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TO WATCH | HOT LOCAL MUSIC 2005
Smoke Bulga
THE RAPPER FROM THE SOUTH END HAS HIS OWN SOUND. NOW CAN IT MAKE HIM AS POPULAR AS THE PATRIOTS?
January 23, 2005
Smoke Bulga fell in love with hip-hop during the 1980s, with rappers like Run-DMC, Big Daddy Kane, and Rakim. Growing up in the South End, he heard rap music pouring from boom boxes and watched street fashions flourish as kids started mimicking the styles of their hip-hop heroes -- Adidas sneakers, tracksuits, and extra-thick gold chains, known as "dookie ropes."
"From the time I heard 'Rapper's Delight,' I liked the music," Smoke recalls. "One day, a kid in my class came in with a demo tape. He told me he wrote the lyrics and did everything himself, and I thought, 'Wow, I think I can do that.' That night I wrote my first rhyme, and the next day, the kids didn't believe I wrote it. Right then, I knew I had something. I knew I'd found my niche."
Not long after that first rhyme, about his favorite color and "the girl I liked at the time," Smoke was entering -- and winning -- freestyle rap battles. Now he is hailed in Boston's rap circles for his lyrical versatility. He broke through with the underground hit "Smoke Did It."
"Boston's a hard crowd. To make it in Boston, you have to be doing something special," he says. "I want to be like the Patriots and the Red Sox, but from a musical perspective."
LENGTH OF TIME PERFORMING: Since the early 1990s. MUSICAL INFLUENCES: Run-DMC, 2Pac, Jay-Z, Nas, the Notorious B.I.G. WHO HE THINKS HE SOUNDS LIKE: "I don't think I sound like anyone else in the industry. The beauty of it for me is trying to be original and fresh." HE'LL KNOW HE'S MADE IT WHEN: "[Boston mayor Tom] Menino tells me I have my own day. Nelly had his own day in St. Louis, and I feel like that's a big accomplishment. When I receive the key to the city, I'll know I've made it." QUIRKY FACT ABOUT HIM: He was born Allen Keon Lee; his stage name is a play on Bulger -- as in Boston's most infamous fugitive gangster, James "Whitey" Bulger. RENE GRAHAM
© Copyright 2005 Globe Newspaper Company.
- © Copyright 2005 Globe Newspaper Company.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
BOSTON, MA, 1/18/2006 — Boston’s own Smoke Bulga is taking charge and taking names with his new album Live Fast, Die Young, soon to be released this summer 2006.
The first rap and hip-hop artist from Boston in the past 15 years to land a record deal, Smoke Bulga is proudly taking on the role of the city’s “rap vanguard” with his debut album, Live Fast, Die Young. Smoke, taking his name from the way he heats up both the stage and the mic, and Whitey Bulga, the legendary and elusive Boston gangsta, is braced to challenge his contemporaries with a sound and style that evokes the spirit of old school hip-hop with themes prevalent among today’s youth culture and the world at large.
The title track Live Fast, Die Young is partly taken from his group, Phast Life, yet also dedicated to two of Smoke’s closest friends, whose untimely and tragic deaths struck a profound cord with the artist, especially with his perception of life and making the most of it. Smoke describes the album as “a collage of music” as each track presents a multi-dimensional appeal to audiences of great diversity because of his willingness to embody all forms of music, yet with a style that is unique and solely his own.
With Live Fast no stone is left unturned as Smoke reaches from within to convey his take on cultural, social and political affairs. His track entitled “Cold World”, created in conjunction with Bobby Brown, speaks of his experience growing up in the hood and of the plights faced by youth the world over, such as an orphaned white kid from suburbia whose life of abandonment resulted in him shooting and killing his fellow classmates before putting the gun his head; and a child from a third world country who joins a guerilla army as a means of survival in the midst of national revolt. In “Wake Up”, Smoke beckons the black community into action, urging both the old and young to stand up for what is just and rightfully theirs. Smoke manages to offset some of the heavier topics covered in the track list with other songs that include club-like compositions and of course- a little somethin’ for the ladies to enjoy.
The release of Live Fast, Die Young will undoubtedly be hailed as the foremost rap/hip-hop album to come out of Boston, as it is widely anticipated throughout the city’s burgeoning hip-hop community.
Smoke firmly believes that his God-given talent is intended to “change how Boston is musically, bringing it to the same level as New York, Atlanta and Los Angeles.” With the unmatched quality of production and skill Smoke brings to Live Fast, Die Young, his self-fulfilling prophecy will soon become a reality.
