Pittsburgh Slim
Encyclopedia
Sied Chahrour, better known by his stage name Slimmie Hendrix (formerly Pittsburgh Slim), is an American rapper from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
. In January 2011, he teamed up with Snowballers Entertainment
, the record label founded by famed music video director Ray Kay
and music producer Axident. His first single is expected in February, 2011: “Stuntman”. A video is to be filmed by Ray Kay
in the end of January 2011 in Miami.
, California
, and released the single "Girls Kiss Girls" under the name Pittsburgh Slim. The song gained popularity from its video on YouTube, leading Jay-Z
to sign him to Def Jam Recordings
, where he released his solo debut LP, Tastemaker
, in December 2007.
neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
, to an Algeria
n father and a part-Mexican
mother. He began working on rap music around 1993 while starting Allderdice High School, where he graduated in 1997. He played in rock band
s and formed the rap group Strict Flow in 1996, with Masai Turner, Chad Glick, and Eric Dan. The group signed to the independent record label Raw Shack in 1999, and released the single "People on Lock". Their debut album, Homegrown, sold over 6,000 copies, an unprecedented amount for a Pittsburgh hip hop group at the time. Strict Flow opened local shows for artists such as Nelly
, Jurassic 5
, Usher
, Nas
, The Roots
, Ja Rule
and 50 Cent
, but after releasing the album Without Further Ado in 2003, the group split up.
Chahrour relocated to Los Angeles, California
in 2005 and worked as a waiter
while he continued to pursue music. Chahrour conceived of a song based on the line "I like when girls kiss girls", and turned to North Carolina
-based producer
David Willis
, also known as Ski Beatz, for help with the production. For the song, "Girls Kiss Girls", they made a music video featuring Penthouse
magazine model Krista Ayne
, inspired by a scene from the 1999 film American Pie
. The video became a sensation on the video sharing
website YouTube
and the song started to get played on radio stations across the U.S., beginning with KISS-FM
in Pittsburgh.
Chahrour began receiving offers from record labels to release the single, but held out for an offer to make an album. Chahrour met with rapper and Def Jam Recordings
CEO Jay-Z
, and was offered a five album deal with the label. He signed with the label because of Jay-Z; Chahrour had come up with the name Pittsburgh Slim four years earlier, based on a line from Jay-Z's song, "So Ghetto" from Vol. 3... Life and Times of S. Carter
, where he rapped "Iceberg, Slim, baby ride rims", referencing author and pimp Iceberg Slim
.
Chahrour released the single "Girls Kiss Girls" and released his EP, Tastemaker
, on December 4, 2007. Chahrour appeared on Last Call with Carson Daly
on December 11, 2007 and appeared in the film The Bleeding
, starring Vinnie Jones
, Michael Matthias, Michael Madsen
, DMX
and Armand Assante
. Chahrour left Def Jam in late 2008. He released the single "My Bitch is Crazy", which was written about his girlfriend, from the Bleeding soundtrack through the iTunes Store
in January 2009. His mixtape "Nolita Nights" was released in August, 2009.
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
. In January 2011, he teamed up with Snowballers Entertainment
Snowballers entertainment
Snowballers Entertainment is an American record label and entertainment company based in New York founded by the award winning music video director, Ray Kay, and the Norwegian music producer Axident. The record label develops artists with an emphasis on pop, urban and dance music.- External links :*...
, the record label founded by famed music video director Ray Kay
Ray Kay
Ray Kay is a Norwegian director and photographer, based in Los Angeles.He is one of the most sought-after music video & commercial directors in the world now, and has directed the most watched video on YouTube, Justin Bieber's "Baby" . All in all, his videos have been viewed more than 1 billion...
and music producer Axident. His first single is expected in February, 2011: “Stuntman”. A video is to be filmed by Ray Kay
Ray Kay
Ray Kay is a Norwegian director and photographer, based in Los Angeles.He is one of the most sought-after music video & commercial directors in the world now, and has directed the most watched video on YouTube, Justin Bieber's "Baby" . All in all, his videos have been viewed more than 1 billion...
in the end of January 2011 in Miami.
