smoky Mo extensively toured around Russian cities and created tracks for a new album. In 2005, he left Kitchen Records.
Autumn 2006 on the label Respect production was released the second album — «Planet 46»(«Планета 46»), featuring well known rappers as Detsl, Umbriaco, Maestro A-Sid, Gunmakaz, RAPid (aka I1), DJ Vadimruen, Kobi Zero, Shaali Sekira, Mister Maloy, Vint. Album was made in a deep underground and experimental style.
2009 year
After a long pause before «Planet 46» was released, the mixtape «Saint-P Phenomen» was produced by Dj Nik One (beatmaker and DJ of F.Y.P.M. band). One of the tracks «In bayonets» («В штыки») was made in the «Kara-Te» album style.
Also, this year was released a network mixtape supporting the album «Exit from the darkness» and album «2010» of the V-Style band.
The mixtape «200 years later»(«200 лет спустя») consists of 14 tracks and features the band V-Style from Vladivostok. The author of all music was Bigg & Sin (V-Style), except for one track produced by Smoky Mo himself.
2010—2012 years
June 11, 2010, the third studio album titled «Exit from the darkness»(«Выход из темноты») was released, stylistically different from the previous two.
The next album Time of the Tiger(«Время Тигра») was released by MadStyleMusic record label featuring Soyuz Music at the beginning of May 2011.
In 2011, Smoky Mo began to collaborate with the Gazgolder creative union.
In summer 2012, Tsyhov appeared in a project under the name Mozi, produced by the best DJs and producers. In July 2012, the newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda published a list of the 10 most popular Petersburgers in Runet. Smoky Mo took 7th place, overtaken by footballer Aleksandr Kerzhakov, actress Oksana Akinshina and journalist Alexander Nevzorov [5]. August 25, he performed at the show on Channel One Russia with the song «Go Work» feat Triagrutrika band [6].
2013 year
July 11, 2013, the album «Junior» («Младший») was released, featuring Basta, Tati and Glukoza.
2014 year
Played a cameo role in the film «Gazgolder».
November 19, the album of remixes «"Kara-Te. 10 years later» («Кара-Тэ. 10 лет спустя») was released, featuring Basta, Rem Digga, Vladi and others.
2015 year
January 1, 2015, at 12 o'clock in the morning, the premiere of the collaborative album with Basta «Basta / Smoky Mo»(«Баста / Смоки Мо») took place.
According to the results of the first week of digital sales (from January 1 to January 8), the album took the first place in the Russian iTunes, ahead of albums of IOWA and Grigory Leps, and entered the top five albums on Google Play, taking fourth place. Among the guests of the album were Skriptonit, Elena Vaenga and Tricky.
2016 year
Smoky released, as a beatmaker, the mixtape «Armour of God»(«Доспехи бога») featuring Pika, Yanix, D.masta, Slava KPSS, Loc-Dog featuring the «Zloi Negr» [7].
2017 year
Released as a beatmaker the mixtape «Armour of God-2»(«Доспехи бога-2») featuring Pika, Yanix, D.masta, Nigative, Kyivstoner and others featuring the «Zloi Negr» [8].
Released the 6th album "The third day".
2018 year
Smoky Mo participated as a mentor on the Versus Battle Fresh Blood 4: War of Styles [9].
Released the 6th album "The first day".
2019 year
Smoky Mo continued to participate as a mentor on the Versus Battle Fresh Blood 4: War of Styles. In February, he released the track «Twice»(«Дважды») in memory of the deceased Detsl [10].
Released the 8th album "White Blues" («Белый блюз»)[11].
September 23, 2019, it became known that the 9th studio album of Smoky Mo would be titled «Steakhouse» («Стейкхаус»).
Theater roles
Alexander Tsyhov was invited to perform in a mono-performance at the Praktika theater in 9 stories». The playwright Yuri Muravitsky worked on the script.
Discography
Studio Albums
- 2004 — «Kara-Te» («Кара-Тэ»)
- 2006 — «Planet 46» («Планета 46»)
- 2010 — «Exit from the darkness» («Выход из темноты»)
- 2011 — «Time of the Tiger» («Время Тигра»)
- 2013 — «Junior» («Младший»)
- 2015 — «Basta / Smoky Mo»(«Баста / Смоки Мо») ft Basta.
- 2017 — «The third day» («День третий»)
- 2018 — «The first day» («День первый»)
- 2019 — «White Blues» («Белый блюз»)
- 2019 — «Steakhouse» («Стейкхаус»)
- 2020 — «BANG BANG»
Mixtapes
- 2009 — «200 years later»
- 2016 — «Armour of God»(«Доспехи бога») ft Zloi Negr
- 2017 — «Armour of God-2»(«Доспехи бога-2») ft Zloi Negr
Awards
On the RUMA awards 2012 was nominated in two categories — "Feat. of year" («Go work»(«На работу» ) ft Triagrutrika, «Devil»(«Чёрт») ft Rem Digga) and "Track of year" («Вторник»).
Notes
- ↑ "Baltic Clan: New Names № 6 1999 (KDK)".
- ↑ "Russian hip-hop first-person conversation: Smoky Mo and Krip-A-Krip".
- ↑ "Article about Rap Music fest". Archived from the original on 2009-01-08.
- ↑ Vladi (2004-06-17). "Rap.ru Kara-Te review from Vladi (Kasta)". rap.ru. Retrieved 2004-06-17.
- ↑ "Vaenga and Shnurov became the most popular Petersburgers in Runet".
- ↑ "Smoky Mo - Go Work ft Triagrutrika".
- ↑ ""Armour of God" mixtape TheFlow magazine review".
- ↑ ""Armour of God-2" mixtape TheFlow magazine review".
- ↑ "Versus Fresh Blood: Oxxxymiron team vs Smoky Mo team". Archived from the original on 2018-02-18. Retrieved 2020-12-31.
- ↑ "Requiem for Detsl from Smoky Mo".
- ↑ "White Blues album review from TheFlow magazine".
References
http://www.rap.ru/reading/19760 - Smoky Mo - Evolution of style
http://www.rap.ru/artist/smoki-mo Archived 2019-02-09 at the Wayback Machine - Profile in rap.ru
https://www.facebook.com/smokymolla46/ - Official profile in Facebook
https://vk.com/molla46 - Official profile in Vkontakte
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVoOvl6VxsCORmJBl4VMEGw - Youtube channel
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