![Mike Smith 2019](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c0/Mike_Smith_2019.jpg)
Mike Smith is a
Cuban American
Cuban Americans ( es, cubanoestadounidenses or ''cubanoamericanos'') are Americans who trace their cultural heritage to Cuba regardless of phenotype or ethnic origin. The word may refer to someone born in the United States of Cuban descent or t ...
recording artist, record and television producer. He is a Number 1 Billboard charting artist and his music has had over two billion streams with over five million units sold. He is best known for being one of the stars and main judge on
BET
Black Entertainment Television (acronym BET) is an American basic cable channel targeting African-American audiences. It is owned by the CBS Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global via BET Networks and has offices in New York City, Los ...
's original programming series ''One Shot'' and for co writing the hit song "A Hard Working Man" by Snoop Dogg, Billy Ray Cyrus, and The Avila Brothers. He is also well known for numerous hit singles including the Top 5 Billboard hit "Beautiful Day" and Billboard Top 40 hits "Hardworking Man" and "You're My Kind Of Beautiful".
Smith has worked with many artists, including
Snoop Dogg
Calvin Cordozar Broadus Jr. (born October 20, 1971), known professionally as Snoop Dogg (previously Snoop Doggy Dogg and briefly Snoop Lion), is an American rapper. His fame dates back to 1992 when he featured on Dr. Dre's debut solo single, " ...
,
Billy Ray Cyrus
Billy Ray Cyrus (born August 25, 1961) is an American country singer and actor. He has released 16 studio albums and 53 singles since 1992, and is known for his hit single "Achy Breaky Heart", which topped the U.S. Hot Country Songs chart and ...
,
DJ Khaled
Khaled Mohammed Khaled (born November 26, 1975), known professionally as DJ Khaled, is an American DJ, record executive, record producer and rapper.
Khaled first gained recognition as a radio host in the 1990s on the radio station WEDR, 99 Ja ...
,
T.I.,
Juicy J
Jordan Michael Houston III (born April 5, 1975), known professionally as Juicy J, is an American rapper and record producer. Originally from Memphis, Tennessee, he is a founding member of the Southern hip hop group Three 6 Mafia, established i ...
,
Royce Da 5'9',
Remy Ma
Reminisce Mackie ( Smith; born May 30, 1980), known professionally as Remy Ma, is an American rapper. Discovered by Big Pun, she came to prominence for her work as a member of Fat Joe's group, Terror Squad. In 2006, she released her debut stud ...
, and
Gilby Clarke of
Guns N' Roses
Guns N' Roses is an American hard rock band from Los Angeles, California, formed in 1985. When they signed to Geffen Records in 1986, the band comprised vocalist Axl Rose, lead guitarist Slash, rhythm guitarist Izzy Stradlin, bassist Duff McKa ...
.
Personal life
Smith first made his fortune in the 1990s when he was only 23 years old with an IT business. He then built, bought, and sold three regional chains of medical practices.
Smith is married to Erika Smith, a choreographer and dancer, who is also one of the executive producers of ''One Shot.'' She also danced in one of Inspectah Deck of the Wu-Tang Clan's music videos. The couple has six children together.
Career
In 2013 Mike Smith, along with
Jonathan Hay, co-founded SMH Records, a music label out of
Charlotte, North Carolina
Charlotte ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 census, making Charlotte the 16th-most populo ...
with Caroline Distribution a division of
Capitol Music Group. Nigerian heiress Bim Fernandez signed with SMH in November 2013, becoming part of the Smith/Hay musical project
Pink Grenade
Pink Grenade was a nine-member musical group formed by Jonathan Hay (publicist), Jonathan Hay and Mike Smith (record producer), Mike Smith in 2014, featuring Nigerian heiress Bim Fernandez as vocalist, and including actor Johnny Depp, who avoide ...
. Pink Grenade released an album in July 2014, accompanied by four singles that gathered millions of views online.
Guest rappers
Crooked I,
Troy Ave
Roland Collins (born November 23, 1985), better known by the stage name Troy Ave, is an American rapper from the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York City. His moniker derives from Troy Avenue, a street near his childhood home. In N ...
,
Dizzy Wright
La'Reonte Wright (born November 26, 1990), known professionally as Dizzy Wright, is an American rapper and record producer.
In December 2011, Wright signed to rapper Hopsin's independent record label, Funk Volume. After signing, he released his ...
and
Royce da 5'9" were featured on four songs. In August 2014 the record label offered $15 million to Jay Z to produce his next album. Smith stated to
HipHopDX
''HipHopDX'' is an online magazine of hip hop music criticism and news. The website's current president and publisher is Sharath Cherian and the Head Of Content is Jerry L. Barrow. ''HipHopDX'' is the flagship publication of Cheri Media Group.
...
"I will write Jay Z a check for $15 million today as an advance for us to produce an album for him." In 2015 Mike Smith was a performer and producer for the studio album When Music Worlds Collide that was profiled on
Fox News
The Fox News Channel, abbreviated FNC, commonly known as Fox News, and stylized in all caps, is an American multinational conservative cable news television channel based in New York City. It is owned by Fox News Media, which itself is owne ...
,
Business Insider
''Insider'', previously named ''Business Insider'' (''BI''), is an American financial and business news website founded in 2007. Since 2015, a majority stake in ''Business Insider''s parent company Insider Inc. has been owned by the German publ ...
and
Billboard. He was awarded TIDAL Rising Artist for his compilation album
When Music Worlds Collide by
Jay Z's music streaming service. The version Deluxe: When Music Worlds Collide featuring new collaborations with notable hip-hop artists was released in 2016.
