Solfunkshun aka Cliff Smith discovered a love for music at a very young age. His parents used to throw parties way back and instead of going to bed when they threw those parties, he would sit up in his room and listen to the music. He was introduced to the sounds of funk, disco and rock and was moved by the sounds. He was introduced to hip hop around the age of 7 by his friends in the ol neighborhood. He preferred listening to music over watching tv as a kid. His first real involvement in music came about when he was in jr. high and high school when he sang in a local church youth choir. They would tour every summer and the summer of his senior year in high school he would be inspired to continue with music in some way or another. Fast forward a year or so and he was no longer involved with church choirs. He would be introduced to electronic music by some friends at a party one night… and then it all changed. He was hooked after being introduced to florida breaks, house and drum and bass. He dug the sounds that were influenced from the same funk and disco styles that he grew up listening to. Following in his parents footsteps, he would begin to throw house parties on occasion for friends. He would then be pulled into the electronic music dance scene and once he moved to Orlando he would get involved with the local EDM scene by promoting a couple of local breakbeat dj’s through a group called Peninsula Phunk Productions. After a few months he would join up with Reflex Entertainment and bring Peninsula Phunk into the Reflex family. Joining forces with Reflex Entertainment allowed for him to be involved with throwing EDM parties all throughout Orlando and the state of Florida. From there he would collaborate with Mad Rhythm Productions on a few parties which would eventually lead to a short lived merger of Reflex Entertainment and Mad Rhythm. After leaving Mad Rhythm he would help reform Reflex Entertainment for a few more years they would coordinate a few more parties and shows. During this time he began attending school for music production. He ended up meeting musician Tom Infande while attending school. Tom, a guitarist, bass ist and drummer would influence him to work with him on forming a band called Death by Jazz. Death by Jazz was an Orlando jazz, funk, fusion band in which Solfunkshun played bass for. He would get involved with writing some of the Death by Jazz original tunes and would co produce Death by Jazz albums “They Won’t Stay Dead” and “Alice Takes Wonderland”
After a brief stint with Death by Jazz he would go back to getting involved with electronic music again by joining up with dj friends Jeff Marshall aka DJ JM and Mika Wright aka Kincaide. Kincaide had begun a dj/production team called The Dubsapiens. Jeff would get involved as a dj and producer. Solfunkshun would join the team as a promoter/manager and eventually would begin to work with the team in writing and producing tracks as well as playing bass live during The Dubsapiens dj sets. He worked with DJ JM , Kincaide and newly added member T.Correy in co writing and producing tracks for their first EP “Laid Out With an Orange”. A year or so later the team would be signed to M-Toxin Records and produce their first released EP “The Dubsapiens” in 2010.