15 years ago, a duo from Oakland, CA was the first act (not named Jay-Z) signed to Roc-a-Fella Records. If you’re racking your brain trying to remember which Beanie Sigel-ish rappers were bubbling in The Town in ’96, you’re on the wrong track. The infamous duo was an R&B; act named Christión, comprised of brothers Allen Anthony and Kenny Ski. And so it was that in the same year Hov dropped Reasonable Doubt, Christión released their single “Full of Smoke”. They would go on to make music more explicitly for the ladies, but this, their first and biggest hit, was a hustler’s anthem.

“Full of Smoke” sounds like East Oakland’s answer to Sade’s “Smooth Operator,” and Roc-a-Fella painted that picture to perfection in the accompanying music video. With Dame Dash and a host of players taking in the scene, Allen Anthony’s smoky falsetto serenaded a throng of beautiful women with slick symphonic Box Chev soul. It was perfect.

And yet despite a couple other moderate hits (“Bring Back Your Love” and “I Wanna Get Next To You”), Christión failed to take root in the public’s consciousness. Bay Area rap favorites The Team did resurrect “Full of Smoke” for a little heard track on their Go Music mixtape, but we here at 38thnotes think Christión deserves to be heard by a new generation of Bay Area music fans.

 

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We reached out to Allen Anthony for this piece, and he informed us that he’s currently recording music down in Atlanta. We can’t locate any of his newer stuff at this time, but take a trip down memory lane in the meantime.