Smino performs at the Warfield in San Francisco on April 30, 2025. Aaron Lee/STAFF.

SAN FRANCISCO — Smino fans were ready for the St. Louis rapper’s Kountry Kousins tour stop at the Warfield on Wednesday. The 33-year-old born Christopher Smith, Jr. offered up a night of groovy jams.

Dressed in all black and orange, including a San Francisco Giants Jung Hoo Lee Giants jersey, Smino entered out a prop door to “No L’s,” off 2022 album Luv 4 Rent. Smino was backed by a band that was hidden offstage, behind a small brick house with a bit of greenery, a porch and a barbecue grill (behind which DJs played).

“My momma didn’t believe me when I told her how beautiful the Bay Area was,” he announced.

The performance included funky uptempo tracks like “Klink” and “90 Proof,” which had some fans mimicking his high-pitched delivery.

Afterward, Smino sat on a rocking chair on his “porch” before taking it back to his 2023 YouTube freestyles, “Smi, Myself, and I” and “Wyoming,” and two tracks off his latest album, Maybe In Nirvana, “Maybe In Nirvana” and “Dear Fren.” Midway through the latter track, he took a break offstage while DJs spun rap classics like Outkast’s “So Fresh, So Clean.”

Next came his 2022 collaboration with Doechii, “Pro Freak,” which offered a silly vibe.

“I used to be really introverted, which led to lost opportunities to meet people,” the rapper said afterward, also explaining how he got to know J. Cole’s rap collective Dreamville, with which he collaborated multiple times. “Always get out of your comfort zone and take the chance to meet someone, you never know how cool they are.”

Samara Cyn performs at the Warfield in San Francisco on April 30, 2025.

The house set-up played multiple roles in the show, including a campy skit in which Smino was delivered a pizza he didn’t order, invited the delivery man inside and later threw a life-size mannequin out the door.

The set included “Anita,”  “Wild Irish Roses” and “Lee & Lovie,” a track inspired by the love he saw between his grandmother and grandfather. More fan favorites followed, including a three-track run of “Rice & Gravy,” “SUMMER SALT” and the blaring “Z4L.” The encore consisted of “Amphetamine.”

“Keep being cool, innovative, caring, daring and beautiful!” he said.

Tennesee-born artist Samara Cyn preceded the headliner, opening with “Sinner.” The stage was decorated with leaves and mossy greenery that covered her microphone stand and Smino’s house during her set. She hopped off stage and onto a barricade to interact with fans, telling them to throw their bad times behind them, before performing “Moving Day.”

Cyn danced along to some songs, her jolty and smooth movements influenced by hp-hop. She concluded her set with “Rolling Stone” and just-released “Small Talk,” a collab with Oakland’s Ovrkast.

Ovrkast opened the concert with a 15-minute set that traded in his usual DJ performances with hip-hop, energetically rapping songs like “RESET!” and “TBH!”while running across the stage.

Follow photographer Aaron Lee at Instagram.com/aaronxphotos.