Frankie Smith

Frankie Smith
Born	1953 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Genres	R&B, soul, funk, disco, old school hip hop
Occupation(s)	Singer
Years active	1979–present
Labels	WMOT Records, Amstate Records
Associated acts	The O'Jays, The Spinners

For the football player of the same name see Frankie Smith.

Franklyn Leon "Frankie" Smith (born 1953, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) is an American funk musician and R&B/soul songwriter. He is best known for his 1981 single "Double Dutch Bus".

He went to college in Tennessee for elementary education with a minor in music. He became a writer for funk and soul artists such as the O'Jays and The Spinners. He has also been influential in the careers of the rappers Tone Lōc, Ice Cube and Snoop Dogg.

With his 1981 single "Double Dutch Bus", released by WMOT Records, Smith popularized a nonsensical form of slang, (From his song "Slang thang", 1981 WMOT records.) in which "iz" is placed in the middle of a word (for example, the word "place" becomes "plizace") or the last letters of a word are replaced with "-izzle" (ex. sure becomes shizzle). The style became part of hip-hop slang, and was popularized by rappers Snoop Dogg and E-40. The style today holds a place in popular slang.

"Double Dutch Bus" itself has been sampled frequently in hip-hop, including Snoop Dogg's "Snoop Dogg (What's My Name, Pt. 2)" and Missy Elliott's "Gossip Folks". Both records were produced by Timbaland. His single "Double Dutch Bus" is also featured in the 2008 Disney movie College Road Trip starring Martin Lawrence and Raven-Symoné.

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