[Kinky Review] Smino's "She Already Decided" May Be Exactly What We Needed

By: Quentin Yarolem

Being stuck inside sucks, for real. The days blend and blur together like different colored paints in a glass of water, creating a bland, brown mess. Like many of you, my days have been spent cycling through various social medias, trying to start new hobbies (that will fall to the wayside after 3-4 days), flipping through the catalogs of Netflix and Hulu, and then finally I end my night with a glass (or bottle) of wine and a healthy dose of nostalgia. I find myself longing for a time before all of this, when things were “normal”. When I could cruise around aimlessly with my friends listening to music. When I could stand in a crowded backyard with a paper plate in my hand and the smell of burnt barbecue sauce filling my nostrils.

Smino’s latest mixtape She Already Decided, released 4.20.20, is one of the first projects to be released during the COVID era, and, as explained by Smino on his host website smitransfer.com, was made during the quarantine. “I made dis shit at the krib fr tryna stay sane and inspired as much as I can mane…” 

The mixtape feels like a quarantine mixtape because it feels nostalgic. Almost every song on the project sounds like the summertime; fun, upbeat and carefree. On songs like “S.A.D. Lil Intro” and “Already” Smino arrives with the sort of arrogance that can only come from the hot sun beaming on your white tee. They’re reminiscent of smoke sessions spent talking shit with your friends. “Fuck around and buy this whole building, give that shit to my dick,” he touts on “Already”. 

The production on this mixtape is also evocative of earlier eras. The beat that Kal Banx provides on “Popeyes” feels like something straight out of the 2000’s, with that certain bounce indicative of Clipse or The Cool Kids. It’s cool and understated, providing the perfect pocket for Smino to flex on. On “Kotton Kandy”, a rare slow jam, Brilliant Mack proves that old school RnB is alive and well. The way the synth hits on the one and two, then builds until it takes over the whole measure, makes even the rhythmically challenged move their hips. The silky smooth beat also allows Sevyn Streeter to shine like Ashanti in her prime.

She Already Decided is a great mixtape, but it does have its flaws. There are some thoughts and ideas on here that don’t feel entirely fleshed out. The “I gotta” flow that Smino uses in the first half of “Gotta List”, feels redundant after the first two bars and makes the track feel like the longest 67 second song I’ve ever heard. There’s also the “Blac Soda (Freestyle)” to “2MuchFronto” section where “2MuchFronto” plays twice. This, along with the very skippable “O’HighO” interlude really disrupt the flow on the latter half of the project. 

The flaws feel negligible though, and add to the total experience of the mixtape. In Smino’s own words, “AINT NUN PERFECT ALL UNMASTERED N ROUGH RAW WTF EVER for y’all,” and this project is definitely rough and raw.

The missteps on this project make the project seem more accessible and entertaining. They add a unique charisma by subverting expectations. It’s clear that Smino is just making fun music, there’s no reason to focus on the few negatives when it’s just not that serious, and the majority of this project is overwhelmingly positive. 

She Already Decided is a true mixtape. It’s rough and imperfect, but very entertaining, which might be just what we need right now.