Trobul Smallz (born Ebrahim Suso (09/08/1986 in The Gambia), into the legendary line of Suso ‘Jalos’ (traditional griots), Trobul Smalls aka Prince Talib (his alter ego) is the grandson of the late Alieu Suso, a prominent Kora maker and player in the Gambia and the sub-region in his days. A game changing artist and a hood and street HipHop royalty, Prince Talib aka Trobul Smallz also referred to as just T-Smallz, grew up and is from a distinguished musical family background in the coastal town of Bakau, a situation which doubtlessly helped to hone his talent and skills as an instrumentalist, singer and rapper.
Smallz recalled, “at a very tender age when I use to wake up every morning, all I found littered around my compound were local instruments of different kind (Kora, Jembeh, Balafon) which I learnt how to play under the watchful eyes of my family and especially my grandpa”. Though an avid soccer player and was even once drafted into the Gambia U-15 national team, Smallz ventured into the music business head on by starting to record professionally. His first song ‘Rise n Shine’ was recorded and produced at Adent Studios in Bakoteh ( now made popular by T. Smallz and his rap peers as BK City) where he now lives with his parents and siblings. One song followed another and boom…the super hit title ‘Gis Nga Yow’ featuring singing sensation Marion and the third of the unofficial BK City Crew, Tam50 dominated the airwaves and night joints around the country.
‘Gis Nga Yow’ has been such a success that the name of the song is synonymous to T-Smallz and fans both young and old shout out ‘Gis Nga Yow’ whenever Smallz is in sight. Following the success of ‘Gis Nga Yow’ and several other cuts like ‘Ring On Ya Finger’ featuring Rugie, ‘God’s Will’ featuring Pa Omar Jack and ‘Wahang Baneh’, Smallz put together and released a mixtape which was a great success especially among school going population and particularly in the hoods and streets, hence his status and reputation as the true prince of HipHop in The Gambia. Smallz also featured on several ‘Riddims’ and performed duets with a host of other artists, most notably on the very successful ‘Hypnotize’ by Sing-A-Teh aka Freaky Joe from his much acclaimed ‘Rejoice’ album. Approaching his mid 20s now, Trobul Smallz still caters for his loyal youthful following but is also venturing into producing songs to entice fans of different generations and his recently released single ‘Dallu’ is already a hit among all music lovers.
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