Earlier music career
Chahrour began as a member of the Pittsburgh indie rap group Strict Flow. He relocated to Los AngelesLos Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, and released the single "Girls Kiss Girls" under the name Pittsburgh Slim. The song gained popularity from its video on YouTube, leading Jay-Z
Jay-Z
Shawn Corey Carter , better known by his stage name Jay-Z, is an American rapper, record producer, entrepreneur, and occasional actor. He is one of the most financially successful hip hop artists and entrepreneurs in America, having a net worth of over $450 million as of 2010...
to sign him to Def Jam Recordings
Def Jam Recordings
Def Jam Recordings is an American record label, focused primarily on hip hop and urban music, owned by Universal Music Group, and operates as a part of The Island Def Jam Motown Music Group...
, where he released his solo debut LP, Tastemaker
Tastemaker
Tastemaker is the debut EP of rapper Pittsburgh Slim, released by Def Jam Records on December 4, 2007.-Track listing:# "Pittsburgh Slim"# "Superstar Extraordinaire"# "My Flashy World"# "Girls Kiss Girls"# "Sunrays"# "Kiss and Tell"# "Toy"...
, in December 2007.
Biography
Chahrour was born and raised in the GreenfieldGreenfield (Pittsburgh)
Greenfield is a neighborhood in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. It is represented on by Doug Shields.Greenfield is a member of Pittsburgh's 15th Ward, which includes the neighborhoods of Greenfield and Four Mile Run. Greenfield is adjacent to the Pittsburgh neighborhoods of Hazelwood to...
neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh is the second-largest city in the US Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Allegheny County. Regionally, it anchors the largest urban area of Appalachia and the Ohio River Valley, and nationally, it is the 22nd-largest urban area in the United States...
, to an Algeria
Algeria
Algeria , officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria , also formally referred to as the Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of Northwest Africa with Algiers as its capital.In terms of land area, it is the largest country in Africa and the Arab...
n father and a part-Mexican
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
mother. He began working on rap music around 1993 while starting Allderdice High School, where he graduated in 1997. He played in rock band
Rock Band
Rock Band is a music video game developed by Harmonix Music Systems, published by MTV Games and Electronic Arts. It is the first title in the Rock Band series. The PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions were released in the United States on November 20, 2007, while the PlayStation 2 version was...
s and formed the rap group Strict Flow in 1996, with Masai Turner, Chad Glick, and Eric Dan. The group signed to the independent record label Raw Shack in 1999, and released the single "People on Lock". Their debut album, Homegrown, sold over 6,000 copies, an unprecedented amount for a Pittsburgh hip hop group at the time. Strict Flow opened local shows for artists such as Nelly
Nelly
Cornell Iral Haynes, Jr. , better known by his stage name Nelly, is an Grammy Award winning American rapper and actor. He has performed with the rap group St. Lunatics since 1993 and signed to Universal Records in 1999. Under Universal, Nelly began his solo career in 2000 with his debut album...
, Jurassic 5
Jurassic 5
Jurassic 5 was an American alternative hip hop group formed in 1993 from members of two previous groups, Rebels of Rhythm and Unity Committee by rappers Charles Stewart , Dante Givens , Courtenay Henderson , Marc Stuart , and disc jockeys Mark Potsic and Lucas Macfadden...
, Usher
Usher (entertainer)
Usher Terry Raymond IV , who performs under the mononym Usher, is an American singer-songwriter, and actor. He is considered around the world to be the reigning King of R&B. Usher rose to fame in the late 1990s with the release of his second album My Way, which spawned his first Billboard Hot 100...
, Nas
Nas
Nasir bin Olu Dara Jones, who performs under the name Nas , formerly Nasty Nas, is an American rapper and actor. He is regarded as one of the most important figures in hip hop and one of the most skilled and influential rappers of all-time...
