Smooth Criminal

Smooth Criminal - Théo Grozdanic (Techno project from Marseille, France)

About Smooth Criminal

Chris Davis aka Smooth Criminal came up in a neighborhood of South Dallas, Texas called Rose Terrace which was also known as Bonton Projects. Heavily inspired by MC's like Rakim, KRS-One, and Chuck D, he began writing raps at the tender age of 14. In fact, he recorded his first track in a pro studio in Dallas at 14 years old. By 16 he was a mature artist! Chris attended high school at Lincoln Humanities/Communications Magnate and found himself, more often than not, in the Radio/Television department, learning about camera work, lighting and the like. In order to inspire the students, famous musicians, actors and directors were invited to the school to speak to the kids and to instill some passion or foster passion for the entertainment business and employment in general. Chris would meet lots of celebrities and would make it his business to introduce himself. One time, a local artist management company owner came to the school and Chris managed to obtain the dude's digits and followed up on it shortly after. After calling the number, he discovered that the guy from "African Supporters of a New Style" aka A.S.O.N.E had give him his younger brother's number. Chris got to be friends with that dude, who was more his age and was later introduced to the owner once again, as a talented local MC, lyricist and friend of the family. Around the same time, he got together with his crew, the Disciples of Injustice, which included himself, producer Kres-X, and MC Lo-Key. They would put on parties in Dallas in the Deep Ellum area and in some cases funded by their management company, would book big Hip Hop artists from NYC to perform at their parties. For example The Notorious B.I.G. played at one of their shows before he blew, as did L.O.N.S., Onyx, and Eazy-E, and when they did, Smooth Criminal was the support act. This was all happening at the age of 16. and in the same year, he recorded the Straight Lynching project (known then as the Shank EP) with the backing of A.S.O.N.E. They pressed around 500-1000 cassettes which were mostly destroyed in an unfortunate flood in a basement where they were being held in storage. There was no vinyl other than a handful (we are told btwn 5-8) of test pressings. The cassette copies that survived were placed in the hands of press and industry heads and through the music and his local rep, the team received some offers from some majors - notably Virgin, but nothing substantial materialized. He changed his name to U.P.T.I.G.H.T. in 1993 when Next Plateau Records were about to sue over an artist they were working with with the same name and later went on to work and write for among others, Dr. Dre, and The D.O.C.. Now, 20 years later, Chopped Herring Records have released the 5 track EP along with an unreleased joint from 1997. Check the production sound on this project - this ish sounds more like it was recorded in the North East rather than the South - which will please most of our hardcore fan base!!! ha

Taken from Last.fm

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