(Globe Staff Photo / Dina Rudick)

Smoke Bulga fell in love with hip-hop during the 1980s, with rappers like Run-DMC, Big Daddy Kane, and Rakim. Growing up in the South End, he heard rap music pouring from boomboxes and watched street fashions flourish as kids started mimicking the styles of their hip-hop heroes -- Adidas sneakers, tracksuits, and extra-thick gold chains, known as "dookie ropes."

"From the time I heard 'Rapper's Delight,' I liked the music," Smoke recalls. "One day, a kid in my class came in with a demo tape. He told me he wrote the lyrics and did everything himself, and I thought, 'Wow, I think I can do that.' That night I wrote my first rhyme, and the next day, the kids didn't believe I wrote it. Right then, I knew I had something. I knew I'd found my niche."

Not long after that first rhyme, about his favorite color and "the girl I liked at the time," Smoke was entering -- and winning -- freestyle rap battles. Now he is hailed in Boston's rap circles for his lyrical versatility. He broke through with the underground hit "Smoke Did It."

"Boston's a hard crowd. To make it in Boston, you have to be doing something special," he says. "I want to be like the Patriots and the Red Sox, but from a musical perspective."

LENGTH OF TIME PERFORMING: Since the early 1990s. MUSICAL INFLUENCES: Run-DMC, 2Pac, Jay-Z, Nas, the Notorious B.I.G. WHO HE THINKS HE SOUNDS LIKE: "I don't think I sound like anyone else in the industry. The beauty of it for me is trying to be original and fresh." HE'LL KNOW HE'S MADE IT WHEN: "[Boston mayor Tom] Menino tells me I have my own day. Nelly had his own day in St. Louis, and I feel like that's a big accomplishment. When I receive the key to the city, I'll know I've made it." QUIRKY FACT ABOUT HIM: He was born Allen Keon Lee; his stage name is a play on Bulger -- as in Boston's most infamous fugitive gangster, James "Whitey" Bulger. - RENE GRAHAM