After quietly promoting his upcoming third studio album Luv 4 Rent for the past 11 months, Smino has, at last, announced its release date with a short trailer teasing a new musical direction. In the trailer, which Smino shared on social media this morning, the St. Louis rapper sits on his comfy chair in a plush, shamrock-green bathrobe with matching slippers, indulging his favorite hobby as a lightly funky song featuring the voice of none other than huge Smino influence Bootsy Collins plays over the radio.
Suddenly, just as he dozes off, his window shatters as a brick flies through it, jarring him awake as the song transforms into an upbeat anthem reminiscent of something from Big Boi’s Speakerboxxx. As a trio of women in white wedding dresses flee the scene, Smino collects the brick, around which is wrapped a note reading one simple, ominous phrase: “Rent due.”
Luv 4 Rent 💔 10/28 . pic.twitter.com/wIkKghJJQe
— smi (@smino) October 10, 2022
The inclusion of Bootsy Collins on the project should come as no surprise but it is welcome, considering how much inspiration Smino has taken from Parliament-Funkadelic in both his aesthetic and his music. Although Smi hasn’t revealed too many other details about the album outside of what we’ve already heard from it — namely, the singles “I Deserve” and “90 Proof” featuring J. Cole — we do now have a release date: October 28. It looks like “Droptober” really is in full effect.
Check out Smino’s trailer for Luv 4 Rent above and pre-save the album here.
