Daniel Anthony Farris (born October 17, 1985), known professionally as D Smoke, is an American rapper and former educator from

Inglewood, California Inglewood is a city in southwestern Los Angeles County, California, United States, in the Greater Los Angeles, Greater Los Angeles metropolitan area. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census, the city had a population of 107,762. ...

. He first became known as the winner of the

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

hip hop-based reality competition series '' Rhythm + Flow'' in 2019. The following year, he independently released his debut studio album ''Black Habits'' (2020), which earned him nominations for

Best Rap Album The Grammy Award for Best Rap Album is an award presented to recording artists for quality albums with rapping at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards. Honors in several categories ...

and

Best New Artist The Grammy Award for Best New Artist has been awarded since the 2nd Annual Grammy Awards in 1960 (except in 1967) "for a new artist who releases, during the Eligibility Year, the first recording which establishes the public identity of that ar ...

at the

63rd Annual Grammy Awards The 63rd Annual Grammy Awards ceremony was held in and around the Los Angeles Convention Center in Los Angeles on March 14, 2021. It recognized the best recordings, compositions, and artists of the eligibility year, running from September 1, 201 ...

. In 2023, he signed with

Snoop Dogg Calvin Cordozar Broadus Jr. ( ; born October 20, 1971), better known by his stage name Snoop Dogg (previously Snoop Doggy Dogg), is an American rapper, record producer, and actor. Rooted in West Coast hip-hop, he is widely regarded as one of t ...

Death Row Records Death Row Records is an American record label that was founded in 1991 by The D.O.C., Dr. Dre, Suge Knight, and Dick Griffey. The label became a sensation by releasing multi-platinum hip-hop albums by West Coast-based artists such as Dr. D ...

Career

Farris grew up in a musical family with his mother, brothers, and cousin being

gospel Gospel originally meant the Christianity, Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the second century Anno domino, AD the term (, from which the English word originated as a calque) came to be used also for the books in which the message w ...

singers in

. His mother was a backup singer for

Tina Turner Tina Turner (born Anna Mae Bullock; November 26, 1939 – May 24, 2023) was a singer, songwriter, actress, and author. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Queen of Rock 'n' Roll", her vocal prowess, raspy voice, and electrifyin ...

. In 2006, he formed the songwriting group WoodWorks with his brothers and his cousin Tiffany Gouché, who wrote songs for

Ginuwine Elgin Baylor Lumpkin (born October 15, 1970), better known by his stage name Ginuwine ( ), is an American R&B singer. He began his career as a member of the musical collective Swing Mob in the early 1990s. As a solo act, he signed with Epic R ...

and

The Pussycat Dolls The Pussycat Dolls were an American girl group and dance ensemble, founded in Los Angeles, California, by choreographer Robin Antin in 1995 as a neo-burlesque troupe. At the suggestion of Jimmy Iovine, Antin decided to take the troupe mainstrea ...

, and is credited for co-writing " Never" by

Jaheim Jaheim H. Hoagland (born May 26, 1978), known mononymously as Jaheim, is an American R&B singer. He was signed by Naughty by Nature's Kaygee to Divine Mill Records in 2000 and released his debut album '' Ghetto Love'' in 2001. His second effo ...

. He was also in a musical trio with his brother called N3D. On May 9, 2006, he released his first album called ''Producer of the Year''. In 2015, he appeared on SiR's independent album ''Seven Sundays'' on the song "You Ain't Ready". In 2019, Farris was a contestant on the Netflix competition show '' Rhythm + Flow'', and was named the inaugural winner of the three-week series. On October 24, he released his debut extended play, ''Inglewood High'', a 7-track project including a feature from Gouché. ''

HipHopDX ''HipHopDX'' is an online magazine of Hip hop music, hip hop music criticism and news. ''HipHopDX'' has over 3.5M monthly readers, the website encompassing hip hop news, interviews, music, and reviews. The website's founder and CEO is Sharath C ...

'' gave the EP a positive review, saying he could "utilize multiple flows, deliver introspective storytelling, could rap in Spanish incredibly well and had an ear for quality." He performed at the 2019 Soul Train Music Awards with SiR. He also appeared on the Game's 2019 album ''

Born 2 Rap ''Born 2 Rap'' is the ninth studio album by American rapper the Game. It was released on November 29, 2019, via eOne Music. Its release coincided with the Game's fortieth birthday. It was advertised as his final album before retiring, although G ...

'' on its song "Cross on Jesus Back". D Smoke later appeared as himself in the

Peacock Peafowl is a common name for two bird species of the genus '' Pavo'' and one species of the closely related genus '' Afropavo'' within the tribe Pavonini of the family Phasianidae (the pheasants and their allies). Male peafowl are referred t ...

series '' Bel-Air'', in the episode "PA to LA", based on ''

The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air ''The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air'' is an American television sitcom created by Andy and Susan Borowitz that aired on NBC from September 10, 1990, to May 20, 1996. The series stars Will Smith as a fictionalized version of himself, a street-smart ...

''. He also starred in Paramount series Mayor of Kingstown.

Personal life

Born to mother Jackie Gouche' and father Ronald Farris which together had 3 boys. One of his brothers,

SiR ''Sir'' is a formal honorific address in English for men, derived from Sire in the High Middle Ages. Both are derived from the old French "" (Lord), brought to England by the French-speaking Normans, and which now exist in French only as part ...

signed with

Top Dawg Entertainment Top Dawg Entertainment (TDE) is an American independent record label. Specializing in hip hop and R&B artists, TDE is based in Carson, California. The label was founded in 2004 by record producer Anthony "Top Dawg" Tiffith, who is the chief exec ...

in 2017. Farris graduated from

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...

and was a Spanish and music theory teacher at Inglewood High School.

Discography

Studio albums

Extended plays

Guest appearances

Awards and nominations

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Smoke, D 1985 births Living people American hip-hop musicians Musicians from Inglewood, California Rappers from Los Angeles Record producers from California Songwriters from California University of California, Los Angeles alumni West Coast hip-hop musicians