
Philly Slim wanted to rap because of his brother who is six years older than him. Slim was in eighth
grade, and figured if he started rapping, he’d get to hang out with his brother and his friends. He be-
came the mocking bird, able to imitate rappers for his friends at school - they’d beg him to do a DMX
song that he had down cold. Life in Philly wasn’t too bad; his parents were together for awhile and his
cousins were always around, but becoming a rap star was just crazy talk. Growing up he listened to
Eazy-E, Tupac, Ice Cube, Snoop, and Dr. Dre - a true product of the second generation of hip-hop.
The bug to record would bite him after the move all the way across the country to Gilroy, California.
He hooked up with some guys from San Jose and started spending his entire paycheck at a recording
studio in Santa Clara. That’s when he became known as Philly Slim, the east coast transplant who was
in the studio so damned much the engineer finally just told him to come over and kick it. Philly Slim
is the embodiment of the idea that if you want things to happen, you have to go wherever you need to
and MAKE it happen.
So one day after he and his group had cut some tracks, his mom submits their song “California/Cali
Anthem” to a contest for radio station KMEL, and it got picked, and it made it all the way to the final
round. When the website went up with the vote totals, the other song had 70% and that’s when Slim
and the crew got to work. They spent the next two weeks handing out fliers and cards at the mall, he
had everyone in his computer lab at school vote for him, and the end result was that they won the en-
tire contest. With the new exposure Slim got to travel to LA and perform at the Derby, Hardrock Cafe,
House of Blues, and Universal Studios. He’s been to Vegas, San Francisco, and Oakland, and all of it
came to a screeching, tearing halt in 2004 when he got in a car accident.
The hospital gave him more than just a bill for his stay; he picked up a staph infection that nearly killed
him. That was the moment where he began to reevaluate what he really wanted to do in life. He had
to drop out of school, and then finally in March 2005 he decided not to return to the football field and
concentrate on his music instead. When recording his album he found Concept and came up to Sac-
ramento to buy some beats - but after working together, Slim realized he had found a true creative
match.
Philly Slim seems like a laid back guy, so you’d never expect the madness of his work ethic. He already
has three albums worth of material written, and it’s just a question of the perfection of production that
matters to him. East Coast, West Coast, wherever he is, Philly Slim gets the job done.
View more on Philly Slim at
Myspace.com/philayayboy