The aforementioned is an accurate description of the dynamic and charismatic duo on a meal-ticket mission from downunder especially considering that up until the release of their freshman cherry bomb, Crash The Party, there was no rap scene worth mentioning in Orlando. Rodney Bailey and Robert Campman are Smilez and Southstar, respectively. Their homegrown Cinderella story is what ghetto dreams are made of and plays like a song by two of the most influential rhymeslangers from Queens to ever check and wrecka mic on wax; the story where two emcees roll out in a Cadillac, rhymes so def they never look back. But behind any successful gate-crashing lurks the identifying stress marks of struggle and self-determination.

Two years ago/A friend of mine…

“Orlando is definitely the next scene to blow,” Smilez, the Bronx-born yin of the yang, declares emphatically. “There was always an underground scene, so underground you didn’t know about it unless you knew somebody.” I’m preoccupied wondering whether a tree makes a sound if nobody is around to witness its fall when Southstar cuts in sagely like DMC. “You got the same characteristics of any city. There’s talent. We just trying to open doors and bring light on our city like Nelly did for St. Louis.”

I can dig it, but remains to be seen whether skeptical heads outside of Orlando can. If the logjam in my mailbox is any indication then a lotta people can