| Intro | Producer, rapper, singer |
| Was |
Musician Rapper |
| From | United States of America |
| Type | Music |
| Gender | male |
| Birth | 26 June 1977, Columbus |
| Death |
25 May 2008 (aged 30 years) |
Tero Smith (June 26, 1977 – May 25, 2008), better known by his stage name Camu Tao, was an American rapper and producer who was signed to the Definitive Jux label. He was a member of several groups: S.A. Smash (with Metro), the underground hip hop supergroup The Weathermen, Central Services (with El-P), and the music collective Cardboard City.
He was also part of Columbus, Ohio’s MHz crew with Copywrite, RJD2, Jakki da Motamouth and Tage Future. Partnering with Cage to form Nighthawks, the two crafted an album during a single three-day creative session.
Life and career
Born Tero Smith, on June 26, 1977, in Columbus, Ohio, United States, Camu Tao made his name as a hip hop producer, rapper, and singer.
Smith died on May 25, 2008, after a two-year battle with lung cancer. At the time of his death, he was producing a song for Cage’s I Never Knew You EP and working on his first solo for Definitive Jux. On July 9, 2009, El-P announced via Twitter that the album, King of Hearts, was finished, and would be released on October 20, 2009. King of Hearts was released on August 17, 2010 by Definitive Jux in collaboration with Fat Possum Records along with a free download EP from Central Services. About the album, El-P said:
We all expected to get Camu in the studio and go as far as he wanted to go with the record. The songs are bare, but then again a lot of them are just what he wanted. A lot of them wouldn’t have changed much. Knowing Camu, he had a lot of talented musician friends he would have liked to have collaborated and have involved. I do think the album would have been different had he lived to complete it.
Aesop Rock, also on Definitive Jux, stated in a 2008 interview with The A.V. Club that his next album may contain “a couple of songs about my friend Camu [Tao]”. El-P, founder of the defunct Definitive Jux label, dedicated his album Cancer 4 Cure to his memory. In his song, “Racing Stripes,” Aesop Rock reflects on Camu Tao near the end of his life. Specifically, Aesop Rock notes Camu Tao’s unusual haircut, and the unusual new habits Camu Tao had developed. In Run the Jewels 3 by Run the Jewels, El-P’s verse in the track Thursday in the Danger Room was confirmed to be about his experience with Camu while he battled cancer in a response to a tweet from a fan on his official Twitter account.
Discography
Albums
- Nighthawks (2002) (with Cage, as Nighthawks)
- Blair Cosby: Cape Cod (Going for De Gold) (2004)
- Blair Cosby II: The Wali Era (2005)
- Forever Frozen in Television Time (2010) (with El-P, as Central Services)
- King of Hearts (2010)
Singles
- “Hear Me Talking to You” (2001)
- “Hold the Floor” b/w “Wireless” (2001)
- “Cop Hell” (2003) (with Cage, as Nighthawks)
- “WMR” (2004) (with El-P)
Guest appearances
- Copywrite – “Three Words” from The High Exhaulted (2002)
- El-P – “Accidents Don’t Happen” from Fantastic Damage (2002)
- Aesop Rock – “Rickety Rackety” from Fast Cars, Danger, Fire and Knives (2005)
- The Perceptionists – “Party Hard” from Black Dialogue (2005)
- Cage – “The Death of Chris Palko” from Hell’s Winter (2005)
- Prefuse 73 – “Now You’re Leaving” from Surrounded by Silence (2005)
- Copywrite – “Mega Mega” from The Life and Times of Peter Nelson (2010)