“Don’t try to convince me that your hood is harder than mine or that my hood is harder than yours.  The same shit happens in every hood.”  These are the words of Plies, the new Big Gates/Slip-N-Slide Records recording artist that the streets are calling “one of the realest niggaz you’ll ever know”.  Hailing from Ft. Myers, FL., no one over the past year has been hotter throughout the Sunshine State.  Commanding over $5000 a show off the strength of his 36 Ounces mixtape, what Plies gives the people is quite simply gutter music with an honest, consistent opinion.  In other words, he is as real as it comes.

Spend five minutes with Plies and you will begin to realize why people unite behind his words.  It’s his truthful approach to life and natural charisma that draws the streets to him.  “Being in a small city like that, if you had problems with someone you were gonna run into them” says Plies, referring to his Ft. Myers stomping grounds.  “We call it ‘aka Pakistan’.  You have to be a stand-up nigga were I’m from.”  In mid-2004, Plies caught the ear of Slip-N-Slide Records with the song “Tell Them Crackers That”, landing him his record deal.  But what makes Plies’ story unique is that “Tell Them Crackers That” was his first song ever recorded.  “In most cases, success stories happen by accident.  And this happened totally by mistake” says Plies.  “I was writing for this artist my brother [Big Gates] had signed and he couldn’t get it right.  So I dummied it in the booth and my brother decided to keep it.” 

Hosted by Hittmenn DJ Billy “Bigga” Rankin of the Cool Runnings DJs, the hottest DJ in the state of Florida, 36 Ounces continues to position Plies as the “Next Big Thing” out of the South.  Songs such as “Bond Money”, “How I’m Living”, and “Confessions” capture the feel of what Plies refers to as “real nigga music.”  “I’m a 100% real nigga,” he says.  You know real ain’t an image, it’s a lifestyle.  It’s 365 days out of the year.”  His poignant tales of street life are brutal, to the point, and at times controversial, leaving no questions as to which side of the fence Plies stands on.  “Look I’m gonna either be rich or I’m gonna be in prison.  There ain’t a third option.  Which ever comes first, I don’t know?”

So what can the world expect from Plies?  With another mixtape on the way, his feature on “So Fresh” off Trina’s The Glamorest Life, and a slot on Trina’s The Glamorest Life tour, the world awaits his highly anticipated debut album, out in early 2006.  In what will certainly be a breakthrough performance, the public will soon understand the movement behind him.  “As they say ‘it gets greater later’.  I’m still learning how to count bars.  Wait ‘til I can give this my full attention.”  And it’s thoughts like this that separates Plies from an artist and puts him in a category of people that the ghetto rallies behind.  “Look I’m just like everybody else” Plies says.  “I’m trying to get rich in a day.  And it’s close to impossible but I’m gonna keep trying.”