(LOS ANGELES GF Records) - While some claim the Lord works in mysterious ways, childhood friends Bang 'Em Smurf and Domination, rising co-CEOs of GF Records, clearly feel otherwise. Hence the prophetic title of their highly-anticipated debut offering- God Giveth, God Taketh Away. For the duo, which has faced a multitude of obstacles in its quest for hip-hop superiority, the title bears truth on many levels. One needs only a quick glance at their track record to see that. In early 2003, while 50 Cent's Get Rich or Die Trying performed gymnastics on the Billboard charts, G-Unit's general and 2nd highest ranking member, Bang 'Em Smurf, caught an ill-timed weapons charge over some local drama in his South Jamaica, Queens neighborhood while he was home from touring. He reached out to 50 for help with bail money, but was surprisingly ignored.
The two had long been friends and business partners, and while 50 engaged in grandiosely violent rap beefs, Smurf, ever the loyal soldier, went to war alongside him, and held him down in the streets just as he did when they were hugging the block as teens. He expected 50 to return the favor. "Son left me for dead," explains the 25-year-old Smurf, who's currently incarcerated in upstate New York's Sing Sing Correctional Facility on that same weapons charge. "He didn't send me nothing, and didn't holler back at my peoples." With help from his family, Smurf made bail, and upon release, used his keen business sense and street savvy marketing tactics to bolster his own movement- the newly-minted GF Records (Gangsta Flip). He quickly created a deafening buzz by flooding the streets with mixtape freestyles and scorching G-Unit dis records courtesy of an untapped well of talent named Domination — a younger cousin of deceased Lost Boyz hypeman Freeky Tah whom Smurf had been grooming since a teen — and who by this time had become the GF Records flagship artist. Domination
"50 got on a record, on a G-Unit Whoo Kid mixtape and dissed Smurf," says Domination, acknowledging how the internal beef was initially made public. "So I did a mixtape record called "What's Beef?" over Biggie's instrumental, but I changed the lyrics to: 'What's Beef, Beef is when Banks can't walk in the streets/50 gotta stay inside that bullet proof jeep, Buck better tuck away that G-Unit piece/show up at your concert 20 niggas deep.'" The verbal jousting between the two camps continued, and as G-Unit's street reputation received huge dents at the hands of Bang 'Em Smurf and Domination, the major labels took notice, and lucrative offers flew their way. Smurf and Domination weighed each offer but eventually opted to sign a lucrative worldwide distribution agreement with KOCH Records. Total creative control and the ability to keep an unprecedented large percentage of the profit on each album sold were key factors in the completion of the deal.
Now, God Giveth God Taketh Away finds Bang 'Em Smurf and Domination delivering reflective street narratives with a degree of wit and depth more commonly associated with hip-hop's golden age. "I see jiggaboos, singing and dancing and running around like chickens with their heads cut off," says Domination, who more often opts for a brutally honest and more serious tone with his music. Regarding the socially conscious "On My Side," he explains, "It addresses a lot of political things — police brutality; why I use the word nigga; the rebels in Haiti; Rodney King. It's a positive message." And after experiencing various instances of industry blackballing at the hands of Curtis Jackson, Bang 'Em Smurf and Domination choose to address the subject of their beef only once, on the self-explanatory "When You Was Down."
Smurf, eager to prove he doesn't need controversy to sell records, explains: "We're really just trying to make music. To me, all this 50 beef is overrated. Domination is talented, and makes good music, and that's what we wanna prove to the world." Though Smurf is unfortunately being held as state property until the summer of 2007, Domination has little reason to fret. His humble demeanor belies the confidence he has in himself. "I didn't realize this was my calling," he recollects. "It was a hobby to me. I was doing freestyles, and I was nice at it. I used to battle Tony Yayo on the block. I used to spit rhymes for 50; he actually stole a few of my lines. Smurf believed in me and pushed me to write songs. If you don't believe my music, I'll give you a copy for free, and then you tell me you don't like it." And just like that, God Giveth….
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