- JULIE BOHANNON
Nothing could get Benzino self-appointed captain of hip-hop’s purist police, more fired up than a pasty Slim Shady look-alike hailing from his hometown. Smoke Bulga shares Eminem’s driving ambition, if not complexion. “I ain’t White, but it’s like the great White hope comin’ out of Boston,” he says. “No disrespect to Benzino, but you ain’t really heard nothin’ from here yet.” Surprisingly, Boston, one of the nation’s largest cities, has contributed very little to rap’s massive legacy Smoke desperately wants to change that, and the brash 22-year-old from the city’s rough Roxbury area believes he has what it takes to get Beantown blazin’.
Every time the rapper, born Allen Keon Lee, steps into the booth he’s driven by desire to put his home turf on the hip-hop map. He began rhyming at 11 and spent years on the grind recording with his brother and three other members as the group Phast Life. However, Smoke decided that the road to success might be a little easier as a soloist. Utilizing skills sharpened on the streets of Boston, Smoke earned a reputation as a fierce freestyling battlecat. “It’s real important to be able to freestyle.” He claims, speaking in a raspy voice that’s been baked to perfection by the sticky-icky he just inhaled. “A lot of cats ain’t doing it no more ‘cause they all about the money and being mainstream. To me, it’s all about taking it back to the basics.” Using the self-made blueprint co-opted by many rappers, Smoke has dropped the self-distributed Live Phast Die Young: The MixTape hosted by local Hot 97.7 DJ Chubby Chub.
The CD, loaded mostly with freestyles, showcases Smoke’s lyrical abilities. He sounds so hungry when spitting that you can almost hear his stomach growling. But now that he’s playing for the majors with Epic Records as his team, Smoke needs to develop some airwave-accessible hits, a challenge which turned his recent recording sessions into marathons. “I’m in the studio night and day making these songs because practice makes perfect,” he says. “I want the ladies to feel my shit, but I also want to keep it real for my dogs on the street. That ain’t no easy task.”¬¬- SHAWN EDWARDS
- JUNE 2003 XXL MAGAZINE
Discography
Still working on that hot first release.
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Bio
SMOKE BULGA
BIO
With a hit single, a widely regarded compilation album, and a soon-to-be released solo record under his belt, Smoke Bulga is paving a surefire path into the music industry’s elite gathering of dominant performers while doing his part to reaffirm Boston as a hotbed for hip-hop royalty.
Going by Smoke, his childhood nickname inspired by the way he “left the mic smoking” and Bulga after Whitey Bulga, one of Boston’s notorious gangsters still out on the lam, constitutes a moniker that captures the ferocity of the artist’s rhythmic delivery.
Now hailed in Boston's rap circles for his lyrical versatility, Smoke first fell in love with hip-hop during the 1980s, with rappers like Run-DMC, Big Daddy Kane and Rakim. Growing up in the South End, he heard rap music pouring from boom boxes and watched street fashions flourish as kids started mimicking the styles of their hip-hop heroes -- Adidas sneakers, tracksuits, and extra-thick gold chains, known as "dookie ropes."
"From the time I heard 'Rapper's Delight,' I liked the music," Smoke recalls. "One day, a kid in my class came in with a demo tape. He told me he wrote the lyrics and did everything himself, and I thought, 'Wow, I think I can do that.' That night I wrote my first rhyme, and the next day, the kids didn't believe I wrote it. Right then, I knew I had something. I knew I'd found my niche." Not long after that first rhyme, about his favorite color and "the girl I liked at the time," Smoke was entering -- and winning -- freestyle rap battles.
Taking matters into his own hands, Smoke formed Phast Life with his brother and a three other members. From the formation came the underground hit "Smoke Did It", a clever, yet forceful narrative covering the artist’s love of travel, women and money in a style that interweaves personal flair with elements of old school hip-hop. The success of Smokes debut single was the launching pad for future achievements, starting with Phast Life joining forces with local group Rushya in 2000. The two groups, both committed to representing Boston’s thriving rap scene, released a compilation album on XVIII Entertainment, which charted Billboard for two consecutive weeks. Since then, Smoke has collaborated with some of the industry’s best, most notably a remix of “Hell Yeah” with Ginuwine, R. Kelly and Baby.
Outfitted with a domineering presence and rhymes that evoke the revered roots of hip-hop, Smoke brings to the genre a command for the craft that stands unique among the prevailing talents in today’s industry. His upcoming album Live Phast, Die Young, soon to be out this summer 2006, is sure to break new ground in the world of hip-hop with lyrical storytelling to provoke, and perhaps revive the status quo of modern urban culture.
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