![Mike Smith Erika Smith BET One Shot](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/ce/Mike_Smith_Erika_Smith_BET_One_Shot.jpg)
In 2016 Mike Smith and wife Erika Smith were
executive
Executive ( exe., exec., execu.) may refer to:
Role or title
* Executive, a senior management role in an organization
** Chief executive officer (CEO), one of the highest-ranking corporate officers (executives) or administrators
** Executive dir ...
producers of "BET's One Shot" the hip-hop lyrical competition series hosted by Sway Calloway and also starring Mike Smith. The show debuted on BET on August 16, 2016, and also starred DJ Khaled, TI, RZA, and Twista. Smith's debut album Always You And Me was number 7 on the Billboard Heatseekers chart, number 47 on the Billboard New Artist album chart, and number 67 on the
Billboard 200
The ''Billboard'' 200 is a record chart ranking the 200 most popular music albums and EPs in the United States. It is published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine and is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of art ...
. His book, ''Lovin' Each Day'', became an Amazon bestseller.
Billboard premiered "Lost Souls" the single he co-produced for
Orlando massacre survivor Patience Carter,
Nitty Scott and
Iliana Eve
Iliana Eve is an American singer-songwriter who was born in Houston, Texas and raised in Louisville, Kentucky. She got her professional start in the music industry with a single that was released through Snoop Dogg's record label Doggy Style Re ...
.
![Mike Smith TI BET One Shot](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ee/Mike_Smith_TI_BET_One_Shot.jpg)
In 2017 Smith relaunched Wu-Tang label Razor Sharp Records with
RZA and
King Tech
Rod Sepand (born June 30, 1971), better known professionally as King Tech, is an American DJ, B-boy, VJ and audio engineer. He is one half of the duo Sway & King Tech.
Career
DJ King Tech started off in the Hip Hop game as a B-Boy in the bay ...
. Smith released the single "Alibi" with Chanel Sosa, RZA and Tech from the album ''Smith Hay & the Blue Notes''. Smith worked with other
Wu-Tang Clan
Wu-Tang Clan is an American hip hop group formed in Staten Island, New York City, in 1992. Its original members include RZA, GZA, Ol' Dirty Bastard, Method Man, Raekwon, Ghostface Killah, Inspectah Deck, U-God, and Masta Killa. Close affili ...
member
Inspectah Deck
Jason Richard Hunter (born July 6, 1970), better known by his stage name Inspectah Deck, is an American rapper, producer, and actor. He is a member of the groups Wu-Tang Clan and Czarface.
He has acquired critical praise for his intricate ly ...
on the single "Daddy's Little Girl".
![Mike Smith BET One Shot DJ Khaled](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3f/Mike_Smith_BET_One_Shot_DJ_Khaled.jpg)
In July 2017, Smith hit Number 28 on the Spotify Viral 50 Chart with his song Almost Paradise with Royce Da 5 9.
On December 30, 2017, Smith's second solo album, ''Pieces of my Soul'', reached number 5 on the Billboard Heatseekers, Number 1 on the Billboard Heatseekers South Central, Number 1 on the Billboard Heatseekers South Atlantic, and Number 48 on the Independent Album Chart.
Smith's duo Smith and Hay reached number 1 on the Billboard Jazz Album chart for the week of January 20, 2018.
Smith's duo Smith and Hay released the album ''The Whoodlum Ball'' with DJ Whoo Kid on May 11, 2018. The week of May 26, 2018, this album hit number 1 on the Billboard Heatseekers Chart, Number 9 on the Billboard Rap Album Chart, Number 11 on the Billboard Independent Album Chart, Number 16 on the Billboard Digital Album Chart, Number 54 on the Billboard Album Chart, and Number 156 on the Billboard 200 Chart.
On September 15, Mike Smith peaked at number 5 on the Billboard Charts with the single "Beautiful Day".
On December 15, 2018, ''Billboard'' 's Year End Charts were released. Mike Smith's single "Beautiful Day" was the 33rd biggest song of the year on the Billboard Christian Streaming Year End Chart.
In 2019, Smith was one of the producers of
Juicy J
Jordan Michael Houston III (born April 5, 1975), known professionally as Juicy J, is an American rapper and record producer. Originally from Memphis, Tennessee, he is a founding member of the Southern hip hop group Three 6 Mafia, established i ...
's moderate hit "Don't You Wanna". On July 15 ''Jazz Part Two'' was released and hit No. 1 on the Billboard Contemporary Jazz Charts. On July 26, Smith released ''Follow the Leader'', a cover of
Eric B. & Rakim's album in the style of jazz with
Jonathan Hay and
Benny Reid that hit No. 1 on the Billboard Jazz Charts and was up for
Grammy
The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pre ...
consideration.
On January 17, 2020, Smith released the album "Somewhere In The Middle". On March 14, 2020, the first single "Hardworking Man" from the album "Somewhere In The Middle" hit number 25 on the Billboard Rock Chart.
On January 26, 2021, Smith became a brand ambassador for AMS Neve helping to promote the brand new Neve 8424 console.
On April 1, 2022, Smith's song "Hardworking Man" was recreated by Snoop Dogg, Billy Ray Cyrus, and the Avila Brothers and renamed "A Hard Working Man". Mike is listed as a co writer on the song.
References
External links
Official website* https://www.billboard.com/music/mike-smith
{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Mike
American television producers
Date of birth missing (living people)
Living people
Year of birth missing (living people)