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. One of the artists that benefitted from Smith’s guidance and skills, was fellow Brooklynite, Foxy Brown, where Smith played an intricate part in the development of her style.
Fresh off the block with his A-Side ‘Hustlin’,’—pressed up as an Independent record (Smith and his manager, Rafiq, were doing this long before creating independent record labels was popular), Smith gained street and national credibility for this street anthem, but it was the platinum B-Side ‘Broken Language,’ that sealed the deal, and proved that Smith was innovation at its best, as he showed the world that 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.' Broken Language allowed for Smith to become a household name in the Hip-Hop community. Going off of those single successes, he went on to create the classic gold album “Once Upon A Time in America,” this proved undeniably that Smith was one of the best lyrical talents that has ever blessed the game of Hip-Hop, showing that Smith's wordplay cut like a two edged sword when it was laid down on wax. The successful streak did not stop there, as Smith went on to appear on and write for several soundtracks—‘He Got Game,’ where he penned the track ‘Game Face,’ rapping alongside Hip-Hop pioneers, Public Enemy, and the platinum ‘Nutty Professor’ soundtrack, teaming up yet again with his brother, Trigger the Gambler and fellow crew member DV Alias Khryst to create the banger, “My Crew Can’t Go for That.”
Smith’s collaboration resume proves to be quite impressive, working alongside artists and industry influential’s such as; Jay-Z, P Diddy, Notorious Big, Rakim, SWV, Big L, Onyx, Lil Mo, Foxy Brown, Big Pun, Run DMC, Russell Simmons, Lyor Cohen, MOP, Papoose, Boot Camp Click, Wu Tang Clan, DMX, Busta Ryhmes, The Lox, Kool G Rap, KRS-1, MOP and many more.
Ill enough to snag the attention of 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—a crew that Smith formed back in the day in his old boro, but it evolved into being a music group. "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 eleven 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.
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 don’t 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, I’m 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 first doing 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.
Gaining respect both globally and universally—from his travels across the Globe, not once, but twice, the game is wide open for Smith to make a full comeback into a game—A game that he helped significantly change through his revolutionary style of rap, as he gears up to release his album on his SMG Imprint “American Hustler”— In addition to his upcoming album, he is in the middle of putting the finishing touches on his very own cartoon entitled ‘Big Wheelz,’ where he pays homage to Hip-Hop and its pioneers. Some have stated that Smith was way before his time with his lyrical formulas, depiction of street life, breaking down the hustle game to the very last compound...whether people admit it or not...Smith did not just enter the game to become just another rapper...he entered the game to make history■
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