Smitty: Over And Over Again

Smitty, whom to most is known as the artist from Lil’ Haiti, Miami, FL who has ghostwritten for Dr. Dre and P.Diddy and also having a buzzing big single “Diamonds on My Neck.” He appeared to be on the way to becoming one of the South’s brightest new stars. Almost Three years later he has yet to release his debut album “Life of a Troubled Child.” Smitty has a lot to say on why his album was never released.

WordofSouth.com: What’s going on man?

Smitty: Getting’ it in man. I’m in Houston right muthafuckin now. I been out here working with a lot of artists and finishing my deal with Chameleon/Blackground/Universal. I’m just happy to be a free man from J Records and appreciative. It feels good to still be out here making this music.

Smitty: I don’t know if everyone knows the situation that’s going on over there right now from a label perspective, but Clive Davis just got bought out of being CEO over there. One of the heads of the division got fired and Barry Weiss from Jive is actually taking over right now. I’m not saying that J Records necessarily didn’t know what they was doing because they are a label, but they just didn’t spend money the way that I would have liked for it to be spent. My budget got to almost 2.5 million over the last five years. A lot of money was spent, but it just wasn’t spent the right way. When it was time to believe in the artist and believe in the record I think that people just stepped back and really didn’t believe like I needed them to. It’s all good though, no hard feelings and I thank them for giving me the opportunity, but at the end of the day its time to move onto bigger and better things. I wish them the best and I’m pretty sure they wish me the best and that’s all that matters.

WordofSouth.com: You were supposed to drop a little over a year ago. “Diamonds on My Neck” was getting major play. Whatever happened?

Smitty: At that particular time, I had the record “Ghetto” with Kanye West, Scarface, and John Legend ready to go. I don’t know, I think it was a new VP, Jeff Burroughs at the time and he just didn’t feel like it was the appropriate single to come with. At that time, everybody did feel like the record was hot and could be a successful smash. People hear the record today and think it’s crazy. Kanye produced it. He (Jeff Burroughs) didn’t feel like we had a second single to go with. So me being a young artist I looked at the situation like I got these people spending millions of dollars on me you would expect that they would know best. My team is saying it’s the second single and roll with it and drop the album, if I do numbers I do numbers, if I don’t I don’t, but at least id have the opportunity to show people what we’re bringing to the table. I would have had the opportunity to drop the album and present Smitty. They took so long and ended up doing a remix of “Diamonds on My Neck” with Lil Wayne and Twista and spending $60,000 on that when we could have shot a video for “Ghetto” or done something more productive. The remix never did get as much pub as the original record; it was just a waste of money. Once they had wasted that money, they didn’t wanna spend any money until they saw some results from the moves that they did. Before you know it, six months went by, a year went by, and I needed another record at that point. After that is when I came with the record “Lil Haiti” which is produced by The Runners and was one of The Runners first records and they felt like they could get that record and they didn’t get that record. That was almost a 1 ½-2 year span in which an artist that’s caught up in political bullshit because people don’t believe in the record. Now four years later you got people saying “damn, why y’all ain’t go with that record?” or “damn, why y’all ain’t put that out?” I’m out here in these streets having to answer these questions, but these people asking these questions ain’t gotta deal with what I gotta deal with.

WordofSouth.com: Did the same thing happen with “Died In Your Arms”?

