Smalls grew up in New Jersey and pursued a career as a rapper, touring briefly with Meek Mill, but gave this up to support his children by working in the service industry and in warehouses.

On March 30, 2020, Smalls organized a walkout to protest what he said was a lack of proper safety protocols around COVID-19 exposures at the Staten Island warehouse he worked at, Amazon JFK8.

[4] Smalls attended a community college[6][7] in Florida,[8] but missed his home after one semester, and returned to New York to study sound engineering at the Institute of Audio Research.

He then gave up his music career pursuit to support his children with a series of jobs, including at Walmart, Home Depot, and MetLife Stadium from 2012 to 2015.

Smalls said that he was transferred because of good performance, but applied for management positions 49 times during his career, and was never selected for the promotion, which he believes was reflective of systemic racial discrimination he observed in the company.

He alleges Amazon has issues with safety protocols, citing the injury rate, ageism, sexism, racism, and discrimination against caregivers.

[13] Smalls contacted local politicians, health officials, and Amazon's human resources (HR), after an extremely ill colleague was allowed to come to work with symptoms while waiting on the results of a COVID-19 test.

[12] Smalls and Derrick Palmer, another JFK8 worker, organized a walkout on March 30, 2020[14] in protest of Amazon's safety protocols during the COVID-19 pandemic and calling the company to temporarily close JFK8.

[13][14][16] Letitia James, the Attorney General of New York, accused Amazon of unlawfully discharging Smalls, and later ordered a probe into the matter, after initial investigations revealed a "chilling effect" from the firing.

[20] The country's most prominent union leaders sent a letter to Jeff Bezos, Amazon's chief executive officer, demanding that Smalls be reinstated.

[15] Tim Bray, the former VP of Amazon Web Services quit over the dismissals, citing in a blog post, "I'm sure it's a coincidence that every one of them is a person of color, a woman, or both, right?

U.S. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez stated, "Amazon’s attempt to smear Chris Smalls, one of their own warehouse workers, as 'not smart or articulate' is a racist & classist PR campaign.

[11] On October 5, 2020, the group staged a Prime Day protest, in which around 100 people marched from Will Rogers Memorial Park to Bezos' mansion worth $165 million in Beverly Hills, California to ask for $2 per hour raises.

Amazon has said that they "don't set unreasonable performance goals", but the company was fined by the Washington State Department of Labor and Industries (L&I) for "monitoring and discipline systems" in direct relation to workplace musculoskeletal disorders.

[1] On November 12, 2020, Smalls filed a class-action lawsuit against Amazon alleging the company violated federal and state law by putting warehouse workers at risk during the COVID-19 pandemic and by terminating him.

[39] In February 2021, Attorney General of New York Letitia James sued Amazon for allegedly providing inadequate safety precautions and retaliation against employees who complained, including Smalls.

[4][15] He is frequently seen wearing streetwear in the style of hip hop culture, and has said criticism of his appearance "really motivates me to continue dressing the way I do because I want y’all to understand it’s not about how I look" and that "If I was to run for president, I would look just like this ...