Billy Sales
Billy Mann Sales III (born November 5, 1979), better known by his stage name Billy Sales (sometimes called Smoke), is an American rapper, songwriter, actor and record producer from Los Angeles, California, raised in the historical Venice Beach. His debut single, “I Promise,” was released on February 19, 2016, and received positive reviews from critics. The single was voted best Hip Hop song of 2016. In October 2015, he was cast in a small role in *G7*, a Snoop Dogg film, and in March 2016, he was cast for his second role (also in a Snoop Dogg film).
In 2016, Billy Sales, as an Indie artist, signed a worldwide distribution deal with BigTop Entertainment/RedEye Worldwide, releasing the official video for “I Promise” on Vevo/YouTube. Directed and shot by #ykmgmadeit Erick Sanchez and Lawrence Le.
Early life
Billy Sales’ mother, Tawni Lin Jones, was only 13 when she gave birth to him. The two lived in Berkeley, CA, during Billy's early childhood, where he was constantly challenged and at times bullied due to his mother’s sexuality, drug use and gang affiliations. Billy's mother played a huge role in teaching him about diversity, standing up for what's right and never giving up no matter what life throws at you. When Billy was 5 years old, his grandmother gained legal custody of him and he moved to California’s historical Venice Beach. The two would spend the remaining of Billy's childhood in the West Los Angeles area.
Career
Career beginnings
Starting out, Billy Sales began working on numerous singles while he was still a student at the Art Institute of Los Angeles. He then gained some recognition for his feature alongside Snoop Dogg’s artist "Daz Dillinger" as well as opening for Daz at his official single release party, and being a part of the new hip hop scene in the West Los Angeles area. During his early years, he became a member of a local hip hop group, called "Inphinit Groove," who had released several songs on their official Myspace page and toured lightly through Los Angeles.
In 2009, Billy Sales started gaining popularity for releasing back-to-back songs and mixtapes. In 2011, Billy Sales was given an opportunity to create an original song for the official Arnold Classic competition. Billy Sales has been linked to projects with platinum recording artists and has performed live all over the country.
Billy Sales’ mixtapes at this period of time were met with limited success. In April 2009, he released Industry Killah via Datpiff.com. [2] In February 2010, he released I "Smoke" The Best Weed. [3]
His follow-up projects include
- Royalties Over Loyalty [4]
- You Got It volume 8 [5]
- Trilogy [6]
In 2012, Billy Sales (Smoke)’s affiliation with Souljah Boy’s SODMG gained him a lot of attention with features including Bang By Tiny Kurupt Feat Smoke [7] off the Coast 2 Coast mixtape Vol. 216 hosted by Wale. This feature opened more doors for Billy to show his incredible word play and bar-game. Billy Sales was rated one of the best up and coming artists of our time. Billy’s indie success can also be credited to the extremely hard working DBG (Drop Bomb Gang) team for promoting and developing songs like the Halloween Anthem, Feel Me, 3-D and more. Souljah Boy himself recognized the skill and talent of this young icon and the official Touchdown remix was made, Touchdown Souljah Boy ft. Smoke (Billy Sales) [8].
In January 2014, Billy Sales began to create original music with up and coming producer Lamon "Influence" Patterson. The duo started branding the title "The Billy Sales Influence" recording back-to-back singles, and enough music for a half dozen albums. In mid-2015, The Billy Sales Influence released the non-official video for Where I Live [9] shot by Josh Korb [10].
2015-2016: #YKMGMADEIT [1]
In 2015, Billy Sales partnered with the talented Erick Sanchez, creator and founder of #ykmgmadeit [11]. The two began developing videos and promotional material for the Billy Sales brand. In 2016, #ykmgmadeit released the official video for I Promise, Billy Sales’ debut single featured on Vevo [12]. To date, Billy Sales has been cast in two up and coming Snoop Dogg movies (*G7 featuring*, *Menace To Society’s* Tyrin Turner [13] and a second untitled film). You can also see Billy Sales in the film California Solo.
Personal life
After graduating high school, Billy spent a few years in college studying graphic design and multimedia. Shortly after, he began a career in education where he became a Behavior Therapist.
References
This article "Billy Sales" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical. Articles copied from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be seen on the Draft Namespace of Wikipedia and not main one.
