Joshua Luke Smith
about.
Joshua Luke Smith is a poet for the people, a vocalist and producer blending rap, R&B and soul
with a natural knack for storytelling. After nearly a decade of making music, his self-released debut
album The Void comes with crowdfunded support from fans. Smith wrote The Void while
processing the loss of one of his best friends to cancer. In the 18 months he spent working on the
album, Smith learned the importance of solitude, of being able to admit to his own emotional
struggle and dealing with pain head on. Like all his music, the album is designed to “speak into the
chaos”, an idea Smith has applied to his work since coming across the phrase in the writing of
Eugene H. Peterson, distilling his own experience of grief and trauma into something anyone can
relate to.
Smith was born in London but raised in Pakistan, where his parents built a hospital while he was
young. He grew up listening to his dad’s CD collection — greatest hits albums by Genesis, Tracy
Chapman and Cat Stevens. After moving back to Britain, Smith’s life changed when, as a
teenager, he first heard classic late-90s rap records by The Fugees and Eminem. Inspired by hip-
hop’s storytelling possibilities and using the skills he’d already developed in writing poetry since
childhood, at age 12 he began producing on his dad’s midi sampler. By 22 he had released his first
EP, landing at number two on the iTunes hip-hop chart. An American tour followed — as well as a
Ted Talk in 2017.
April 10, 2022
Among Smith’s best-known works is ‘Becoming Human’, a poem inspired by the story of an
attempted suicide. The poem’s success paved the way for Smith’s work with suicide prevention
charity Samaritans, the first of many charitable initiatives that Smith has been involved in. Smith
says, “Beyond putting out records I’ve had the honor of working with people that are on the front
line of human suffering,” Smith’s music is about bringing solace and tranquility by addressing
elements of the human condition that other artists might shy away from. Smith hopes to tour the
album around the world, telling stories to a tribe of likeminded people and helping others process
their own complicated feelings.