Tero Smith (June 26, 1977 – May 25, 2008), better known by his

stage name A stage name or professional name is a pseudonym used by performers, authors, and entertainers—such as actors, comedians, singers, and musicians. The equivalent concept among writers is called a ''nom de plume'' (pen name). Some performers ...

Camu Tao, was an American rapper, singer, and producer.

Early life

Tao was born Tero Smith in

Columbus, Ohio Columbus (, ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities in Ohio, most populous city of the U.S. state of Ohio. With a 2020 United States census, 2020 census population of 905,748, it is the List of United States ...

, on June 26, 1977.

Career

Tao was signed to

Definitive Jux Definitive Jux was a record label based in New York City. It was co-founded in 1999 by El-P and Amaechi Uzoigwe. History Definitive Jux was initially known as Def Jux. However, popular hip hop label Def Jam Recordings sued Def Jux over the name ...

. He was a member of several groups:

S.A. Smash S.A. Smash was an American hip hop duo from Columbus, Ohio Columbus (, ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities in Ohio, most populous city of the U.S. state of Ohio. With a 2020 United States census, 2020 ...

, The Weathermen, Central Services (with

El-P Jaime Stuart Meline (born March 2, 1975), better known by the stage name El-P (shortened from his previous stage name El Producto), is an American rapper, songwriter, and record producer. Starting his career as a member of Company Flow, he has ...

), and the music collective Cardboard City. He was also part of the

MHz The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), often described as being equivalent to one event (or cycle) per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose formal expression in terms of SI base u ...

crew with Copywrite,

RJD2 Ramble Jon Krohn (born May 27, 1976), better known by his stage name RJD2, is an American musician and record producer based in Columbus, Ohio. He is the owner of record label RJ's Electrical Connections. He has been a member of groups such as S ...

, Jakki tha Motamouth, and Tage Future. Partnering with

Cage A cage is an enclosure often made of mesh, bars, or wires, used to confine, contain or protect something or someone. A cage can serve many purposes, including keeping an animal or person in captivity, capturing an animal or person, and displayi ...

to form Nighthawks, the two crafted an album during a single three-day creative session.

Death

Tao died of

lung cancer Lung cancer, also known as lung carcinoma, is a malignant tumor that begins in the lung. Lung cancer is caused by genetic damage to the DNA of cells in the airways, often caused by cigarette smoking or inhaling damaging chemicals. Damaged ...

at the age of 30 on May 25, 2008, two years after being diagnosed.

Legacy

At the time of his death, Tao was producing a song for

's '' I Never Knew You'' EP and working on his first solo album for

. On July 9, 2009,

announced via

Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...

that Tao's album '' King of Hearts'' was finished and would be released posthumously on October 20, 2009. It was eventually released by Definitive Jux (in collaboration with

Fat Possum Records Fat Possum Records is an American independent record label based in Water Valley and Oxford, Mississippi. At first Fat Possum focused almost entirely on recording previously unknown Mississippi blues artists (typically from Oxford or Holly Sprin ...

) on August 17, 2010, along with a free download EP from Central Services. About the album, El-P said, "We all expected to get Camu in the studio and go as far as he wanted to go with the record. The songs are bare, but then again a lot of them are just what he wanted. A lot of them wouldn't have changed much. Knowing Camu, he had a lot of talented musician friends he would have liked to have collaborated and have involved. I do think the album would have been different had he lived to complete it." Aesop Rock stated in a 2008 interview with

The A.V. Club ''The A.V. Club'' is an online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was created in ...

that his next album may contain "a couple of songs about isfriend Camu". In his song "Racing Stripes", Rock reflected on Tao near the end of his life. Specifically, he noted Tao's unusual haircut and habits Tao had developed. Tao is also the main subject in Rock's song "Get Out of the Car" from his 2016 album ''The Impossible Kid'', reflecting on how the death of Tao drove him to an eight-year-long state of "emotional paralysis" and an increasing trend of self-imposed social isolation. In 2017, when the video for this song was released, Rock remarked, "This May 25th marks nine years since the death of my friend Camu Tao, an event that serves as an emotional and narrative anchor in both this song and my life. I wanted to reflect on things that had changed since, and try to connect some events I hadn't realized were potentially related."