, The Roots
The Roots
The Roots is an American hip hop/neo soul band formed in 1987 by Tariq "Black Thought" Trotter and Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They are famed for beginning with a jazzy, eclectic approach to hip hop which still includes live instrumentals...
, Ja Rule
Ja Rule
Jeffrey Atkins , better known by his stage name Ja Rule, is an American rapper, singer, and actor.Born in Hollis, Queens, he began his career in the group Cash Money Click and debuted in 1999 with Venni Vetti Vecci and its single "Holla Holla"...
and 50 Cent
50 Cent
Curtis James Jackson III , better known by his stage name 50 Cent, is an American rapper, entrepreneur, investor, record producer, and actor. He rose to fame with the release of his albums Get Rich or Die Tryin and The Massacre . Get Rich or Die Tryin has been certified eight times platinum by...
, but after releasing the album Without Further Ado in 2003, the group split up.
Chahrour relocated to Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
in 2005 and worked as a waiter
Waiter
Waiting staff, wait staff, or waitstaff are those who work at a restaurant or a bar attending customers — supplying them with food and drink as requested. Traditionally, a male waiting tables is called a "waiter" and a female a "waitress" with the gender-neutral version being a "server"...
while he continued to pursue music. Chahrour conceived of a song based on the line "I like when girls kiss girls", and turned to North Carolina
North Carolina
North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...
-based producer
Record producer
A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
David Willis
Ski (producer)
David Willis, otherwise known as DJ Ski and Ski Beatz, is an American record producer mainly working in hip hop.-Biography:Discovered by DJ Clark Kent, Ski was originally known as "MC Will-Ski". In the 1990s, he was a member of the group Original Flavor, the first group managed by future recording...
, also known as Ski Beatz, for help with the production. For the song, "Girls Kiss Girls", they made a music video featuring Penthouse
Penthouse (magazine)
Penthouse, a men's magazine founded by Bob Guccione, combines urban lifestyle articles and softcore pornographic pictorials that, in the 1990s, evolved into hardcore. Penthouse is owned by FriendFinder Network. formerly known as General Media, Inc. whose parent company was Penthouse International...
magazine model Krista Ayne
Krista Ayne
Krista Ayne is an American model and actress who was Penthouse Pet of the Month for April 2006. She also has appeared in Playboy....
, inspired by a scene from the 1999 film American Pie
American Pie (film)
American Pie is a 1999 teen comedy film written by Adam Herz. American Pie was the directorial film debut of brothers Paul and Chris Weitz, and the first film in the American Pie film series...
. The video became a sensation on the video sharing
Video sharing
Video hosting services refers to websites or software where users can distribute their video clips. Other sites such as file hosting services image hosting services and social network services might support video sharing as an enhancement to their primary mission, but in general, they are not...
website YouTube
YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
and the song started to get played on radio stations across the U.S., beginning with KISS-FM
KISS-FM (brand)
KISS-FM is the brand name of a Top 40 music format heard on FM radio stations in many cities in the United States . Clear Channel Communications claims ownership of the KISS-FM brand and operates most KISS-FM formatted stations, though not KISS-FM in San Antonio, Texas itself .-Origin and...
in Pittsburgh.
Chahrour began receiving offers from record labels to release the single, but held out for an offer to make an album. Chahrour met with rapper and Def Jam Recordings
Def Jam Recordings
Def Jam Recordings is an American record label, focused primarily on hip hop and urban music, owned by Universal Music Group, and operates as a part of The Island Def Jam Motown Music Group...
CEO Jay-Z
Jay-Z
Shawn Corey Carter , better known by his stage name Jay-Z, is an American rapper, record producer, entrepreneur, and occasional actor. He is one of the most financially successful hip hop artists and entrepreneurs in America, having a net worth of over $450 million as of 2010...
