Southside Jamaica, Queens rapper Bang Em Smurf is largely remembered for his public feud with former affiliate 50 Cent at the top of the decade. In 2005, the incarcerated Smurf launched his GF Records with a joint release with Domination called God Giveth, God Taketh Away [click to read].
Then incarcerated, Smurf contacted HipHopDX Friday evening to update fans on his whereabouts and his updated approach to making music. “[I was released from Sing Sing Prison] five months ago. I’ve just been laying low. I’ve been in the studio recording and shit, lining up some crack for the streets,” said the original member of G-Unit, who is presently in Trinidad, his place of birth. “I got deported and all that,” he admitted, adding, “I’m definitely coming back [to the United States]. But for the time-being, I’m down here getting my mind right and my situation right.I think it’ll better for me down here than in New York. ‘Cause there’s a lot of shit going on, and I would’ve been involved in all of that.” Having recently taken a record to Caribbean radio, the rapper stated, “In Trinidad, they know what it is. They on that underground shit, hard!” Lastly, the street boss wanted fans to know, “We got houses on the hill – been good, still good,” of his current living situation.
Smurf commented on the status of his group, “Domination, that’s my boy, that’s scrap, that’s a loyal dude! That boy held me down the whole time I was locked up, no matter what I had to do – him and my other boy Agony. They held me down the fullest; the bond is still there,” he said, adding the the music partners communicate frequently, despite their geographic limitations. Smurf mentioned other pivotal figures in New York Hip Hop, including DJ Victorious, who also kept his music alive through incarceration. The GF Records CEO added they are no longer with Koch Records, who released and distributed their 2005 debut. “Shout out to Koch and all of that, but I’m shopping. We free agents.”
On that debut, Bang Em Smurf was largely responsible for ad-libs and interludes, something that he now says has changed. “I really let Domination do the rapping, and just played the back and did the business. While I’m in prison, I’m just looking at all the music that’s out, I’m like, ‘Everybody rappin’. The material music was getting credit as being good. To me, I don’t feel that it’s good. I’m really confused with the game right now.”
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An extension of that attitude, Smurf, who was also an associate of Death Row Records briefly some years back, said that he has plenty to say that the streets will appreciate. “The streets is definitely gonna love this,” said the rapper with a laugh, alluding to diss records and outspoken street commentary.
The album will be called One In One Million, set to be released after the upcoming mixtape Street Cartel.