Smitty: Same shit over and over again. The Core DJ’s jumped behind the record, shout out to my man DJ Quest and Tony Neal and all of them. They done blasted the record heavy and at the time Brian Leech had came over and he had taken over the Urban department and he loved the record and was behind the record, but again it was almost a political battle going on because the urban side wanted to see what they could do with the record. Then you had the crossover side at J Records which is two different departments, they felt like they could do what they wanted to do with the record. Once nobody proved what they wanted to do with the record they let the record go to waste. When the record was up to 4-500 spins, getting millions of hits on MySpace about the record. They scared to spend the money to shoot the video saying that all the DJ’s aren’t fuckin’ with the record, urban ain’t fuckin with the record, and nobody is fuckin’ with the record. Urban ain’t fuckin’ with the record? The Core DJ’s are the ones who broke the record, how urban ain’t fuckin’ with the record? Every time I do a conference call with the Superstar DJ’s, the Heavy Hittaz, everybody telling me it’s a muthafuckin’ smash, but when you walk in the office they tell me urban ain’t fuckin’ with the record. That don’t make sense to me. Then also the crossover side telling me nah. I did the remix with T-Pain and Rick Ross and Junior Reid for urban and crossover and they tell me crossover ain’t fuckin’ with it because T-Pain and Rick Ross is on it. You know it’s a label, but it’s like everybody trying to protect they jobs. Nobody wanna go on the line and say the record hot and they ain’t doing what they supposed to do. That’s what happens at the end. The record gets thrown to waste and before you know it 4-5 months later spins start to go down because the program directors are gonna wonder why nobody else is adding it, so should they add it? It’s crazy right now. I got caught up in political bullshit and I ain’t trying to expose J Records, but the world needs to know what’s going on. People are getting fired and they trying to correct their system over there, so I feel like I have the right to speak out on how the system did me. A lot of artists been caught up in that same bullshit. The same way Clipse were did over at Jive. A lot of niggas get caught up. That’s what happened with that particular record. I appreciate the record and everybody who was a part of it. I just want to let people know that Smitty stays making records and keeps making hits and just want the opportunity to present these hits to the world and not let the politics and bullshit of a major label hold me back.

WordofSouth.com: It’s funny to me because these days labels aren’t signing no one or releasing anything unless it has a certain amount of spins.

WordofSouth.com: When did you reach the breaking point with J Records?

Smitty: It’s been a long time and I don’t know if people have been listening to my freestyles, but after “Died In Your Arms” it’s been pretty much a wrap for me. I’ve seen so many individuals that smiled and looked at me in the face and told me this was gonna be a hit and they were gonna make things right this time. Based on the fact that my records were done badly I just felt that this was the last time that I was gonna be lied to and promised this and couldn’t be delivered. After “Died In Your Arms” failed it was too much of a slap in the face and it was a slap in the face to the whole label because when you step on the streets from Houston to Baltimore everybody says the same thing, “What happened to “Died In Your Arms,” that record was out of there.” When you have the whole world saying that, it just doesn’t make sense to me. That let me know that these people didn’t have my best interest anymore. It be different if it was a hood record and the hood like it and white people in Colorado that ain’t never heard the record or if you got a crossover record and the hood ain’t fuckin with it. But when you got the hood and all these white people going crazy for the record and saying what the fuck happened to this record and they look at you because you delivered the record. Who else could it be If I’m on the road doing everything I gotta do. That was the last straw and what’s when I said it was really no sense to hold back my feelings and that’s when I came out with a lot of underground records to let my underground fans know. A lot of freestyles telling niggas how I feel and what’s really happening about how niggas don’t fuck with me, but act like they do. Like I said, I ain’t the only artist to go through this, but it would be dumb of me and I would be holding myself back if I didn’t tell the world what’s going on with Smitty. Ain’t no sense of me sitting in the studio and saying, “oh they fuckin’ me up and I ain’t saying nothing” fuck it! I might as well say something and let the world know this what going on, so when you see me in the street you gotta respect me. Don’t just say that “oh he a one hit wonder nigga” don’t come at me like that. I went through a period as an artist where I had to explain to people that it ain’t me and don’t come at me sideways. After I put those freestyles out things started happening.

WordofSouth.com: How did you approach them about getting your release?

Smitty: It wasn’t even me; I ain’t have to go to the label. My production company already had a stipulation where he had an out in the contract anyway. The reason that people don’t understand why J Records didn’t wanna drop me is because I had a two album front deal and I hate to get political with the people, but what that means is once I drop my first album, no matter what’s spent on the album and what kind of numbers I do with the album, they were obligated to open up another budget. If anybody whose looking at it from a business perspective if they dropped a Smitty album without a strong single and I ain’t do no numbers they would have to do a whole another budget on hope and that’s just spending more money and not getting what they paid for. That’s why they kept holding back and saying I needed another single and another single trying to get their money back. All that did was hold me back. So, that was my production company who was smart enough to put that into the contract and they the ones that negotiated me out. He still has a label deal over there with Jamie Foxx called Foxxhole Records. I got lucky because I was over there for a while. It happens to a lot of people. Look at Rick Ross and Slip-N-Slide, he sat for like 6-7 years before he got the situation through Def Jam. Everybody goes through it, so I don’t want it to seem like its only Smitty, but I did persevere and I keep making records and keep going. he’s the one that worked it out to allow me to do what I wanna do. Shout outs to Chameleon Entertainment for putting that in the contract.

