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Corbin Beckner Smidzik (born February 20, 1998), known
mononym A mononym is a name composed of only one word. An individual who is known and addressed by a mononym is a mononymous person. A mononym may be the person's only name, given to them at birth. This was routine in most ancient societies, and remains ...
ously as Corbin ( Spooky Black and Lil Spook) is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, and record producer. He was a member of the
hip hop Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide range of musical techniques. Hip- ...
/ R&B collective Thestand4rd.


Career

Smidzik gained popularity on the internet through a series of solo releases on the website
SoundCloud SoundCloud is a German audio streaming service owned and operated by SoundCloud Global Limited & Co. KG. The service enables its users to upload, promote, and share audio. Founded in 2007 by Alexander Ljung and Eric Wahlforss, SoundCloud is ...
. His first release ''Forest'' was put out in late 2013 and exhibited a
hip hop Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide range of musical techniques. Hip- ...
sound with Smidzik rapping on every song, in contrast to his later and more recognized R&B-stylized singing. By 2014, Smidzik was gaining mass exposure with the help of SoundCloud and
YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...
. The video for the song "Without You", from the mixtape ''Black Silk'' (released in February 2014),
went viral Viral phenomena or viral sensations are objects or patterns that are able to replicate themselves or convert other objects into copies of themselves when these objects are exposed to them. Analogous to the way in which viruses propagate, the te ...
, attaining more than a million views on video-sharing websites YouTube and
WorldStarHipHop WorldStarHipHop is a content-aggregating video blog. Zurawik, David.Worldstarhiphop.com makes a name for itself with shocking viral videos". ''The Baltimore Sun''. March 23, 2012. Retrieved on April 22, 2012Alternate link to the same article fr ...
. ''
Noisey ''Vice'' (stylized in all caps) is a Canadian-American magazine focused on lifestyle, arts, culture, and news/politics. It was founded in 1994 in Montreal as an alternative punk magazine, and its founders later launched the youth media company ...
'' declared the video an "instant classic" and published an article titled "Is Spooky Black Going to Take Over the R&B Game?", while ''
Consequence of Sound ''Consequence'' (previously ''Consequence of Sound'') is an independently owned New York-based online magazine featuring news, editorials, and reviews of music, movies, and television. History ''Consequence of Sound'' was founded in Septem ...
'' and ''
Complex Complex commonly refers to: * Complexity, the behaviour of a system whose components interact in multiple ways so possible interactions are difficult to describe ** Complex system, a system composed of many components which may interact with each ...
'' magazine named "Without You" one of the best songs of 2014. Smidzik is noted for releasing his material without promotion, and has frequently declined requests for interviews. In August 2014, he released the EP ''Leaving'' and a music video for its track "DJ Khaled Is My Father". By October, Smidzik was being managed by Canadian producer
Doc McKinney Martin "Doc" McKinney (born August 27, 1971) is a Canadian Americans, Canadian-American record producer and songwriter. He was formerly one half of the duo (now solo act) Esthero. McKinney is widely credited with developing The Weeknd's sound as ...
. In December, he premiered a new song, "Worn", under the new name Corbin. On Twitter, Smidzik's reason for the name change was because "Spooky Black is a dumb name." Also in 2014, Smidzik and fellow Minnesota musicians
Allan Kingdom Allan Kyariga (born January 6, 1994), better known by his stage name Allan Kingdom, is a Canadian rapper and record producer based in Saint Paul, Minnesota. He was a member of Thestand4rd along with Bobby Raps, Corbin, and Psymun. He guest fe ...
,
Bobby Raps Robert John Richardson (born December 22, 1992), known professionally as Bobby Raps, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, and record producer. He has been a member of Thestand4rd, Audio Perm, and Dequexatron X000. He has produced and wri ...
, and
Psymun Simon Christensen, better known by his stage name Psymun, is an American record producer based in Minnesota. He was a member of Thestand4rd alongside Allan Kingdom, Bobby Raps, and Corbin. Early life and education Christensen graduated from ...
formed the hip hop/R&B group Thestand4rd. They released their self-titled debut album, ''Thestand4rd'', in November 2014, produced entirely by the group and Doc McKinney. During November 2014, Corbin and the Stand4rd embarked on a US tour, which included a gig at
SOB's SOB's is a live world music venue and restaurant in the Hudson Square neighborhood of Manhattan. S.O.B.’s is an abbreviation of Sounds of Brazil. Larry Gold opened SOB's in June 1982 with the purpose of exposing the music of the Afro-Latino d ...
in New York City where they were introduced by
DJ Khaled Khaled Mohammed Khaled (; born November 26, 1975), known professionally as DJ Khaled, is an American DJ and record producer. Originally a Miami-based radio personality, Khaled has since become known for enlisting high-profile music industry ar ...
. The group ended up selling out all seven of the shows on their debut headlining tour. After the release of ''Couch Potato'' with Bobby Raps in 2015, Smidzik remained quiet and rarely did performances for 2 years. On January 16, 2017, Smidzik unexpectedly uploaded a song, "Destrooy" onto his SoundCloud. On June 25, 2017, he announced on
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 himself,
Shlohmo Henry Laufer (born January 3, 1990), known professionally as ''Shlohmo'', is an American musician and producer based in Los Angeles, California. Laufer co-founded the record label 'Wedidit Records'. Shlohmo is associated with the Los Angeles ...
, and D33J would be going on a North American tour later in the year. Later, on August 24, Smidzik announced his debut album, ''Mourn'', which was released on September 5, 2017, on Shlohmo's record label Wedidit. In American recording artist
Janet Jackson Janet Damita Jo Jackson (born May 16, 1966) is an American singer, songwriter, actress and dancer. She is noted for her innovative, socially conscious and sexually provocative records, as well as elaborate stage shows. Her sound and choreogr ...
's State of the World Tour, she uses the song "Idle" from Corbin's Leaving EP as a video interlude before playing the song "What About". On January 1, 2019, Corbin began releasing singles to his SoundCloud page. The first to be released was "Wretch" as a New Years gift to fans. Over the course of the year, "Wretch" was followed by several more singles both new and unreleased. Later, in August of the same year, Corbin lost access to his
Spotify Spotify (; ) is a List of companies of Sweden, Swedish Music streaming service, audio streaming and media service provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. , it is one of the largest providers of music streaming services ...
account. In 2020 as a response to losing access to his Spotify account, Corbin started uploading previous SoundCloud uploads to a new Spotify page under his name, Corbin Smidzik. Included in these uploads is a previous version of his album Mourn, simply titled: ''Mourn 2016''. On July 24, 2020, Corbin was featured on
the Kid Laroi Charlton Kenneth Jeffrey Howard (born 17 August 2003), known professionally as the Kid Laroi (stylized as The Kid LAROI), is an Australian rapper, singer and songwriter. He was first discovered by Triple J Unearthed in 2016 at the age of 13. As ...
's song "Not Fair" from his debut mixtape, ''
F*ck Love ''F*ck Love'' (stylised in all caps) is the debut mixtape by Australian rapper and singer the Kid Laroi. It was released on 24 July 2020 by Grade A Productions and Columbia Records. Production was handled by a variety of record producers over ...
.'' Corbin also appeared in the accompanying music video released the same day. The song was certified Gold in Australia by
ARIA In music, an aria (, ; : , ; ''arias'' in common usage; diminutive form: arietta, ; : ariette; in English simply air (music), air) is a self-contained piece for one voice, with or without instrument (music), instrumental or orchestral accompan ...
in 2021. The song, "Interlude" on his E.P. "Leaving" appeared at the end of the documentary, '' Untold: Caitlyn Jenner'' released on August 24, 2021. Corbin has written songs for artists including SONNY,
Future The future is the time after the past and present. Its arrival is considered inevitable due to the existence of time and the laws of physics. Due to the apparent nature of reality and the unavoidability of the future, everything that currently ex ...
, NAV, and Dua Saleh.


