MOD SUN

MOD SUN—an acronym for “Movement on Dreams Stand Under None”—is the nom de rap of Minnesota-born hip-hop artist, musician, writer, and poet Derek Smith. ∙ He started his music career as the drummer for post-hardcore groups Four Letter Lie and Scary Kids Scaring Kids, adopting the MOD SUN name in 2004. ∙ In 2010, he released his debut EP, The Hippy Hop EP, followed by 2011’s In Mod We Trust and 2012’s Happy as Fu*k. ∙ Look Up—his 2015 debut album, which featured guests including Travis Barker and G-Eazy—topped Billboard’s Heatseekers Albums chart and rose into the Billboard 200. ∙ In 2017, MOD SUN released both his sophomore LP, Movie—with a guest turn by American rapper DeJ Loaf—and his third album, BB, featuring the single “#noshirton.” ∙ Rapper and actor Machine Gun Kelly directed the music video for MOD SUN’s 2020 single “Karma.” ∙ The video for “Flames,” his 2021 single featuring Avril Lavigne, garnered more than 4.2 million views on a single platform in less than two weeks.