While naming the artists he’s worked with in the past, Brownsville, Brooklyn rapper Smoothe Da Hustler revealed that he wrote the majority of fellow artist Foxy Brown’s lyrics before she was signed. In addition to writing most of Foxy’s lyrics, Smoothe says he also wrote the rapper’s verse on Jay Z’s Reasonable Doubt single, “Ain’t No Nigga.”
When asked about Jay Z’s assistance with Foxy’s “Ain’t No Nigga” verse, Smoothe says both he and Jay added to and took away from the then 16-year-old rapper’s verse in order to create a final product.
“I mean, I wrote most of her stuff before she got signed,” Smoothe Da Hustler said during an interview with Forbez DVD Live. “She got signed with my stuff. That was the crazy shit. The crazy shit is this. You know, I was shopping my stuff. I’m like ‘I’m Smoothe Da Hustler. I got a bunch of records talking about hustling and street shit and all that.’ The shit that’s going on now. And they was like ‘Eh, ain’t no lane for it. Ain’t no real marketing for it.’ And we was like ‘Come on. You crazy. The streets love this shit.’ But they signed her with the stuff that I wrote for her. So, I was like ‘Wow. Aight, that’s kinda cool. I got my lane.’ No, that’s not public record, but I mean, I made it public now. I made it public a few times. She know.”
Smoothe later revealed that he didn’t receive credit for the record, but was able to barter his way into a deal with Profile Records that allowed him to broaden his fan base.
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Prior to speaking on his work with Foxy Brown, Smoothe commented on his brand of music and his current projects. In addition to releasing his Full-Time Hustle project, Smoothe Da Hustler also plans on introducing a new movement titled, BBC.
“My brand of music is just like more reality based,” he said. “And I do it for the borough, man. Strictly…We doing this new movement called BBC. And a lot of the Brooklyn legends—you know, everybody still doing they thing. They good. Nobody beat up. It’s a gap missing. And we used to set trends. And it ain’t really like that no more. You know what I mean? Everybody still spitting. Everybody got some money. So, I’m like ‘Let’s do our own thing.’ So, we kinda bringing it together. This little movement. And this CD called Full-Time Hustle that I put out it just kinda like is the spearhead.”
In the same month Jay Z’s “Ain’t No Nigga” single was released, Smoothe Da Hustler released his debut album. Titled Once Upon A Time In America, the album was released through Profile Records and featured production solely from Brooklyn beatsmith DR Period.
A follow-up album to Smoothe’s debut would come well over a decade after Once Upon A Time In America’s March 1996 release.
RELATED:TIMELESS: Smoothe Da Hustler Revisits “Once Upon A Time In America”
