Check Out Alijah Smith’s Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to Alijah Smith.

Hi Alijah, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
My love for music has been there for as long as I can remember, with some of my earliest memories comprising of dancing to “Michael Jackson” or “Crazy Frog”. The music making portion didn’t begin until I was 15 years old. I was inspired by a producer by the name of “Knxwledge”. The reason that he inspired me was because his music has a level of simplicity to it that sounds like anybody can do it. Naive and full of 15 year old audacity, I struggle to make music using FL Studio and very quickly am exposed to just how much goes into making music- even the “simplest” songs. This became a passive hobby of mine up until it was time for me to graduate highschool. Up until this point I was sure I would figure out what I wanted to do with the my vastly unspent life. Senior year just appeared and I was still unsure; the only thing bringing me joy up until this point has been music but I grew up in a “college or military” household so I did what any kid in my situation would do. I went to school to major in music. Although I gained mountains of knowledge the school was too focused on classical, and quite frankly, outdated and irrelevant music when it came to what I wanted to do: Move music forward. I made the most of my time by releasing my first single with vocals in 2019 called “far away (demo)” which is still one of my most popular songs to date. However, once it felt like my relevant music education was hitting a plateau I decided to drop out and pursue it full time. I figured if I would be a struggling artist either way I may as well do it with less debt and get a head start. Since dropping out, I released my first album called “Summer of Love”. The album is an endless loop that tells the stories of different kinds of love. Desperate, yearning, platonic, healthy, obsessive etc. Shortly after this album I started a band with two musicians named Marc and Darren. The band was called Statick Statick and felt like a distant cousin of summer of love. It was heavy, in your face, and fast. Unfortunately the band was short lived and we broke up due to conflicting ideas of how we should move forward. We released one single by the name of “Nightmare” where I played guitar and did background vocals. While this was happening I was also getting involved with some friends turned rap collective called “The Only Way”, and we released a project titled “Dream Blunt Rotation” featuring Jelani Imani, Mila Bucks, Alli Cat, Qi, Bohemian Lonely, Muddy Mya, Kapwanii, Patrick Paige, DVDX, Charlie Myles, Sterling Cupid, DavidTheTragic, Marsofyouth, BAE, Brejae (and probably more). Since then I have been working on new music and just released a single called “Peace or Love?” which shows the growth I have had as an artist.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
The primary struggle has been balance. Balancing the time to do the creative things I was put on this earth to do and between doing what I need to do to survive and fulfill my purpose. Most recently, My laptop broke a year ago with a lot of music on it and then my replacement got stolen.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I am a multifaceted artist. My primary focus is music production and songwriting but I also do visual arts as well. All of my music is self produced and most of my covers are painted or shot by myself as well. At the moment I’m most proud of my album “summer of love” because of everything that went into it from learning how to sing, to recording and mixing and mastering. I pretty much taught myself (though youtube tutorials and trial and error) how to make music professionally with this album, which is probably why it took me 4 years to complete. When it comes to music I am known for being alternative but staying true to my roots. My obsession with music gives me a unique advantage because I am able to pull from a bunch of different genres and put them all together in a way that is unique to my experience. In my most popular song called “STUCK” I play a doo-wop chord progression in the style a grunge song, with vocals reminiscent of the band “the police” and add 808s similar to those you may hear in a lil yachty song.

What do you like and dislike about the city?
What I love the most about Atlanta is that we are the black mecca. I can not imagine growing up in an environment and not seeing my people so for this I am forever grateful. What I like the least is the lack of public transportation as well as the horrible education and- well more simply put- I dislike the systematic oppression that Atlanta faces as a result of its high black population. We dont have the same resources as other cities with more white people and we know why.

Pricing:

• Engineering $25/hr
• Producing $40/hr
• Mastering $50/song
• Mixing $100/song

Contact Info:

• Website: https://lucidluc.bandcamp.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lucidluc?igsh=eTBzNXpuM3d1d3cx&utm_source=qr
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@lucidluc
• Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/lucidluc
• Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@lucidluc?_r=1&_t=ZP-91BOI3YxgT8

Image Credits
justmoja (concert pictures)
lucidjason (picture of me sitting and playing guitar)
Tyrone Shivers (group picture in car)
Alli Cat (suit pictures)