Bigg Robb

Bigg Robb channels an upbeat, independent creative drive through Midwest funk, modern blues, contemporary gospel, and particularly Southern soul. He entered the business as a teenage radio personality and built an early connection to Zapp, where Roger Troutman offered vital guidance that shaped his path. Years of behind-the-scenes work in the industry later equipped him to begin recording under his own name at the start of the 2000s. Beginning with the album Cheddar Cheddar in 2000, he has maintained a steady output of roughly one project per year, issuing solo efforts while also curating group compilations. That consistent activity carried him through a full twenty-year span, which concluded with Good Muzic in 2019.

Robert “Bigg Robb” Smith launched his career in the late 1970s by spinning records as a teenager at a modest Cincinnati station. During the early 1980s he remained on the air, centering playlists on soul and funk acts including Bootsy Collins, Midnight Star, and Zapp while frequently conducting on-air interviews with the artists. He gradually joined their inner circle, spending time in studios and receiving direct tutelage from Roger Troutman, who first hired him as a driver and later brought him into Zapp itself, all the while urging him to create original material. By the late 1980s Smith was engineering sessions tied to Troutman’s circle, including work on Zapp V, Shirley Murdock’s Let There Be Love!, and Roger’s Bridging the Gap.

Following Troutman’s passing in 1999, Smith adopted the Bigg Robb name and opened his solo chapter with Cheddar Cheddar in 2000. His releases multiplied quickly on the Over 25 Sound imprint, which served as a platform for both his own music and projects by fellow artists. He completed his initial ten years with the album Jerri Curl Muzic, which included contributions from Shirley Murdock, Bar-Kays, and Kurtis Blow alongside a fresh version of the Floaters’ “Float On.” From Soul Prescription in 2010 to Good Muzic in 2019 he kept releasing at the same measured pace, occasionally detouring into gospel and seasonal recordings.