The duo debuted on
Black Moon's 1993 album
Enta da Stage on the tracks "Blac Smif-N-Wessun" and "U Da Man". which became an underground hit. Released in January 1995, their album ''
Dah Shinin' peaked at number 59 on the Billboard
200 and number 5 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart, and went on to sell over 300,000 copies in the United States. Along with "Bucktown", the album featured the singles "Wrekonize" b/w "Sound Bwoy Bureill" and "Wontime" b/w "Stand Strong". Dah Shinin'' became an influential album in the
hardcore hip hop scene of the mid-1990s. Soon after the release of their debut, Smif-N-Wessun received a
cease and desist order over their group name by the
Smith & Wesson firearms company. To avoid the lawsuit, they changed their name to
Cocoa Brovaz in 1996. In 1997, Cocoa Brovaz joined up with the
Buckshot,
Heltah Skeltah and
Originoo Gunn Clappaz for
Boot Camp Clik debut collaborative effort
For the People. In early 1998, the duo dropped their second album
The Rude Awakening. The release was met with mixed reviews and moderate sales. The album's lead single, the
Raekwon-assisted "Black Trump", was not able to reach any
Billboard charts. In 1999, the Clik was dropped from
Priority Records, leaving the duo temporarily unsigned. Soon after, the Cocoa Brovaz released an underground single "Super Brooklyn", which sampled the
Super Mario Bros. theme. Because of the illegal use of the
sample, the duo was not able to officially release the track, but the single landed them a deal with underground label
Rawkus Records. They appeared on a number of compilation albums over the next few years, including
Soundbombing II,
Lyricist Lounge 2,
Domingo's
Game Over,
Soundbombing III, and
Frankie Cutlass's
Politics & Bullshit. They were never able to release the album they recorded for Rawkus Records in 2002, though it has circulated as a bootleg. They rejoined
Duck Down Music for the release of the Boot Camp Clik's second group album
The Chosen Few in the same year. In September 2005, they returned as Smif-N-Wessun for the album ''
Smif 'n' Wessun: Reloaded. The album received good reviews, and sold around 35,000-40,000 copies in the United States. In 2006, the Boot Camp Clik released their third group album, The Last Stand, to strong reviews and Smif-N-Wessun appeared on a special edition of Ich'', the second album of the German rapper
Sido. Smif-N-Wessun's fourth album,
Smif-n-Wessun: The Album, was released on October 23, 2007. The album is produced by
Ken Ring,
Tommy Tee and more, and features appearances from
Rock of
Heltah Skeltah,
Joell Ortiz and Norwegian supergroup the Loudmouf Choir. In 2008, they participated as guests in one track on PIO Squad's album
Interview. There were plans for a new Smif-n-Wessun album to be released in 2009. The duo has confirmed that legendary producer
Pete Rock would be producing a majority, if not all of the album. The album is entitled
Monumental and was released on June 28, 2011. The album's guests include
Raekwon,
Bun B,
Styles P,
Heltah Skeltah,
Top Dogg,
Buckshot from
Boot Camp Clik,
Memphis Bleek,
Freeway,
Black Rob and
Hurricane G. In September 2013, the duo announced the release of a
reggae-inspired
extended play entitled
Born and Raised entirely produced by Beatnick &
K-Salaam. The EP was released on December 3, 2013, and includes guest appearances from
Junior Reid,
Junior Kelly, Jahdan Blakkamoore and DJ Full Factor. The EP's release was supported by one
single – "Solid Ground" featuring Junior Reid. In September 2018, they performed on
NPR's
Tiny Desk Concerts. In 2019, the group has released their sixth studio album
The All, entirely produced by the Soul Council production team (
9th Wonder,
Khrysis, Eric Gabouer, Eric Jones,
Nottz), followed-up by extended play
Seasons with
Belgian hip hop producer dFonk. They also participated in Black Moon's fourth studio album
Rise of da Moon. ==Discography==