, and was offered a five album deal with the label. He signed with the label because of Jay-Z; Chahrour had come up with the name Pittsburgh Slim four years earlier, based on a line from Jay-Z's song, "So Ghetto" from Vol. 3... Life and Times of S. Carter
Vol. 3... Life and Times of S. Carter
Vol. 3… Life and Times of S. Carter is the fourth studio album by American rapper Jay-Z, released December 28, 1999 on Roc-A-Fella Records. It exhibits a return to the street-oriented sound of his debut album, Reasonable Doubt...
, where he rapped "Iceberg, Slim, baby ride rims", referencing author and pimp Iceberg Slim
Iceberg Slim
Iceberg Slim aka Robert Beck was a reformed pimp and American author of urban fiction.-Early life:Born Robert Lee Maupin, in Chicago on August 4, 1918, he spent his childhood in Milwaukee and Rockford, Illinois until he returned to Chicago...
.
Chahrour released the single "Girls Kiss Girls" and released his EP, Tastemaker
Tastemaker
Tastemaker is the debut EP of rapper Pittsburgh Slim, released by Def Jam Records on December 4, 2007.-Track listing:# "Pittsburgh Slim"# "Superstar Extraordinaire"# "My Flashy World"# "Girls Kiss Girls"# "Sunrays"# "Kiss and Tell"# "Toy"...
, on December 4, 2007. Chahrour appeared on Last Call with Carson Daly
Last Call with Carson Daly
Last Call with Carson Daly is an American late night talk show that is broadcast on NBC. The show is hosted by Carson Daly, the half-hour show featuring celebrity interviews, documentary-style coverage of a topic, and musical performances. Last Call airs weeknights at 1:35 a.m. Eastern / 12:35 a.m....
on December 11, 2007 and appeared in the film The Bleeding
The Bleeding (film)
The Bleeding is an action-horror film directed by Charlie Picerni and starring Michael Matthias, Vinnie Jones, DMX, and Michael Madsen.-Plot:...
, starring Vinnie Jones
Vinnie Jones
Vincent Peter "Vinnie" Jones is an English film actor and retired Welsh footballer.Born in Hertfordshire, England, Jones represented and captained the Welsh national football team, having qualified via a Welsh grandparent. He also previously played for Chelsea and Leeds United. As a member of the...
, Michael Matthias, Michael Madsen
Michael Madsen
Michael Søren Madsen is an American actor, poet, and photographer. He has appeared in more than 150 films, most of them small independent films, though he has starred in central roles in such films as Reservoir Dogs, Free Willy, Donnie Brasco, and Kill Bill, in addition to a supporting role in Sin...
, DMX
DMX (rapper)
Earl Simmons , better known by his stage name DMX, is a multiplatinum American rapper and actor who rose to fame in the late 1990s. His stage name pays tribute to the Oberheim DMX drum machine, an instrument he used when he made his own rap beats in the 80's...
and Armand Assante
Armand Assante
-Personal life:Assante was born in New York City and raised in Cornwall, New York, the son of Katherine , a music teacher and poet, and Armand Anthony Assante, Sr., a painter and artist. His father was Italian and his mother was Irish, and was raised in a devoutly Roman Catholic family...
. Chahrour left Def Jam in late 2008. He released the single "My Bitch is Crazy", which was written about his girlfriend, from the Bleeding soundtrack through the iTunes Store
ITunes Store
The iTunes Store is a software-based online digital media store operated by Apple. Opening as the iTunes Music Store on April 28, 2003, with over 200,000 items to purchase, it is, as of April 2008, the number-one music vendor in the United States...
in January 2009. His mixtape "Nolita Nights" was released in August, 2009.
Singles
- "Girls Kiss Girls" (2007), Def Jam
- "My Bitch is Crazy" (2009), Now City Productions
Filmography
| Year | Title | Role |
|---|---|---|
| 2009 | The Bleeding The Bleeding (film) The Bleeding is an action-horror film directed by Charlie Picerni and starring Michael Matthias, Vinnie Jones, DMX, and Michael Madsen.-Plot:... |
Crash |