Who is Ian? Rapper goes viral after shutting down the streets of NYC to preview his mixtape

Ian O'Neill Smith is a rapper who's been blowing up over social media for the past few weeks over the success of his single Grand Slam, which dropped to all DSPs (Digital Streaming Platforms) on March 28, 2024. A music video uploaded to his official YouTube channel also accompanied the single.

The rapper has been going viral for supposedly shutting down streets of New York City. Many online news media outlets on X like Kurrco stated that this was part of his project rollout to preview his upcoming mixtape VALEDICTORIAN, which will debut on all DSPs on May 17.

The project was announced this past Sunday (Mother's Day) with an Instagram post where Smith, along with his grandmother and mother, expressed their excitement over the upcoming project.

Smith started the clip by shouting out his fanbase and citing his disappointment in being unable to deliver the project last Friday (May 10) before turning the camera to his family. His grandmother announced the rapper would drop a surprise reel tomorrow for one of his songs, before turning the camera to his mother, who stated:

"Ian's dropping the tape on Friday, May 17"

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Everything we know about Ian and his upcoming mixtape VALEDICTORIAN

Ian has been popping up everywhere with many praising the young rappers' marketing skills, with fans exclaiming how Smith is currently on a "generational run".

Today he posted the complete track list which will feature 10 individual songs, along with the cover art, for his upcoming album in a post captioned:

"Valedictorian midnight tmrw"

The album was produced by sxprano and tana and will be available on all DSPs via Dogdog Records and Sony Music Entertainment.

The complete track list for VALEDICTORIAN:

1. Holiday
2. Never Stop
3. Bentayga
4. AirBnb
5. Hermes Streets
6. Omakase
7. Chauncey
8. Judgment
9. Grand Slam
10. Figure It Out

Although many are not familiar with Smith's music, from the songs uploaded on his streaming channels, the influence of artists like Playboi Carti and Yeat is very noticeable.

As per Genius, Smith initially started as a producer, making beats for bigger artists while uploading his music to SoundCloud back in 2018. He would later catch the attention of rappers like Izaya Tiji and Lil Xelly, helping him transition into a producer full-time.

The first single ever released was a record titled G63, which was uploaded to DSPs on July 26, 2022, kick-starting his career as a solo rapper in the music industry.

'G63' single is available for streaming on DSPs (Image via Spotify)

For the next two years, Smith would continue to release a slew of singles and EPs garnering pockets of engagement in the underground rap community before bursting onto the scene on February 21, 2024, with a fresh Instagram to promote his latest single Grand Slam.

The song would hit DSPs a month later, but the content he had been consistently posting in a build-up attempt was extremely successful, leading to the song blasting past 100,000 streams within the first few days.

Grand Slam is currently sitting at a little over 3 million streams on Spotify. The song was released alongside a music video, which has garnered close to a million streams on his official YouTube channel. You can check out the music video for Ian's first successful release below.

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With many eager eyes from Lyrical Lemonade's Cole Bennett to Metro Boomin commenting on his Instagram posts, the rapper has gained significant attention for major players in the Hip Hop industry.

He's also followed by rappers like Drake, Lil Yachty, and Russ, making the release of Smith's debut mixtape one of the most spoken-about events for the week.