[5] His first release Forest was put out in late 2013 and exhibited a hip hop sound with Smidzik rapping on every song, in contrast to his later and more recognized R&B-stylized singing.

The video for the song "Without You", from the mixtape Black Silk (released in February 2014[6]), went viral, attaining more than a million views on video-sharing websites YouTube and WorldStarHipHop.

[3] Noisey declared the video an "instant classic" and published an article titled "Is Spooky Black Going to Take Over the R&B Game?

"[13] Also in 2014, Smidzik and fellow Minnesota musicians Allan Kingdom, Bobby Raps, and Psymun formed the hip hop/R&B group Thestand4rd.

[4][14][15] During November 2014, Corbin and the Stand4rd embarked on a US tour, which included a gig at SOB's in New York City where they were introduced by DJ Khaled.

[18] Later, on August 24, Smidzik announced his debut album, Mourn, which was released on September 5, 2017, on Shlohmo's record label Wedidit.

[24] On July 24, 2020, Corbin was featured on the Kid Laroi's song "Not Fair" from his debut mixtape, F*ck Love.