Marcus Smith’s Permeate – A Love Song Painted in Hip-Hop Tones

I love hip-hop. Always have. I remember being a kid, sitting on the floor of my bedroom, rewinding cassette tapes, trying to catch that cadence. Trying to spit it back like I was part of something bigger than myself. Back then, it was braggadocio and block parties. Now? Sometimes, you stumble into a track that resonates for real. That’s where Permeate by Marcus Smith featuring Bedrooms hits.

Let’s talk about this one.

The Flow of a Love Story in Full Color

Cleveland rapper Marcus Smith steps away from ego trips and worn-out clichés, choosing instead to paint something honest and textured. Permeate unfolds like a canvas. It’s a slow pour of memories, art, and love – built on a beat crafted by FLX, a producer from Inverness, UK, discovered during a casual Discord scroll. That serendipity turned into something intimate: a birthday gift for his wife.

The opening line hits with a brushstroke: “Paint spills on the canvas of my heart…” Now that’s not a metaphor for the sake of sounding deep. I felt like this was lived, tender. Every verse dances with colours, textures, and artists – from Rembrandt to Pollock, Klimt to Monet. You’re hearing pure affection, set inside the gallery of Marcus’ admiration, where every emotion hangs in oil and pigment.

There’s so much honesty here. Not just in the lyrics, but in the way Marcus brings his own past into the frame. He remembers days wandering Cleveland’s free Museum of Art, ducking the summer heat, feeding ducks, just being. You feel those hours in the music video – filmed on location like a full-circle moment.

Bedrooms, Monets, and a Chorus That Sticks

Midway through the track, Bedrooms enters like a quiet storm. Atlanta-born, he delivers a verse that shapes the song from the inside. There’s a line that stopped me cold: “Witnessing Monet in the way you breathe falling asleep…”

That line? It became the hook. Marcus heard it, looped it, and shaped the emotional spine of Permeate around it. And you know what? That’s not background vocals, that’s authorship. This is a collaboration, plain and simple – Marcus Smith feat. Bedrooms. Two artists, two hearts, one shared moment rendered in sound. The track holds both voices like layers in a painting, each brushstroke aware of the other.

Cleveland to Inverness: Hip-Hop Without Borders

It begins with lyrics, but the heartbeat comes from three cities, two countries, and one shared vision. FLX from Inverness laced the instrumental. Bedrooms recorded in Atlanta. Marcus held it down from Cleveland. It’s stitched together from three cities, two countries, and one shared feeling: love.

And not the flashy kind either. This is love that hums beneath everyday moments. The type that shows up in quiet rituals – talking about O’Keefe in Georgia or staying in with some keef and tea. There’s even a nod to “our song” between Marcus and his wife: Constellations by Bedrooms. You can feel how much that connection matters – it’s the reason he brought Bedrooms on board in the first place.

I’ve seen artists chase trends. But Marcus? He chases meaning. That’s the difference, that’s why a track like Permeate lingers.

Closing Thoughts: A Song You Don’t Skip

When I first hit play, I expected good vibes. But what I got was more. I had that real feeling, wrapped in warm production, with references that felt like conversations between old souls. This is Marcus Smith’s second single of 2025, following a pause after his 2023 album Unique Mélange. The man’s not rushing quantity, he’s also curating moments.

Live shows are lined up – The Winchester, Beachland Tavern, even Dome Studios in Chicago – and I have a hunch those rooms are going to feel this track deeply. Find Marcus Smith on Facebook, Instagram, Spotify, Bandcamp, YouTube – then follow the trail wherever it leads.

So yeah, I love hip-hop. And when it sounds like this? I remember why I fell for it in the first place.

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