Interview by Vice President Naleeka Dennis.
Some speculate that it’s always what you know or who you know that will get you far in life. While others would add that loyalty comes a long way, and the rewards are everlasting. Well, that’s what describes 24-year-old Stephon “Sman” Williams. Sman has been the sidekick and right hand man for Nyne Millirachi since his childhood. Sman is to Nyne like Tony Yayo is to 50 cent or Memphis Bleek is to Jay-z. As a young boy growing up in the grittiest streets of Mount Vernon NY, Sman was a young aspiring basketball star who was offered several scholarships to play professional college basketball – but his love for the Streetlife and his addiction to gangs, girls, marijuana, and guns steered him away from fully pursuing his potential as a pro basketball player. Lost in the streets, Sman looked up to Nyne Milli for inspiration and motivation in the neighborhood when he was going through his issues.
The two share a bond and a history no outsider can ever break. Sman is the muscle, the shooter, and the go-to guy whenever Nyne has a serious issue with another rival. Sman is the very first artist that was and is signed to Street Life City. He was with Nyne Milli since day one, and since then has remained Nyne Milli’s loyal soldier. Very few rappers can really say they live what they rap about, but Sman is cut from a different cloth compared these urban fictional rappers and their urban fictional tales they tend to fool the general public with. With his A-1 Murder album scheduled for a May 2014 release- under “Nyne Millirachi’s Street Life City Imprint” and a hit single away from being famous, Street Life City got the chance to sit down with the Murdavillian and get his thoughts on everything.
Street Life City : This is your very first interveiw with SLC and some are shocked that it has taken this long for you to come foward and publicly speak since you have actual ties with Nyne Milli.
Sman: Everything is about timing, and at that very moment, Nyne was promoting his Millirachi Season Part 1 and 2 mixtape heavy, so the focus was on him. However, he always shouted me out, and always kept my name alive in his music. One thing I respect about Nyne is not only he’s a real nigga, but he’s a good nigga, he’s a man of his word. Nyne is not the type of nigga you have to ask a million times to do shit, once he says he’s gonna do something, he’s on it. He may not do it when you expect it, but he always gets the job done.
Street Life City: You and Nyne have this unbreakable bond and this unity that no one can seem to detach. For 20 years strong you guys seem like ya still the best of freinds, compared to other rap groups or cliques that seem to have falling-outs over anything
Sman: The problem with situations like that is once a rapper becomes successful and gets a little bit of money, that’s when all these fake niggas start to come around with they fucking hand out, like they receiving their first communion or something. Niggas fall out over the weakest shit like money, bitches, and ego. Me and Nyne grew up together, we’ve been arrested together, put in work in the hood together, did bids together, ran the streets toghether, got money together, fucked bitches together, he’s slept over my house, I’ve slept over his house, we’ve slept in the streets, the park benches, beat niggas up together, shot at niggas together – we’ve done it all. Me and Nyne have been through the grimiest ghettoes and survived the fires of hell. We’ve seened the worse of the worse; so there isn’t any dollar amount or bad bitch that can stop the SLC movement, this Streetlife Business is very serious.
Street Life City: Some say that you don’t ever have to work a day in your life, Nyne Milli just hands you everything. I guess being Nyne Milli’s soldier has benefits, such as your own album with free beats and studio time and unlimited supply of anything you want. You must be living the life.
Sman: Let’s get one thing straight! Don’t you ever for once think I’m around Nyne Milli cause of his gifts and accomplishments. What the fuck I look like, some hoe ass nigga to you? Watch those fucking questions ‘fore I smack the shit out of you. Nyne is my nigga, that’s the OG and pioneer. He was the nigga every young boy looked up to in the hood when we was 11-12. When other rival gangs try to come in our territory and front on the little niggas, it was Nyne who held the hood down, and cleared the block from the outsiders. Nyne was the activist for the hood, teaching me and the young niggas how to survive in the streets, and he always had jobs and showed niggas love. He copped everybody weed, bottles, blessed niggas with cash, and put niggas on with jobs when we was real young. When Nyne went upstate for his hammer charge, I was the only nigga writing him, and taking the twelve hour trips to visit him when he was doing his state bid. Real recognize real, and when he came home, he wanted to start this music label. I was the first nigga in the hood screaming Streetlife, when nobody knew what Streetlife was. I helped put that stamp on SLC to solidify the name and legacy. When Nyne had beef, it was me and Big Bill that ran down on niggas, hammer cocked, ready to terminate on sight for Nyne Milli. Nyne is the Big Bro, and he’s the general, whatever he says goes, any beef he got I’m on it. A nigga look at Nyne the wrong way, I’ma pistol whip his scalp clean. That’s how I give it up, do your homework on Sman, I’m no joke, I gets busy for real.