WordofSouth.com: How did the Universal deal come about?

Smitty: Again my production company put that together again. They already knew we against all odds going against Clive and J Records and trying to get some of these records back. They felt the situation and at the time my man from Digiwaxx had re-blasted the “Died In Your Arms Remix” and a lot of people hadn’t heard the remix. It got a lot of people excited again. They believe in starting a movement with Smitty because It’s not even a tainted movement because I never got a chance and that’s the beauty of me never dropping an album. You can never say he ain’t gonna do numbers when he drop or talk about the numbers I’ve did in the past because I never had the opportunity to do it yet. I’m an artist whose always been on the verge. It was pretty easy for them to take on the situation. Atlantic had came to the table as well, but they was trying to set me up through Asylum and things of that nature. That necessarily wasn’t the best situation for what we wanted to do. Barry Hankerson had the balls to just fuck with a nigga and I appreciate that. I been on labels my whole life and to me it’s about somebody riding for you. Don’t spend 2 million on me if you ain’t gonna believe in the project. I’d rather you spend $500,000 and sleep at night than worrying about the project.

WordofSouth.com: Was you cautious at all about coming to another major?

Smitty: Nah I wasn’t cautious at all. I been in the game too long and it is what it is. I don’t even get my hopes up. Like when I was a young artist I would probably be cautious because you trying to believe in what everybody says, but at this point it’s nothing. If we gonna do this then show me and I’mma see. You know when somebody’s 100 with you or someone just trying to sell you a dream. there was nothing to be cautious about, I have the records. it would be different if I was trying to find a single. I’m sitting on records and it’s easy to go to a situation, but it’s about me giving that situation a hit record that is great that can make a legendary artist. Are they gonna do what they gotta do with the record to make that artist be where they’re supposed to be? Are they gonna overlook the record and not do what they are supposed to do? That would be my only caution. After seeing a couple of situations I see that Blackground is really going hard for their artists and I dig that.

WordofSouth.com: you mentioned that you as able to leave with some of your masters, so for someone who does not understand the importance of an artist’s masters. Care to explain?

WordofSouth.com: So leaking records isn’t always a good thing?

Smitty: Of course not because what it does if an artist trying to get out of a situation sometimes leaking records is the best because the label sometimes don’t be on their jobs and they don’t recognize what the record is. To leak a record and try to negotiate business is never smart because what ends up happening is the label can catch wind that this is a potential hit record that gonna hold on to it and see what that record is gonna do. Or you could have saved that record and started with a whole new system and whole new label that will go hard with a clean slate to see what that record is supposed to do. So you definitely don’t want to leak something if you’re trying to get business done.

WordofSouth.com: What is some of your short-term goals right now?

Smitty: Is to do this new deal the right way and get everybody on the same page as me and drop an album. I’ve already proved myself lyrically and done enough for people to know who Smitty is. It’s time for me to really just drop an album. It’s about putting an album out because you gotta understand I’m already on my fifth independent album, shout out to orphan records. I’m at Best Buy all day from an independent standpoint. I’ve done put out hundred of freestyles and it’s just about the time to bring that to the light so I can get the same reviews as the greats like Jay and Wayne’s. I spit and I go a thousand bars, it ain’t nothing to me at this point. The point is for the world to get a piece of it and for the world to recognize it. that’s what happens when you put an album out and I just want the album to be put out the right way. I’m not worried about the numbers and all of that because I done been in the system too long to let the politics hold me back. I’m at the point where I want to put out some music. I look up to the Kanye’s and Lupe Fiasco’s and people of that nature that are doing it from a standpoint of just putting out music. I want my music to be respected and that’s a short time goal. Everything after that, we’ll see.

WordofSouth.com: I know that you have done some ghostwriting in the past. Is that something that you are still doing?

Smitty: Yeah, Geffen just hit me the other day about a female artist that they got and about to work on. She got a record called “My Boyfriend.” My passion is songwriting, but my love is Hip-Hop. I have a passion for writing songs and that ain’t never stop. I go to the studio and I do records for me and do records for someone else just to have in the vault for my catalogue. That’s y thing.

WordofSouth.com: Anything else that you want to mention?

Smitty: Look out for Smitty, look out for the new movement, I’m still here I ain’t never left.

–INTERVIEW BY: Leon Bailey