CONCORD — Shaun “Shauny B” Smith is an artist and magazine owner who publishes Knocksmith Magazine about twice a year. Having grown up around Pittsburg with a major affliction for rap and hip hop music, he set out in 2003 to start his own record label, which then morphed into Knocksmight Magazine.
While he ran his magazine since 2016 with a focus on print, featuring local talents from around the Bay Area, with a focus on highlighting Antioch and Pittsburg areas, he recently started changing his focus to other pursuits. He launched a Knocksmith TV channel on the Roku app to feature his homemade videos, started doing more online marketing work with other companies and has been experimenting with AI programs to make new ads for other clients outside of music.
This interview, edited for space and clarity, delves into how Smith works and measures his success as a local business owner and artist.
Q: Tell me a little bit about yourself, I know you’ve got a lot of projects. Give me the rundown. What do you work on? Where are you from? What do you represent?
A: I’m Shaun Smith, they call me Shauny B. Been running a record label as long as I’ve been a dad. My son and my CDs came back on the same day. That was 2003.
I’ve functioned as a label and an artist for a while, and I started doing graphic design somewhere in there, which was a quick, easy way to make some money. It’s producing income a lot quicker than trying to work as an artist…That’s kind of what led me into marketing.
I took some time off between 2010 to 2014. I took a little break. As a dad, I was kind of reevaluating what kind of direction we were going to go.
My son was born in ‘03 and my daughter was born in ‘08.
I was always really active as a father, but that was just kind of the time where I was a little bit exhausted and had to reroute. I was frustrated with the let downs.
It’s not an easy thing to do, doing anything that’s not conservative or the safe route. But especially in this creative industry, there’s a lot of let downs.
Q: When you had to juggle being an artist, a producer and being a father, how did you navigate that? How do you move between being a father and doing your own passion projects?
A: If I’m honest, I don’t think I ever really tripped off of it. The whole thing to me was pretty natural. My dad passed when I was young, so I already knew.
When my dad passed, one of the things that got me through that time was music. So at essentially at 12 years old, I was pretty already aware that my mission here was to have a son so we can live on, and to make music. Because that’s how you can help.
I still had stuff to get out of my system. I was still partying. I was a young dad at 22, and I had a son on the way.
There were certain things I had to get out of my system, just as a person. But as a father, my son was my best friend, instantly, day 1. We just did everything together.
As far as professional and creative (aspects) and where they merge with my family life, it was always to include my family and friends however I can. I’ve been fortunate enough to create a vehicle to do that in most cases.
In some of these magazine issues…there’s sections where we just have random pictures, so that was always valuable to have people included in there, or to mention people on an album or some credits for a film or something like that. It’s always an honor for me to do something like that.
Q: Do you have a day job?
A: This is what I do full time, but I have the (Boilermaker’s) union, where I work periodically throughout the year.
Knocksmith is my main stay.
It doesn’t make sense anymore to do 40-hours a week where I’m tied to a 9-to-5, to juggle both. I would advise anybody to keep your main investor, which is your 9-to-5, as long as you can.
A lot of people are driving Uber and things like that because they have the freedom to do whatever they can in the arts. It’s hard to generate money in this though.
We’ve been at it for a while, and there’s a lot of pegs on the board for a bigger plan that’s coming. I’m not turning down any work that’ll keep me in shape and keep my pockets lined either.
Q: How do you measure your success in this business?
A: To me, what I’ve noticed is that it’s not specifically sports or drawing or music. It’s the act of thinking of something and then seeing it come-to.
Manifestation is a hot word right now, but the real concept of that feels like time travel almost. The crazier the idea, the more people that don’t identify with it. Introducing people that I know will get along…or having an idea and being able to really make it happen, that’s what gets me out of bed.
Q: Who’s behind Knocksmith?
A: There’s a rotating scale, there’s a long list, but at the end of the day the only one losing sleep (over Knocksmith) is yours truly.
Q: What are you plans for the future for this magazine?
A: We’re in the middle of a rebrand for this issue that’s coming out for the winter of 2025. We changed what the header was previously, from ‘Hip Hop, R&B, Reggae and Rap’ to ‘Media, Recreation, Community and Workforce.’
That’s a broader scale, where we still get to cover artists. I’m interested in all of those (topics.)
Shaun “Shauny B” Smith PROFILE
Age: 45
Organization: Knocksmith Magazine
Title: Owner/Publisher
Residence: Pittsburg
Five things about Shauny B
- Will eat just about anything, especially if dared to eat scorching hot peppers
- Born in Martinez
- Moved homes 13 times before he was 13 years old
- Owns two dogs, named Bella and Puppin
- Liked skateboarding and basketball growing