AllHipHop.com: If you were a part of Dr. Dre�s camp, how did Puffy come into the fold?

Smitty: I was staying out there in California, working with Aftermath and Dre. Meanwhile, I am generating a little bit of a buzz. Again, C-Love and Charlie advocated for me on my behalf. They tell Puffy about how much talent I had during his visit for the taping of Jay Leno, and he wanted to meet me. A few days later, I flew to New York and began working with Puff at Bad Boy. I was an instrumental part of songs such as �Shake Ya Tailfeather� featuring Nelly & Murphy Lee from the Bad Boys 2 Soundtrack and B2K�s �Bump, Bump, Bump.� ...

AllHipHop.com: You have had your share of �almost� and �could have� situations. How did you feel once you were finally signed to J Records?

Smitty: After all that has happened, I had an incredible buzz surrounding me. I was finally beginning to be noticed for the artistry that I exhibited beyond the writing. I was courted by a few labels including Bad Boy Records. However, I signed with J, because Clive Davis showed me the most genuine love. He understands what it takes to make an artist successful. He believes in artist development, but he also believes in actually putting you out an artist. Everything that has happened to me has only made me a stronger person, and if I had to do it all again, I would do things the exact same way.

The often malcontented DMX still sounds a little bitter about how his relationship with Def Jam ended. During his recent trip to the U.K., he barked that today's Def Jam reminds him of yesterday's Bad Boy.

"Puffy � P. Diddy, whatever � when he signed the LOX, Dee from Ruff Ryders bought me to Puffy too and was like 'Yo, you got to listen to X,' " DMX recalled. "And [Diddy] was like, 'I don't know, his voice is kind of rough and he's not marketable enough.' A couple of months later, I got the Def Jam deal and [Puff] was like, 'Listen, whatever they gave you, I'll double it.' I was like, 'No, because if you didn't know what to do with me then, you ain't going to know what to do with me now.' And that's pretty much like [me recently leaving Def Jam]. I'm glad I was able to get out of that situation because it's clear they didn't know what they were doing."

On October 31, 2004, my eldest brother and best friend, Duranthany, was brutally shot and murdered in Aurora, IL. He became the victim of a random drive by doled out by a couple of damn kids, 19 & 14 years old, to be exact! This catastrophic event occurred rocking my entire foundation and, the label did nothing to inform the fans. So, through my on going healing process, to the world, Carl Thomas the artist just seemed to fade and disappear into thin air. Dealing with the helpless feeling of not being able to do anything about my brothers death I realized that there were things about my life I could change and the state of my career was first on my list. This prompted my decision to part ways with Sean Combs and Bad Boy Entertainment. It's really all business and I'm glad to say Puff and I still love and respect each other, sharing no bad blood. So, There It Is!