Back in February, Smino told us that the billiards-themed cover art for his silky new single "Anita" was inspired by "playing 8ball on the iPhone all the time with my shawty. For those of y'all who don't send 'LetsPlay8ball' to shawtys in the morning, you missing out."
Stretching this visual world out even further in the music video for the song (which he says is "inspired by black women and how much we need them") Smino and fellow Zero Fatigue artist Jean Deaux find themselves on a first date by a pool table in a dive bar.
"I wanted it to be on some black love shit, but I didn't have a particular thought or storyline. Jean [Deaux] came up with that," Smino explains, nodding to the fact that Deaux came up with the concept and directed the video in addition to her starring role.
"It's about two strangers meeting and having vulnerability, which is really rare to have between two people," Deaux says. "I knew he wanted to do something lighthearted, warm, and something that was an example of our adoration for each other. And that was the challenge - us being so close, and then having to go into scenes where we had to act like we didn't know each other."
Watch the video above and make sure to listen to Smino's excellent blkswn album below if you haven't already.
