Smoothe Da Hustler 'United Slums of America' album

Long before the break out of the hustling epidemic, Damon Smith, better known to the rap world as Smoothe Da Hustler, had laid claim to the title of hustler over a decade ago, a title that he had garnered honestly when it came to both the streets and his ability to maneuver through a lyrical maze of talent-less MCs. The Brooklyn, New York, Brownsville sector representative, is known for delivering verbal assaults, which would silence even the illest of lyricists, guess this is why a lot of well-known emcees called upon Smith for his ghostwriting abilities.

Undeniably one of the best lyrical talents that has ever blessed the game of Hip-Hop, Smith's wordplay cuts like a two edged sword when it's laid down on wax. He's innovation at its best, as he has never fell into the trap of doing what other rappers were doing, and thank God, because if he did, we would have never been introduced to a new language that was 'broken.' No hooks, just straight raw verbiage, that Smith and his younger brother, talented rapper, Trigger Tha Gambler, gave to rap when they released the 1995 Profile-bound, 'Broken Language.'

Smith was ill enough to snag the attention of his now good friend, legendary West Coast rapper/actor, Ice-T, eventually going on to form one of the first East Coast/West Coast assemblages entitled SMG, which is an acronym for Sex, Money & Gunz. "Many people ask how that whole connection would come about, but first let me start out by saying, that Ive always respected Ice because he seemed like a smart business man, and he was one of the only West Coast rappers getting airplay in NY. One day he was at one of the top radio stations in NY, and the air personality asked Ice who he was feeling, and Ice said he was feeling this cat named Smoothe (Da Hustler), so we jumped in the car and headed down to the station, and the rest is history, that was about ten years ago," Smith recounts. "This guy is the most talented MC that the rap world has ever known." "All I can say is that you will learn where a lot of these rappers got their whole style from and if not their whole style they bit something of this kid." "Smoothe is a definite lyricist with outstanding potential," are just a few of the comments that were revealed about this well regarded lyricist, on a well known message board, and shows that not only Ice-T was feeling Smith's style.

Many often query and speculate about what happened to Smith, a true urban underground legend, who was on the verge of taking the game to a new plateau; "a lot of things happened, there was a lot of label B.S., which really made it difficult to release another album, but on top of that, I lost my son's mom to an aneurysm, so I had to get sole custody of him, because I dont play when it comes to my seeds, so just so many reasons why I didnt come back out immediately, but I've always kept my ears to the streets, and I'm flattered that I was able to even give these cats something to aspire to, Im glad they studied my style, so I appreciate the new emcees because they let me know that theyre thinking about me in their rhymes, but I'm back now, and coming at it from all sorts of angles, not just from a lyrical side," Smith explained. Also adding: "It's funny to hear some of the younger cats, that havent done their history on my first album Once Upon a Time in America, hear my new sh*t and say that I sound like someone else, when obviously, they have to sound like me since I was in this firstdoing the whole punch line and wordplay rhyming, before it was even really that popular I've always lived what I rhyme, so that always will give me the advantage. I feel like my presence has been deeply missed, and I thank those die hard Smoothe /SMG fans, that have never let cats forget about me/us.

So what's next for Smith, as he plans to make his full return to a game, that he has contributed significantly to changing; "well, we (SMG) went on tour not too long ago, and we traveled extensively all over England, Japan, Switzerland, Paris, France, Germany and Amsterdam, just to name a few places, so weve been testing the waters again, and the response has been lovely. We are now getting ready to release our new songs on our SMG imprint, while I have had plenty of record deal offers, even till this day, I say that it is nothing like owning your own, and that is what we're looking to do...keep it in the family. So while I will be releasing some of my own individual material, we will also be releasing another album as SMG, plus I have a lot of artists getting ready to drop, including a rock group, so things are progressively movin' along, and I'm still in the game, beyond 'Broken Language.' Not to mention, we have a DVD coming out, so we're ready to do this right, because everything that has happened to me & my crew, has been a learning experience, but were here to 'even da odds,' you'll never even know we left," Smith states. -Kenyetta McKinney

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Smoothe Da Hustler - United Slums of America