Smino and J.I.D perform for a sold-out crowd at The Fillmore Silver Spring on Feb. 26, 2023. (Photo collage by AJ Waugh)

Hearts in the sky was the theme for night one of the sold-out Luv Is 4ever Tour, recently co-headlined by J.I.D and Smino at The Fillmore Silver Spring last Sunday. The duo sold out back-to-back nights at the venue.

On Feb. 26, the soulful sounds of Smino opened things up as he performed the majority of his latest album Luv 4 Rent, along with a few other fan favorites. His band started to play “Klink” right as he sprinted out onto the stage, shaped like a giant heart infinity symbol. He started the night off with his more upbeat and funky records like “Rice & Gravy“ and “Ole Ass Kendrick” before having the crowd light up the room with their phone lights as he went in to the lead single from the album “90 Proof.” 

Check out Smino’s official music video for “90 Proof” featuring J.Cole on YouTube:

Smino split the room in two sides: the Ratchet Right and the Legendary Left, as he pit them against each other to see who could make the most noise. After declaring the left side as the winner, Smeezy and the band went into one of his first hit’s “Netflix and Dusse” from 2018. 

Smi slowed things down afterwards with records like “Louphoria” and “Matinee”, then said he had something special for his day one fans and played his breakout record “Anita.”  During “Pro Freak,” a fan in the crowd held up a gift bag that Smi noticed and had security pass up to the stage. Inside it, he found a colorful pair of handmade slippers. He immediately kicked off one of his Air Forces and swapped it out for a slipper. He showed off his new shoes to the crowd before tossing the Nike sneaker to the girl as a thank you. 

Listen to Smino’s album Luv 4 Rent on Spotify:

Mismatched shoes and all, Smino finished out his set with “Wild Irish Rose” and “No L’s,” wrapping with a solo from the band’s guitarist, who’s actually from the DMV area. From the first song to the last, Smino’s entire performance was a party for everyone in the building, whether they were a Day 1 fan or a newcomer.

J.I.D walked out on to the the stage to “Galaxy” the slow and melodic Intro to his most recent project The Forever Story. His southern hospitality kicked in as he welcomed everyone to the tour and waived to the crowd. He finished with the pleasantries and immediately became a ball of energy as he went straight into his rapid-paced breakthrough 2017 record “Never” and kept the room bouncing as he followed it up with “Off da Zoinkys”, “Raydar,” and “Dance Now.” 

The crowd finally got a chance to breath when Jiddy got into what he called “the emotional part of the album” as he sat down at the top level of the stage and covered his head with a bandanna as the intro to “Bruddanem” started to play. He follow that up with “Sistanem”; of course, as both songs are about his relationships with his siblings and followed that up with one of my favorite songs from  The Forever Story, “Kody Blu 31”. 

Check out J.I.D’s official music video for “STICK” featuring J.Cole, Kenny Mason, and Sheck Wes on YouTube:

Listen to J.I.D’s album “The Forever Story” on Spotify:

J.I.D turned things all the way up for the rest of the night, telling the crowd “Shots of water on me all night!” while checking in on his fans between the songs “Just in Time” and “Off Deez.” An old black and white video of Aretha Franklin performing “One Step Ahead” started playing on the Infinity heart-shaped screens as J.I.D said he wanted to breakdown the history of a sample; the video then cut to Mos Def’s “Ms. Fat Booty” which lead J.I.D into his record “Surround Sound.”

He finished the night off with the song they’d been calling for all night, “STICK”. The mosh pit kids started to circle as the songs horns started to play and the rest of the crowd bounced waves all the way to the back of the room. Chants of one more song started as soon as the song ended and J.I.D happily obliged performing “2007,” the record detailing his journey from being a college football player on a full scholarship to dropping out completely to pursue music full-time — a full-circle moment to show how dreams can unexpectedly change reshape your entire life.

The Luv Is 4ever tour is still running across North America throughout March, wrapping things up in Nashville, Tennessee on March 29. Check it out of you can, although most dates are already sold out. 

Below are some more photos from J.I.D and Smino’s show at the The Fillmore Silver Spring on Feb. 26, 2023. All photos copyright and courtesy of AJ Waugh (wauffleznotwaffles.com).