Discography


Studio albums

* ''Thestand4rd'' (2014) * ''Mourn'' (2017) * ''Mourn 2016'' (2019) * ''Ghost with Skin'' (2021) * ''Crisis Kid'' (2025)


Mixtapes

* ''Forest'' (2013) * ''Black Silk'' (2014)


Extended plays

* ''Leaving'' (2014) * ''Couch Potato'' (2015)


Singles

* "Ready" ft. Bobby Raps (Prod.
Bobby Raps Robert John Richardson (born December 22, 1992), known professionally as Bobby Raps, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, and record producer. He has been a member of Thestand4rd, Audio Perm, and Dequexatron X000. He has produced and wri ...
) (2014) * "Reason" (2016) * "Worn" (2016) * "Destrooy" (2017) * "Wretch" (2019) * "Calmdown" (2019) * "F*ckthisbad(rufff)" (2019) * "There's a 100 Million Girls in the World.. But I... Want... Youuu" (2019) * "Misery Demo" (2019) * "Krrokodil Interlude" (2019) * "Tell Me" (2021) * "Promise to Me" (2022) * "Hello There" (with
Lyrical Lemonade Cole Bennett (born May 14, 1996) is an American music video director and record executive. He is the founder of Lyrical Lemonade. He has most notably collaborated with Juice Wrld on music videos such as " All Girls Are the Same", " Lucid Dreams" ...
,
Lil Tracy Jazz Ishmael Butler (born October 3, 1995), professionally known as Lil Tracy, is an American rapper, singer, and songwriter. Butler was also known under the name Yung Bruh during the beginning of his career. Tracy is best known for his collabor ...
, and
Black Kray Timothy O'Neal Mills (born February 23, 1994), better known by his stage names Black Kray and Sickboyrari, is an American rapper, producer, and songwriter known for his influence on the cloud rap, emo rap, and tread genres. He is a founding memb ...
) (2023) * "Carbon Monoxide" (2025) * "Come Down" (2025)


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Corbin 1998 births Living people 21st-century American rappers Alternative R&B musicians American contemporary R&B singers American electronic musicians 21st-century American male rappers American male singer-songwriters American new wave musicians Cloud rappers Emo musicians Midwest hip-hop musicians Rappers from Saint Paul, Minnesota Rappers from Baltimore Record producers from Minnesota Record producers from Maryland Singers from Baltimore Singer-songwriters from Maryland Singer-songwriters from Minnesota