Bio

I am a native Philadelphian who started rap in 1985 under the name Destroy. In 1989 I was fortunate to meet a young hot producer by the name of Chase thus forming the group known as Chase and Destroy. After performing at a number of local parties we started recording at Fresh Track Studios. Unfortunately due to my incarceration we were unable to finish the album. Chase went on to recruit another rap artist who assumed my name. Although I was incarcerated I was able to further my rap skills by getting involved with a project sponsored by Joe Young and the prison society. I realized I needed a new name so I adopted the name “Ski Pachino”. In 1998 I met another rap artist called Bird though two mutual friends, Power of the production team now known as “Tha Wunda Twinz” and long time friend “Wess”. We immediately clicked and formed the group 2 to Life. Soon after we started recording our first song featuring Tracey Lee called “Don’t stop”, which premiered on Power 99’s battle of the beats. This song quickly took off on all three Philadelphia radio stations gaining more play request than I could ever imagine. The city embraced us, so before that single lost momentum we released another single featuring “Freaky Ty” of the Lost Boyz called “Get it Get it” which landed a spot on the Billboard Music Charts. We went on our first promotional tour and graced the stage with such groups as Destiny’s Child, Rahkim, Naughty by Nature, Major Figures, and “Pain in the Ass” featured on Jay Z’s “Streets is Watching” album. Due to poor management the group fell apart, however I felt the need to go on. So along with the demise of the group came the demise of the name Ski Pachino. The neighborhood called me Smiles for a number of reasons that I am not a liberty to say with out incriminating myself…. I would rather leave that to your imagination. So with a new name and a fresh outlook on the rap game, I teamed up with long time friend and business affiliate Wess Joyner forming Big League Entertainment and dropped my first mix tape which featured various celebrity appearances such as Emanuel Stewart, Floyd Mayweather, Zabb Juddah, Anthony Thompson and Zahir Raheem which moved 2000 units city wide within a 3 week period. Soon after dropping the mixtape titled Best of the Heavy Hitters Volume II Featuring the likes of Oschino and Sparks of the Roc, Mike Nox of G Unit, E. Ness of making the band and hosted by DJ Wise Shameek. Due to differences we decided to discontinue the venture. Two months later while in a recording session I was approached by a well known up coming producer Tommy Scorch and a bright young marketing beast Lisa Terrell with a proposition to become part owner of Blayz of Glori Productions for which I was already signed. After weeks of negotiations I became the 3rd partner of the company also adopting 2 partners in my own recording studio now known as Mixed Image Studios. Currently I am dropping my 3rd mixtape, shopping a recording deal and working on my fourth mixtape. -Smiles