The year is 2004, 15 years prior to winning Netflix's first Rhythm + Flow competition and 17 years before D Smoke earns two Grammy nominations for his album Black Habits. In partnership with his brothers, "Sir" Darryl Farris and Davion Farris, as well as their cousin, Tiffany Gouché, the Inglewood rapper founded the WoodWorks label and songwriting group.
Building a studio in their parent's garage, they set to work. “We did it with our bare hands,” Davion told Rated R&B. Despite being a student with his tuition, room and board paid for, D Smoke told BET that he personally took out the loan to renovate the space. They equiped the studio with gear and instruments given to them by their uncle Andrew Gouché, who played bass for the likes of Prince, Chaka Khan, and Mary Mary. [1]
D Smoke's debut album, Producer of the Year, was one of the group's first releases. It was released on May 9, 2006 digitally with a limited physical release on CD. It was their hustle following this release that garnered attention from Jason "JC" Ricks who signed them to a publishing deal with Warner Chappell Music. [2]
While Darryl, Davion, and Tiffany were writing songs for The Pussycat Dolls, Ginuwine, Jill Scott, Tyrese Gibson, Mary J. Blige, Lloyd, and Stevie Wonder, D Smoke finished his degree at UCLA and became a Spanish and Music Theory teacher at Inglewood High. [3]
Davion later took a break from music to study acting for 4 years and to teach for another year after that. After two independent releases in 2017, he signed with Hillman Grad Records / Def Jam to release a major label debut in 2021.
SiR began releasing solo work in 2012 and was featured on Anderson .Paak's album Venice in 2014. After releasing his official "debut" Seven Sundays in 2015, he was signed by Dave Free to Top Dawg Entertainment.
Tiffany has released several studio albums. She's worked with artists like Ty Dolla $ign, Solange, Anderson .Paak, Lauryn Hill, Missy Elliot, Iggy Azalea, Usher, and more.
D Smoke returned to music through a number of features and the occasional single until his Rhythm + Flow win and his comeback EP Inglewood High.
After 5 years of searching, I found a digital copy of the record. It's been uploaded to YouTube in its entirety.
Producer of the Year
Label: WoodWorks Music
Date: 05-09-2006
Media: CD, Digital
- Intro
01:51 - Prodigal Son
03:57 - Where's She From
04:05 - Somethin' You Can Feel
04:12 - Lesson 1
01:02 - The Only One
03:49 - Same Song
03:42 - Stacy
03:56 - Lesson 2
01:26 - Be Alright
03:35 - Outro
03:03 - Here With Me
05:24
The Farris / Gouché clan is very musical. The Farris brother's late mother Jackie Gouché sang background for Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder, and Anita Baker. ↩︎
This was not the Farris brothers' first deal. They were previously signed to DreamWorks Records as N3D, and R&B trio, by Jheryl Busby who previously signed Boyz II Men to Motown Records. ↩︎
D Smoke is credited for co-writing "Never" by Jahiem. ↩︎