Slimmie Hendrix

Slimmie Hendrix (formerly known as Pittsburgh) came to fame on Youtube with the video of his salacious rock hip-hop song "Girls Kiss Girls".  With the line “I like when girls kiss girls” it was a phenomenon in dance clubs and on broadcast radio stations across the country.  The labels called and Slimmie signed with Def Jam Records,who released his debut album Tastemaker in 2007.  Now with the label Snowballers Entertainment he released the single “Stuntman” in 2011 along with a video filmed by Norwegian director Ray Kay, who shot the most watched video in YouTube history -- Justin Bieber's "Baby" -- along with videos for Lady Gaga, Willow Smith and Flo Rida.

Sied Chahrour, born in Pittsburgh, grew up in the Greenfield neighborhood of Pittsburgh.  He is the son of an Algerian father and a part-Mexican mother.  He attended Allderdice High School, where he played hockey and baseball.  He started writing beats and rhymes with his high school friend Masai Turner around 1993.  Chahrour and Masai formed the rap group Strict Flow in 1996 along with Chad Glick, and Eric Dan.  He graduated in 1997 and the group pursued their career.  In 1997 Strict Flow independently released their debut album “Homegrown ".  Signing with J-Live's Raw Shack label in 1999 they released the single "People on Lock”, selling over 6,000 copies in the Pittsburgh market.  They were an integral fixture in the Pittsburgh rap scene opening local shows for Nelly, Jurassic 5, Usher, Nas, The Roots, and  Ja Rule.  They opened for 50 Cent at the Mellon Arena in 2003.  Strict Flow released a second album Without Further Ado in 2003, before breaking up.  Masia Turner formed another band called Formula 412.

Chahrour moved to Los Angeles in 2005 to pursue his music career, supporting himself as a waiter.  Working with producer David Willis, also known as Ski Beatz, he made the video of his song "Girls Kiss Girls" featuring Penthouse magazine model Krista Ayne.  The video went viral on YouTube with over 2 million plays and the song received airplay on radio stations across the U.S., beginning with KISS-FM in Pittsburgh.   KISS deejay, Bonic received an email with a link inviting him to listen to “Girls Kiss Girl”.  Realizing that it was from Chahrour of Strict Flow, Bonics gave it some plays at night. The station was pounded with requests and added the song to Bonics countdown list.  Power 106 in L.A. (the second-biggest station in the country) added it to their rotation.  Soon Power 96 in Miami, Wild 94 in San Francisco, and other stations added it.  With the sudden airplay on major station Charhrour received offers from 11 labels to release the single nationally.  Turning down singles deals from Interscope and Randy Jackson Charhrour held out for an album deal.

Chahrour had a two hour meeting with one of his Rap influencers Jay-Z.  Chahrour derived his first stage name "Pittsburgh Slim" from a  line in Jay-Z's song, "So Ghetto" where Jay-Z rapped "Iceberg, Slim, baby ride rims".  Jay-Z, the CEO of Def Jam Recordings, signed Chahrour to five album deal. The "Girls Kiss Girls" single and the EP, Tastemaker were released nationally in December 2007. To promote the release Pittsburgh Slim appeared on Last Call with Carson Daly.  He also appeared in the film The Bleeding.  Chahrour left Def Jam in late 2008.  Now City Productions released his single "My Bitch is Crazy",from Bleeding soundtrack in 2009 on the iTunes.   His independent mixtape "Nolita Nights" was also released in 2009.  In 2011 he launched another single and video to continue his pursuit to Hip Hop Stardom.

As Pittsburgh Slim