, Tao's friend and founder of the Definitive Jux label, dedicated his album '' Cancer 4 Cure'' to Tao's memory. The song "The Full Retard" from the album features a looped vocal sample, "You should pump this shit like they do in the future", taken from Tao's lyrics on his track "When You're Going Down", and a bridge where the lyric, "lil' bitch", is repeated in a style derived from previous collaborations between the two artists, most notably Tao's track "Hold the Floor", to which El-P remarks, "That's some Camu shit." He later indirectly spoke about Tao in his verse on the track "Thursday in the Danger Room" from

Run the Jewels Run the Jewels, also known by the initials RTJ, is an American hip-hop Supergroup (music), superduo, composed of Brooklyn-based rapper and producer El-P and Atlanta-based rapper Killer Mike. They released their critically acclaimed Run the Jewe ...

' 2016 album '' Run the Jewels 3''. In a now-deleted tweet responding to a fan's question, El-P confirmed that the verse was about an experience he had with Tao while Tao had cancer.

Discography

Albums

* '' Nighthawks'' (2002) (with

, as Nighthawks) * ''Forever Frozen in Television Time'' (2010) (with

, as Central Services) * '' King of Hearts'' (2010)

Mixtapes

* ''Blair Cosby: Cape Cod (Going for De Gold)'' (2004) * ''Blair Cosby II: The Wali Era'' (2005) * ''Blair Cosby: Cereal Carpens (97 Season)'' (2005)

Singles

* "Hear Me Talking to You" (2001) * "Hold the Floor" b/w "Wireless" (2001) * "Cop Hell" (2003) (with

, as Nighthawks) * "WMR" (2004) (with

)

Guest appearances

* Copywrite - "Three Words" from ''The High Exhaulted'' (2002) *

- "Accidents Don't Happen" from '' Fantastic Damage'' (2002) * Vakill - "Forbidden Scriptures" from "The Darkest Cloud" (2003) * Form One - "Three Poisonous Darts" from 12" (2003) * Cage - "Come to Daddy" from ''Weatherproof'' (2003) * Blockhead - "Jet Son" from Sunday Seance 12" (2004) * The Weatherman - "Gut You" from ''Presents Eastern Conference All Stars III'' (2003) * Aesop Rock - "Rickety Rackety" from ''

Fast Cars, Danger, Fire and Knives ''Fast Cars, Danger, Fire and Knives'' is an EP by American hip hop artist Aesop Rock. Released via the Definitive Jux label on February 22, 2005, the record is produced by Blockhead and Aesop Rock himself, with the former producing three tra ...

'' (2005) * The Perceptionists - "Party Hard" from '' Black Dialogue'' (2005) *

- "The Death of Chris Palko" from '' Hell's Winter'' (2005) * Prefuse 73 - "Now You're Leaving" from '' Surrounded by Silence'' (2005) * Slow Suicide Stimulus - "Regardless"; "Cutty Sharks" from ''Slow Suicide Stimulus'' (2006) *

- "The Overly Dramatic Truth" from ''

I'll Sleep When You're Dead ''I'll Sleep When You're Dead'' is the second solo studio album by American hip hop artist El-P. It was released through Definitive Jux on March 20, 2007. It peaked at number 78 on the Billboard 200, ''Billboard'' 200 chart, selling about 11,000 c ...

'' (2007) * Copywrite - "Mega Mega" from ''The Life and Times of Peter Nelson'' (2010)

Production (Dope)

* "Emergency"; "Eastern Conference All Stars" videcnce; All East, 2001* "E=MC2" (Remix) vidence & Mr. Eon, 2001* "Fire It Up"; "Ready, Aim..."; "Hear Me Though" opywrite, 2002* "Teen Age Death" age, 2002* (many tracks) ighthawks, 2002* "Standing Room Only"; "Wanna (But I Won't!); "High Heat" igh & Mighty, 2003* "Come to Daddy" age, 2003* "Got Wet?" eak Bros, 2004* "KRS-Lighty" ast Aire, 2004* "No Escape" ak Ballz, 2004* "Making the Jux" -Rayz Walz, 2006* "Days" age, 2006* "Cutty Sharks"; "Regardless"'; "I.C.U."; "Firewater"; "Pop Dat Thing" low Suicide Stimulus, 2006* "Blood Sport" ighty Joseph, 2008* "Out of Range"; "Taking Good Care" ak Ballz, 2008* "When You're Going Down" amu, 2009* "Rob the Club" opywrite, 2010

References

External links

Camu Tao
at

* at

* * {{Authority control 1977 births 2008 deaths African-American male rappers 20th-century American male rappers 21st-century American male rappers Rappers from Columbus, Ohio Underground rappers Deaths from lung cancer in the United States Definitive Jux artists The Weathermen (hip-hop group) members MHz Legacy members 20th-century American male musicians 20th-century African-American musicians 21st-century African-American musicians