Throwback: Christion-Full Of Smoke

Allen Anthony and Kenny Ski were the first R&B act to be signed to Roc-A-Fella Records as Christion. The blood brothers from Oakland, California were modern explications of Marvin Gaye and Curtis Mayfield with hip-hop styled production. “Full Of Smoke” was released in 1996 and was the catalyst for Christion’s album deal with Def Jam/Roc-A-Fella. Ghetto Cyrano came out in 1997 and “Full Of Smoke,” “Bring Back Your Love” and a cover of “I Wanna Get Next To You” were the singles that helped the album receive critical acclaim. The anticipation created by the duo did not stop them from splitting up soon after the emergence of Ghetto Cyrano without an official reason. Allen Anthony went solo and released the singles “Alright” and “You” in 2003 and 2004 on the Roc-A-Fella imprint. Kenny Ski reformed Christion with T-Ross to release Project Plato in 2005 but the magical throwback sound that was their initial calling card was gone despite Anthony guesting on two songs. Anthony later became the lead singer of the heavy metal group A Band Called Pain. They released two albums, Broken Dreams and Beautiful and made videos for the songs “The Pieces,” “Beautiful Gun,” “Tuskegee Airmen” and “Swallow.”