Smoke Bulga: Boston's Hot New Rap Star

[STILLDRE IS THE GODFATHER]

Smoke Bulga: Boston's Hot New Rap Star
Thursday - July 03, 2003
Jessica Koslow
Smoke did it. He put out a compilation that charted Billboard® two weeks in a row. He shot a video for his single, "Smoke Did It," and he made Epic offer him a record deal. Now he's set to drop his debut Smoked Out, and hopefully cop a High Times cover. Take a ride with Boston's brightest and learn about The Phast Life.

How did you get your name?
Whitey Bulga was a gangsta cat in Boston. He's still on the run. He's on FBI's top most wanted list. He was an informant though so I'm Whitey before he snitched. I got the name Smoke as a kid. After I started rhyming, I left the mic smoking. I was burning sh*t down. Plus smoke always rises to the top.

Krumbsnatcha and Benzino are from Boston. Is the hip-hop community close-knit there? I'm from Roxbury. I know them. They do their thing. Benzino did a lot of things for Boston artists. I respect him as a businessman and an artist. But Smoke's what's popping in the hood. The hip-hop scene is big in Boston. But we don't have anybody putting it down for us, taking it to that next level.

Is it harder getting into the rap game being from Boston?
Yes. They stereotype everything you do before they even play your record. They already pass judgement on you. We're trying to break down those barriers right now.

You kind of look like a Harlem cat.
Boston's on the East Coast. What's hot in NY is hot everywhere. I got the airbrushed Bill Russell throw back. Smell me?

What's Phast Life?
Me, my brother and our crew. Smoke's gonna bust the door down and the fam is going to run up in there. We did everything independently. The video is all us, with the cars, before we got our record deal. We brought it to Epic. We put out a compilation in 2000 that charted Billboard® two weeks in a row. We sold a lot of albums in the hood. And we got recognized for that.

And what's XVIII Entertainment?
The company that I'm on. Smoke got his own thing, Life 4 Life. My group Phast Life is under that. We're still handing out flyers, putting up stickers. Still on the grind. We call it The Life. I'm Life For Life.

How'd you get signed to Epic?
I put out a compilation and shot a video. They were feeling the whole movement at the time. A couple of labels were hollering. We felt at home when we came here. We thought we could make it happen. Our A&R, Selim Bouab had interest in us when he was at Def Jam. I'm the first artist he signed when he came over to Epic. Brighter days are coming for the rap side for Epic.

Are you going to collaborate with other Epic artists?
I did a remix with Ginuwine, R. Kelly and Baby for "Hell Yeah." That was a hot experience. Hopefully, I'll get Ginuwine on my album.

You've accomplished so much independently. Did you have a mentor? I never really had a mentor. Music was always something I wanted to do as a little kid, as far back as I can remember. All this came together by me and my team, all of us sitting down. We said, What can we do to get noticed? Let's try to be successful. We watch how everything's going right now. 50, he got the streets with the mixtape. So we went that route too. The mixtape is where the streets is at.

Now that you're getting noticed, have any fans done crazy things? I'm new to this. The autograph signing is crazy. I had a young girl try to have me sign my name on her *ss. I said, "Nah I can't do that. That sh*t be getting me in trouble."

On one of the mixtapes you appear on hosted by DJ Chubby Chubb, he makes some negative comments about cops at the end of your song. Have you had any bad run-ins with the police? This is a true story. We were riding in a red BMW on chrome and we got pulled over by the state police. We're smoking a lil' weed so I put it in the ashtray. They take me out of the car and harass me. But I had my contract from Epic on me. They saw that and let me go. I went to studio and dropped that song.

Living in Boston, you must have to commute to NYC a lot. Commuting is hard. We used to drive but my man's 2003 BMW got 10,000 miles on it and he only had it for 5 months. You're supposed to have that many miles after a year. Now we take trains and ride in cabs. That's hard because I like to stop off, eat and shop.

Tell me about your style.
I'm taking it back to the streets, where it started from. Nobody's repping for Boston. I'm going to break down all the stereotypes. Make 'em pay attention. There's nobody out there like me. It's some hot sh*t in Boston. And we gonna hold it. I use my own slang and that's why label's want to f*ck with me. I'm original, my rhyme style, everything.