Local rapper writes hit about kissing girls

Even though he moved on to greener pastures from birth town Greenfield and Steel City… Even though he moved on to greener pastures from birth town Greenfield and Steel City hometown, Sied Chahrour, better known in dance clubs and on YouTube as Pittsburgh Slim, still remembers his roots and where he comes from.

“The name was a play off a famous pimp who called himself Iceberg Slim,” Chahrour said. Jay-Z is known to refer to himself as such when discussing his adventures with women. And he likes Chahrour’s nickname, despite the fact that Slim doesn’t use it to refer to himself in the third person as much as he does in his songs.

He may dress like an Abercrombie ‘ Fitch model, lacking the rap attire of bling and bullet wounds, but Chahrour isn’t entering the hip-hop industry with dry feet. He had plenty of experience with music starting out in the Steel City itself.

Chahrour broke into the music industry with Strict Flow, a Pittsburgh-based hip-hop band that hit its zenith when it opened for 50 Cent in 2003. However, as seems common in the music industry, the band broke up, and Chahrour headed to Los Angeles just two years later.

“In L.A., there are tons of opportunities,” Chahrour said about why he left. “In Pittsburgh, it’s hard to get people out to live shows but in Los Angeles, it’s the thing to do. People love to do it, and L.A. has a rich tradition.”

Not to mention more competition. But whatever Los Angeles put in its water had a major effect on Chahrour, for it was there that he wrote the hit single that would make him a much bigger fish in the pond.

And indeed it did. Chahrour’s bluntly titled debut single “Girls Kiss Girls” received national radio attention, arriving along with a steamy YouTube video (that fulfilled the song’s promise near the end) and enough singles deals to make Toni Basil’s head spin.

“I thought it would be a good song, but once I got the beat, I knew it was something special.”

However, Slim is a man of risk – rather than take the singles deal and reap the benefits, he held out for a full album deal.

“You have to do what you have to do as an artist,” Chahrour said. “Before I got signed, I had the video and song done. It was all about leverage.”

Chahrour’s gamble would pay off, as Def-Jam Records liked the curves it saw on this hot-chick song and signed him for a five-album deal that started with his debut Tastemaker.

The album may have boasted a slim seven-track roster, but the beats will live in infamy among Pittsburgh’s partygoers. Quite a ways from working in a clothing store – “It was the most boring, least paying, tedious job I’ve ever had. I quit after three weeks,” he said.

Chahrour, or Pittsburgh Slim, shows the fun side of Pittsburgh that parents don’t want to know about. Slim realizes this, but he doesn’t let it get to his head – he’s far too busy and knows better. As he says, he prefers to remember the past, stay in the present and plan for the future.

“Music to me is like ingredients – the way I prepare my meal is a unique blend of ingredients. I write my own sound. There’s not one artist that really influences me, but all my influences definitely come out in my music,” he said.

“This doesn’t stop. I always try to stay hot, because if I sit for one second saying ‘I’m the man,’ then 10 people will pass me. I’m always humble. The second I’m not that’s when it’s easy to fall. Arrogance always leads to bad things.”