With a stage set up that looked like grandma’s porch, Smino’s Kountry Kousins Tour, took over a sold-out Echostage this past week with a show that made everyone in attendance feel like they were at the family reunion. With support from newcomer Samara Cyn, the Kountry Kousins tour follows Smino’s latest project Maybe in Nirvana from late last year. These two artists — sharing an ability to seamlessly weave back and forth between hip hop and R&B in their music — were truly musical cousins.
I first heard of Smino when I saw him perform with a broken foot on the small stage at Broccoli City Festival way back in 2017. He caught my eye when I noticed that his crutches had their own Air Force Ones but the music is what kept me around for the entire set and he’s maintained a place in my rotation of favorite artists since. I got the chance to cover his Luv Is 4ever Tour that he co-headlined with J.I.D back in 2023 (check out the review) and jumped at the chance to check out his latest set.
Styling as he stepped through the screen door on to granny’s porch, the St. Louis rap-singer hit the stage on May 28 in a bright yellow outfit along with chrome sunglasses and a single neon baseball glove. He gave DC a shout out as he walked out the door and the “Knock. Knock. Knock. Love knocking…” intro to “No L’s” started to play. Smi danced and mouthed along with the crowd as they sang the chorus word for word before getting into the first verse. He followed that up with “Klink” and then “Tequan” before having everyone to pull out their phones and light up the room as he went into “90 Proof,” the J.Cole featuring lead single from his previous album “Luv 4 Rent.”
The set took a surprising turn from there when Smino went on a run of several of the YouTube freestyles that he’s known to sporadically drop, usually while on tour. Freestyles like “Smi, Myself, and I,” a flip of Beyonce’s “Me, Myself and I,” “mister misfit but ain’t missed a fit in months,” and “Wyoming Freestyle” exposed the hardcore fans in the room as they tried to keep up with Smi on the lesser known records.
Watch the newest official music video from Smino, “Dear Fren,” on YouTube:
From here Smino flipped back and forth between his two most recent projects, performing “Dear Fren” and the albums title track “Made in Nirvana” then went back to Luv 4 Rent with “Pro Freak” and “Ole Ass Kendrick” and followed it up with “NSYNC” from the newest project. Smi went on to talk about his experience at the Dreamville rap camp back in 2019 and how amazing it was to be making music with so many of his peers and friends all at one time in the same place before performing his part of “1993,” the posse party record from the Revenge of the Dreamers compilation featuring J. Cole, JID, Cozz, EARTHGANG, and Buddy that was born out of the 10 day Rap Camp experience.
Listen to Smino’s latest project Maybe in Nirvana on Spotify:
Throughout the rest of the night, Smi set the vibe perfectly, weaving throughout his discography performing some of his biggest hits and fan favorites including, “Netflix and Dusse,” “Wild Irish Rose,” “Polynesian,” and “Rice and Gravy.” He sat in an old rocking chair on the porch as he told a story about telling his grandma he needed a drum set to play at the talent show when he was a little kid and her calling his mom telling her she needed bring him one home ASAP. She ended up bringing home a set of bongos and he made it work with the whole school chanting “Go Chris!” (his real name), as he played the talent show. He followed that up with “Lee & Lovie,” a song dedicated to his grandparents and their love for each other.
Smino closed out the show with back to back records from his 2018 album NOIR, “Summer Salt” and the Zero Fatigue posse cut “Z4L” before letting everyone know that DC might just be the best show of the tour so far and telling everyone to make some noise for themselves. He thanked us all for coming out and took a bow before heading back into Granny’s house for the night.
There’s only about 10 shows left in the “Kountry Kousins Tour” before they finish things off in Smino’s hometown of St. Louis on June 22. Be sure to get your tickets while you can, it’s a show that’s definitely worth the price.
Below are some more photos from Smino’s performance at Echostage on May 28, 2025. All photos copyright and courtesy of AJ Waugh (wauffleznotwaffles.com).
