“I’m the best of both worlds, heart of the South,
voice of the ghetto.” – Smitty
Those are
big words coming from a rather lesser-known emcee slowly emerging out of the
streets of Miami, Florida. Some may have a slight recollection
of Smitty from last
summer’s luke-warm hit, “Diamonds on My Neck.” Or perhaps the
few people that still read liner notes would recognize Smitty as the man responsible for
writing Diddy and Nelly’s hit “Shake Ya
Tailfeather,” along with that B2K single “Bump, Bump, Bump.”
Still prepping his major label album, “Life of a Troubled Child”
on J Records, Smitty is
releasing an indy album in order to garnish a buzz via Counterflow Distribution Group.
With the help
of a dope production line-up consisting of Kanye West, 9th Wonder, Jazze Pha, Hi-Tek and more, Smitty is prepared to show the world
his ability to come with variety and appeal for each spectrum of Hip Hop. And I
must say, having Kanye West, Scarface,
Jae Millz, John Legend, amongst others as a list of guest spots
won’t hurt his chances of doing just that. Whether it be the street banger for
the hood; the insightful rhymes for the backpack listener; or even the
radio-tailored single, Smitty
is ready.
Teaming up
with Jae Millz on “Ghetto
Boy,” Smitty
shows off his ability to rhyme hard, packing a verse full of hard hitting punch
lines and gritty street talk. The Donny
Hathaway sampled track also allows Millz to put on a stunning
performance, proving Millz naysayers
wrong who think he doesn’t merit lime light. “Lemme Know” has
Smitty speaking on his
resident area of MIA, over a Jazze Pha-produced,
Lil Jon-esque Crunk-style
instrumental. Whereas the Akon-assisted
“I
Wonder” provides the listener with a nice break from the hard
hitting, trunk rattling beats that are littered throughout the album. It’s just
a shame Smitty turned
the smooth riding track into an average run of the mill song by doing his best Ice Cube rendition and failing
horribly. Smitty’s lack
of lyricism and inability to convince his audience that he is better than any
other man leaves “Pop Quiz” in the trash bin category. Now it’s not always the
case that Smitty ruins
a dope instrumental. Take “It’s Alright.” Smitty lays down his heart over a
xylophone-filled 9th Wonder
beat. It’s hard not to relate and feel for a guy when he spits lyrics like
these: “….will I make it through the
gates/ As I wait, only God knows what I’m about/ Out on parole, so I’m back at
my momma’s house/ This shit is old/ My car broke down, money ain’t right/ My
momma screamin at me, plus I’m on my third strike/ … Man heaven ain’t a mile
away/ Cause if it was, cuz, fuck it, I’d die today“
It’s hard
to say whether Smitty
will be someone special in the game yet. If you eliminate the guest spots from
the platinum-status artists along with the all-star production, you’re left
with what seems like a challenging attempt by J Records to push Smitty
out into the world. The record is far from amazing and Smitty definitely needs to improve
his lyricism. Overall, however, the pre-album serves its purpose. Bring on the Life of a Troubled Child.
