Young Sid

South Auckland, New Zealand, may seem to be a world away from South Central Los Angeles, but some things are exactly the same. Sydney Diamond, aka Young Sid, grew up in a poor Auckland neighborhood with a drug-dealing father and an alcoholic mother, sharing a mattress with his siblings. America's hardcore hip-hop spoke to him and his situation, and after listening to his brother's copy of N.W.A's "Gangsta Gangsta" he knew what he wanted to do with his life. At the age of 11 he formed his first crew, who called themselves the Murder Squad. Their main exploits involved getting in trouble with their community school's teachers for rapping like infant versions of Ice Cube. By the age of 15 Young Sid had formed a slightly more mature crew in Smashproof, who were finalists in the Coke Gig Southside competition. The group, consisting of Young Sid, Tyree, and Deach, were signed to the Move the Crowd label while Sid was in his first university semester. Leaving that behind, he recorded an album for MTC called The Truth with producer Cochise in the U.S. The other members of Smashproof guested on The Truth, as did Chamillionaire, a coup negotiated after Tyree worked on a remix of his hit "Ridin'." The album was popularly received in New Zealand.