My story...

Almost Famous
written by JusHH

I am not a successful rapper. It’s not from a lack of trying however. I thought rap was so cool. Hollis Ave, where Run-DMC hailed, was within shouting distance, LL Cool J’s grandma lived down the block and A Tribe Called Quest shot their videos around the corner from my house. Needless to say Hip-Hop was hard to avoid and I wanted to be like these MC’s.

My career began in the 5th grade. Sonic J was my name and rapping was my game. The first verse I ever wrote was a pop heavy request to get the party people on the dance floor. (Hammer and Kid-N-Play were on hot, what can I say?) I changed my name to Smooth J after that song didn’t receive the kind of response that I had planned. My rhymes left the club and ventured into the self-promoting and braggadocios. I was the “Real deal like Holyfield”. I converted a composition marble notebook into my 1st official rhyme book. I looked for all kinds of words that rhymed with “def” and named all of the things that I was “flyer” than. At the time, I apart of a rap group – B.I.C. which stood for “Brothers in Control”. You could catch us ripping it down in front of 6 or 7 people in the playground behind P.S. 176.

B.I.C. dissolved when school ended. You can never predict the effect of going to a different Junior High School will have on your rap group. Not to be denied, I took my act solo. I knocked the “th” off my name, added a “v” and became Smoov J. I kept writing in my rhyme book, piecing lines here and there drawing inspiration from things around me. I mean, who could hang with a dude who “had more raps than Savion had taps?” I brought that book with me wherever I went because I couldn’t run the risk of coming up with a cool line and forgetting it before I got home. Unfortunately it wasn’t looking good for Smoov J. There was no demand for my services and with no ciphers to rip up, I was reduced to mouthing the lyrics to myself while walking to the bus stop.

Years went by and I still wasn’t a superstar. I wasn’t getting anywhere rappin’ and I was pretty good with words so my rhyme book turned into a book of poetry (think Maya not Saul). I wrote about love, politics and my “blackness”. I actually got a few people to read my stuff and they kinda liked it. I wasn’t exactly Langston Hughes but my prose did make me favorable amongst the ladies. (Cue up McLovin’s, “bow, chica, bow, bow.”) But the rapper in me wouldn’t die, little by little my poetry started to take on a bit more rhythm. (now think Saul)

It was eight years since B.I.C. but as a senior in High School, I found a group of guys who loved to rap and we started up ciphers. My rhyme book was back in full effect. I was back on my lyrical exercise. We actually recorded a song together in my boy’s attic. Aww, snap! Smoov J was finally on the scene! Sadly, it was my first and last song we ever recorded as I once again graduated. Damn.

In college I tried re-invented myself again. I dropped the “J” this time and was only known as Smoov. I also had a new rhyme book by now (the old one got worn and pages kept falling out) and was still on the grind. My rhymes got more sophisticated (think Rawkus circa ’99). I was on top of my game. “Whoever or whatever/ Defeat me never/ my pen ignites the paper with the stroke of every letter.” Having practiced in front of mirrors for the last decade, my live performances were tight, I just needed a shot. I competed in a “Slam” poetry contest… lost. And I performed a few verses over the course of my time in school. I never got that big break. That A&R just wasn’t there that night at the coffee house on Brandeis University’s campus. I’m sure if an industry dude was there, I would have got my deal. With no superstar career in sight, I decided to give up the dream and “Smoov” got relinquished to an IM screen name.

Truth of the matter is I wasn’t that good. It always bothered me that I couldn’t freestyle worth a damn. My flow was monotonous, my “witty” punchlines sounded forced and predictable and I couldn’t keep a consistent thought for more than 16 bars. I never actually completed a whole song; just dozens and dozens of disjointed verses just looking for cohesion. To this day though, I still love to rap just as much as Sonic J did back in 1992. From time to time, I’d be in the shower and be like, “yoooo, that would sound so hot” or half seriously ask gWiz if I could be on one of his remixes. My red 80 sheet college ruled rhyme book still sits around collecting dust. Perhaps one day, I’ll open it up and turn to the next blank page and restart my budding rap career. Hell it’s a new day and I heard from somebody that I could “sell a mill, saying nothing on the track.”

So watch out. The S-M-Double O-V might return to wreck shop. But don’t call it a comeback… I’ve been here for years