Mr. Serv-On

Background

Mr. Serv-On was born Corey Smith on September 18, 1969, in New Orleans. He was a high school friend of Master P and one of the first artists signed to No Limit Records. His first recorded appearance was on Soulja Slim's 1994 album, and he also appeared on TRU's True (1995) and Tru 2 da Game (1997), as well as the No Limit soundtracks I'm Bout It (1997) and I Got the Hook Up (1998). He appeared in the 1997 film I'm Bout It. The Hype Magazine noted his faster delivery compared with other rappers on the label.

No Limit Albums

His debut, Life Insurance, was released in August 1997 on No Limit/Priority, with Master P as executive producer and production from Beats By the Pound's KLC, Craig B and O'Dell, along with Brotha Lynch Hung, Carlos Stephens and Mo B. Dick. It peaked at No. 23 on the Billboard 200 and No. 5 on Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums and sold 50,000 copies in its first week. In a 2015 interview he said it went gold within five weeks.

Da Next Level (February 16, 1999) reached No. 14 on the Billboard 200 and No. 1 on the R&B/Hip-Hop albums chart, selling close to 300,000 copies in its first week. Wikipedia lists it as certified platinum. Its single "From N.Y. to N.O." featured Big Pun, a rare pairing of New Orleans and New York rappers at the time. Other guests included C-Murder, Fiend, Mystikal and Mia X. It was his last album for No Limit.

Lifetyme and Later

After leaving No Limit in 2000 he started Lifetyme Entertainment and released War Is Me, Pt. 1: Battle Decisions (2000, No. 75 R&B/Hip-Hop), followed by Take a Sip (2001), Gangsta 1 More Time (2009), Internet Platinum (2011), Street Dreams (2014) and The Fallen Soldier (2015). He published a dating guide in 2008 and took part in a New Orleans gun buyback program in 2014. In 2019 he toured with other No Limit artists including Master P, Mystikal and Fiend.