Street Life City: Your A-1 Murder album is scheduled for a May 2014 release. Why has it seemed like it took so long to drop?
Sman: Like I said earlier, Nyne was promoting his mixtapes, growing the brand, and promoting it heavy. We was going to different labels, trying to get a situation for me so we can distribute my EP at first. However, since I didn’t have any real music history at that time, and my image was too hood, going to wars with different hoods, letting that thing fly at whoever on sight, police running down on me tryna get a case – the labels were looking at me as a liability which made them hesitant to take a chance on me, so they backed out. It was times where the labels offered Nyne a lot of money to get rid of me, saying I was a bad investment. But Nyne being a real and loyal nigga that he is, didn’t budge. He said no he’s keeping me around. Fast forward a few years later and by the grace of God, Nyne has his own website and his own label where he can put me out and drop my album any time he wants, without no corporate pressure. Another reason for my delay was because there was times I wasn’t into rap. I always told Nyne, “Yo my nigga, this rap shit ain’t for me, this is your field my nigga.” This rap shit belongs to Nyne, he is a nigga that can really rap, put words and metaphors together, and make hit records. I always told Nyne to hold this music shit down. Hands down on a lyrical level there’s not a nigga in New York that can touch Nyne lyrically. I was too caught up in the streets, chilling with my yardies, gambling, moving work, and running wild with them hammers. But Nyne was the one who believed in me and pushed me into the studio and worked me to death until I finally gave in and said, “Fuck it, I’m ready to do this.”
Street Life City: Your single “On My Money Shit” has taken off in the streets, but some say you’re missing something and all it takes is one hit record to get the people to start paying attention. (Check out Sman’s “On My Money Shit” By Clicking On The Link Below)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Szw2b15Duu4
Sman: Slowly, but surely, I’ll get the recognition. Don’t be fooled, I have the voice, the aggression, and the delivery. My freestyle game is impeccable. Nyne has been trying to get me in the rap battle leagues and that’s something I’m thinking about giving some consideration just to get my name out there; I’m always paying attention to the rap battle scenes, from Smack Url, to UW, to King Of The Dot. I pay attention to all those leagues, them niggas got fire, and Nyne is trying to start his own SLC Rap Battle League so he can promote up and coming talent. But the rap battle scene is something Ive been considering for a long time. And this year at the Hot 97 Boost Mobile MC battle I will enter the venue and take the crown. I’m not really a commercial nigga. I’m a nigga that raps more about real live shit and I rap about reality and what I’ve been through, these other rap niggas is fraudulent. The rhymes these niggas spit is my reality, I really live this life, ain’t no video games over here. I could care less about the music business. I don’t wanna mingle with none of these industry phonies and their fake alliance. I’m down with my Day-1 niggas ’til death. I’m not an industry nigga, I’m an in the streets nigga you dig.
Street Life City: You were offered a few scholarships to play professional basketball but you chose the Streetlife instead. Some would say that was foolish on your part.
Sman: Once again, another dumb ass question you’re asking me. Who the hell hired you anyway? I need to check with the Streetlife President about your journalistic integrity. But to answer your silly question, don’t believe the all the hype you hear. The basketball rumor is true to an extent, but the thing with pro ball is that shit is rigged. They handpick who they want in the league – it’s all about image and presentation. You can have all the talent in the world, but if you’re not willing to play by the league’s corporate rules, they will bench and release you. Look at Allen Iverson’s situation, Iverson is one of the best to ever touch the NBA and look at where he’s at now. It’s because the league didn’t want to accept his hood image and my image is like his. I’m too hood for all that corporate shit. Besides, I like Street Ball better, it’s much more hardcore. [That] is where little boys become men, “100 percent No Holds Barred”. Not only that, when you’re a nigga that comes from the Jungle and poverty is at an all time high, you’re forced to turn to the Street Life and do whatever you have to do to survive. This is why I am and will always be Street Life City.
Street Life City: Are you concerned that your hood image and street records might prevent you from acheiving major level success in the music business?
