I came up with the idea ‘Smooth Era’ with my old roommate, friend and creative partner, Joon. He and I had been searching for a title we could use for our collaborations in music and film. Finding a name is always a struggle. You want it to perfectly encapsulate your ideology, sound cool, and be unique all at once. And when the name “Smooth Era” worked its way into our endless late night discussions, it just sounded right. It was derived from a combination of the names we used for our respective art, Shmu, and Jira. “ShmuJira” became “Smooth Era”, and just as quickly as the title embraced our identities, it evolved into something more.

The name “Smooth Era” became our vessel to try to center our lives around creativity, symbolizing our devotion to making our artistic goals our reality, on our terms. Our hope was to encourage healthy, consistent and unique methods of creation between us, with the eventual aim to profit so that we could survive off of solely following our passions. This is what Smooth Era meant to US. But we had to part ways, Joon was headed back to his home country of Korea to serve his mandatory military service, and I was to spend two years living at home, planning a migration to New York City. It was hard, not seeing my dear friend for two whole years, but with the separation came a chance for me to carry our goal further. I thought it would be alone. I was wrong. 

Smooth Era both in concept and meaning, has evolved tremendously in his absence, but I’ve kept the name in order to keep my word to him, allowing our allow our original idea to blossom while still offering him a platform for his artistry upon his return.

Over the last year I have opened the doors to welcome in a team of collaborators and friends at Smooth Era, bringing people together people who are dedicated to the cultivation of a platform for artistry and self-discovery. And as Smooth Era grew, it demanded a concrete mission to keep itself alive. In pursuit of solidifying this mission, I first gave attention to the meaning of the words within the name themselves. In a time of hard hitting trap music, 808s, and a push to bring back the boom bap music of the 90s, I have caught myself thinking time and time again, ‘We need an intentional shift towards smooth music’

“Smooth” can mean so many things, but quite literally I would associate it with that feeling that makes my brain tickle—whether it’s ear candy, or the satisfying puzzle of a song. I want to do in hip-hop, R&B, and music as a whole what was once done by those in the ‘Rare Groove’ movement of the 60’s through 80’s, which started as an amalgamation of satisfying sounds from subgenres internationally, and became a foundation of hip hop sampling. Our aim now is to create a smoothness in our music again. This does not mean one specific sound, but rather an energy around the music that guides the way we seek to create, perform, and collaborate.

Smooth Era is growing into an artistic organ, something that keeps itself alive while grounding those who rely on it. It is a vessel greater than our individual selves, devoted to the consistent production of meaningful and thoughtful music. Eventually, this vision will translate to other mediums of artistic creation. 

We operate as a label, where the highest intention is not to prioritize profit from our artists, but rather to encourage their potential, motivation, and pure artistic vision, with a deep faith that inspired output will inevitably yield success. and profits will naturally follow. We will be strategizing with our artists, and their brands, sounds and images to create a platform for unadulterated artistry, and establish a direct path from our artists to their consumers and audience. This path will have as little third party meddling (on behalf of profit specifically) as possible. This is important to us. 

Our organization represents the mission of crafting the most authentic, alive, and inspired pressure cooker of artistry globally over the next decade. Our aim, for the rest of the 2020s and into the 2030s, is to truly enter a Smooth Era in music and art. 

We want safe creation, happy creation, and collaborative creation. We want honesty, transparency, and vulnerability. Most importantly, that shit— whatever that shit may be— has to slap. 

Our vision is clear. We are fortunate to live in an era of great change, with endless possibilities. We choose to walk towards our collective future with hope, and a chance to establish a SMOOTH ERA. 

Sam Cove

Smooth Era Co-Founder

ANTS CARRY THEIR WEIGHT AND THEN SOME.