Sman: The Streetlife is all I know. I can’t be phony and fake with shit. I’m not use to Beamers, Benzes and Porches. I don’t know how to lie on my records like these other rap niggas. What you see is what you get. One hundred percent authenticity. I’m in these streets for real, any real nigga from the Ville will tell you Sman is an Animal Thug. I ain’t into all that pretty-boy-cotton-candy-bubblegum music these niggas is putting out. I may not be the most lyrical nigga, may not have a number 1 hit record, but I guarantee not one nigga will tell you Sman is lying in his raps. Sman ’bout that life, I’m a shooter for real and these rap niggas know better then to rub me the wrong way, you dig, brah? As for major level success, that’s Nyne Milli’s alley. He’s the boss and the creative genius behind this whole operation. Whatever Nyne says, goes. I highly doubt Nyne Milli [would] situate me in a bullshit deal or steer me the wrong direction. Nyne is a hustler, I’m a hustler, we been getting bread way before this music shit, and we will always continue to make major moves, with or without a major label.
Street Life City: How do you write your rhymes and how do you put your beats together?
Sman: Well, I don’t write rhymes at all, everything is off the top of the head. I can just hear a beat and start rhyming off top. That’s a talent I’ve always possessed since youth. I’m nice with the off the top rhymes, cause I flow and catch the beat better when I’m freestyling. I don’t really like to write and try to figure out how to match words together and make my rhymes sick. With me, what you see is 100 percent authentic. These other frauds is all gimmic. Yeah, a lot of these M.C.’s might sell records and singles, but there isn’t a rapper in this game that spits real shit and actually live the life I rhyme about. As far as beats and production goes, Nyne is a producer and so he creates all the sounds and beats for me to rap on. We might be looking to work with other producers, but until we find somebody that’s off the wall, I’ll stick with Nyne and his production for now.
Street Life City: Who are some of your influences growing up?
Sman: Dmx I listened to him as a youth, I liked his music he was always spitting some real shit. 50 cent was another rapper, I looked up to, he was definately inspiration to the hood niggas that needed that ghetto medicine. And you cant forget about Mavado, Damien Marley, Buju Banton, Free Da World Boss, Vybz Kartel. I fucks with Charlie Clips, Arsenol, T-rex, Hitman Holla, this list goes on and on. But on a basketball tip, Mike Jordan as always, Kobe Bryant, Allen Iverson, and ofcourse Lebron James. But right now it’s Sman’s time to shine, and when that album drop, the world is gonna understand Sman is and they will see that I’ve finally arrived to solidify my spot in Hip Hop.
Street Life City: Well as of right now, Nyne Milli is in a multimillion-dollar bidding war with Sony and Warner. One thing Nyne said was if he decides to sign with a major label, he wants them to grant him distribution for his Street Life City Label. He wants to have 100 percent executive clemency to put out acts, such as yourself, Joel Jungle, Bee Jay, Swavey and Young Ace, so he wouldn’t have to deal with pleading with other corporate bureaucrats to sign one of you guys. So technically that would make you a major label artist as well. What’s your thoughts on that?
Sman: It doesn’t matter if niggas sign with E-1, Koch, Sony, Columbia, Indie-Major, whatever! It doesn’t matter as long as we get our music out and the fans hear the shit, is all that matters. Don’t buy into all this industry garbage niggas feed you. It doesn’t matter what label you’re signed to because if you can’t produce hit records, classic albums, and quality material, the staff is gonna do nothing but shelf your project anyway. Niggas like Weezy, Kanye, Ross, and Jay will always be legends and always be rich. It’s because them niggas work like slaves and produce hit after hit. None of them niggas have to rap anymore, all them niggas is rich as fuck. They all own labels and they all have publishing, but they choose to rap still because they love this music shit. Same thing with Nyne, he doesn’t ever have to rap ever again, Nyne is rich as fuck. He got his hands on just about a little bit of everything, from writing, to acting, deejaying, producing, ghostwriting, and promoting – but he still chooses to rap because that’s his art and his passion. Nyne is a very smart nigga, don’t get it twisted, he knows how to make money and bring ideas to life. You’re all gonna see his artistic genius when my album drop. I guarantee you Nyne Milli’s vision behind my project is gonna be super dope that he might fuck around and get a video game endorsement behind this shit (Laughs). Street Life City, we are the movement.
Street Life City: Sman, thank you for this classic interview and we hope to hear from you again real soon!
Sman: No doubt, shout out to Nyne Milli, Vice President Naleeka Dennis, Young Ace, Deisel, Free my nigga Big Bill, he’s about to touch down in the streets again. Look out for my next single coming real soon featuring Busta Rhymes, and the album A-1 Murder will be available on iTunes in May 2014. Street Life City is the movement, fuck with us, or fuck you.
$treet Life City ($LC) 
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