SKEE LO is back...! Exclusive Interview.
How many times have you been able to have a conversation with your favorite MCs?
Well, if you’re me, like 3…or 4?
I never wished to be taller…I’m 6′6″ (but 6′8″ would be cool)…but I DID always want a ‘64 impala…(what can I say? I’m Latino. Lowriders are cool).
But since 1995 THIS man, has inspired me to not only wish, but to work my butt off to make sure they come true.
I was able to speak with the great Skee-lo about everything from music, his new album, his show in CLEVELAND NEXT THURSDAY at the Beachland Ballroom (8/27/09), and just where the heck he’s been since 1995.
Essince: So my first question for you is, where have you been? What have you been doing since 1995?
Skee-Lo: I know a lot of people, a lot of my family have been looking for me. I’ve basically been laying low this time around. It’s not just, you know, dropping a record. It’s not the return of Skee-lo, if you will. It’s the start of my record label. And that’s a whole other business. On the one hand I’m the CEO of my own company, on the other hand I’m the first artist released from the label. The bigger the goal, the longer the preparation and it took some time to get this together, especially being independent. You know, we’re not on a major [record label]. We do have major distribution through a major, through Sony and Elite Artists. But it took some years to really put that together.
Essince: So how different is it for you to go from being on a label releasing a project to being in charge of your own label and releasing something?
Skee-Lo: Absolute freedom. It’s actually funny, on one of the songs, 308 days, I mentioned,” even if your top A&R’s impressed you can keep your 360 deals/ he’s just spinning your wheels” and that’s not a joke. [laughs]. We are not interested in a record deal. I got the freedom, the absolute creative control of my project, and this is something I haven’t enjoyed since the first [album], since “I Wish.” I wish was produced in my bedroom before I had a deal at all. And the support behind that, the Grammy nominations for the album, it was a sign for me that I had the talent and the potential to do this, to actually pull this off. So that was my first sign of it and now, having my own label, the freedom and control and being able to just put together projects the way I feel the fans would like to hear it.
Essince: What is the concept behind “308 Days”? What is the meaning behind that song title?
Skee-Lo: 308 Days is actually represents the answer to the question people have been asking, “Where’ve you been? What’s been going on? What’s going on with the new project? When’s the new music…?” all of these questions that often come up, “308 Days” is the answer to that. It opens up the album and basically says that after 13 years of a silent period it took us 308 days to put the label together and to release the first project. Just 308 days of grinding and actually putting into action all these years. I actually took a lot of notes from artist like [Dr.] Dre. Dre drops the Chronic then it may be 5,6,7 years until hear you the next project. So he’s one of my mentors.
Essince: The new album is titled “Overdose”, do you think people will assume that is pertinent to your absence from hip hop?
Skee-Lo: Nah, I’ve never done that. I don’t do drugs. I don’t even drink. Overdose is just a Skee-Lo overkill. I have so many styles. I’ve been rapping since rap first started. I learned to rap in New York City when groups like UTFO and Run DMC were out. That was my origin in the game. My father had me in music since I was 9. I’ve been recording music since I was 9. I’ve pretty much mastered just about every style and flow of rap you can imagine. And so this album is really like a full display of my talent. No two songs or flows are alike. [It’s] just a complete free expression of my different styles. It’s like an overdose of Skeelo music. It’s been a while and I know fans are looking for it. I just…overdid it. [laughs].
Essince: I think I heard you say your favorite MC was Ice Cube? Do he and his newer stuff still influence you? And who of the new cats may be a new hope or maybe looked up to from current rappers.
Skee-Lo: Man, if it’s not Ice Cube then I don’t know who it is. Still to this day, the man has always been ahead of his time. I’m originally from Chicago, but I moved to New York when Rap was first getting started but then I came to Cali when it had its first rap group which was N.W.A. and I heard Ice Cube and I heard the authority that the brother spoke with like Chuck D from Public Enemy. He’s always been one of my favorites. And then just look at him today in business, my God! Actually he went independent. The writing was on the wall for me. He’s a perfect example for the future of rap and I’ve always followed his career. And going independent was a good move for him, as well.
Essince: Amerikkka’s Most Wanted was actually the first CD I ever bought…when I was 9 years old. haha
Skee-Lo: And it’s still good. He’s a real business man. A lot of people run around saying, “I’m a Boss. I’m a Boss,” but they’re just taking orders. They’re up under someone telling them what to do. I’m about doing for self.
Essince: Do you still have any of your records from when you were 9? Is there any chance that a 9-year-old Skee-Lo record’s gonna leak sometime?
Skee-Lo: Oh, I’ll probably never leak those. Maybe those will go to my family when I’m gone from this earth but, not while I’m here. [Laughs]. I’ll just throw them in the vault.
Essince: How many interviews have you done where someone does NOT ask you if you wish you were a little bit taller? I feel everyone asks that and feels like they’re the first person to ask you.
Skee-Lo: Yea, but everyone asks me that question, whether it’s in an interview or someone just running into me, it’s one of the most common questions I get and the answer is no. I don’t wish I was a little bit taller. I am a little bit taller. I’m a boss. Got my own label, 70 producers, my business partner on the east coast is Michael DeBarge, we’re operating just like a major.
Essince: So where are you operating from right now?
Skee-Lo: I’m in Cali. That’s my home. I have 2 daughters, 15 and 5.
Essince: Do either of them have aspirations to be in the entertainment industry?
Skee-Lo: Are you kidding me? My whole family is the entertainment industry. But my girls are characters. They are models, actresses, comedians…as well as my wife. If you could spend a day in my household you’d never stop laughing.
Essince: One of my favorite songs from the other album was “Top of the Stairs.” That chorus always stuck with me: “No one really cares about the guy on the bottom/ No one really cares about the guy beneath him/ Everybody wants to be down with the dude on top of the stairs/ Top of the stairs”. How do you feel about that chorus now that you’ve been gone from the mainstream for so long?
Skee-Lo: Man that was like a prediction for me. I didn’t know it at the time. I write poetry. When I write a song I write form the soul, the gut, what I experience. I keep a close post in the street. I’m in the street. I write something for the common working man, if you will. It was something that’s true that I knew. I write songs because they make me and other people feel good. But going on 13 years I hear the gossip. When people don’t know what’s going on they assume all kind of things. You don’t hear your favorite artists they must abusing things. Artists don’t’ control what’s released that’s up to the record labels. A lot of times you don’t hear your favorite artists, even artists with good material. I see just the works of those songs I see how true it is because no one really cares about the guy on the bottom. But when everybody wants you everybody wants you. You know what I’m saying?
Essince: What are some of the craziest rumors you’ve heard about yourself?
Skee-Lo: [Laughs] wow. There was actually a rumor that I was actually deceased.
Essince: I heard that!
Skee-Lo: You did? I’ve heard that a few times. There’s other stuff. Other people think what they think and say what they say.
Essince: Maybe you can use that to your advantage on some Tupac/ Machiavelli stuff.
Skee-Lo: Actually laying low people play into themselves by over exposing themselves. I lay low. I’m a scientist. When I go in the lab I go in the lab. I’m very patient. I’ll spend years putting together a masterpiece to release.
Essince: How do you try and get over being known for “I Wish”? That was such a huge song. Even to this day. How would you go about trying to forge a new identity in 2009? Or would you?
Skee-Lo: Oh, I would never want to be not known as the artist who did “I Wish.” That song’s classic and to this day is selling records. That’s my legacy. That’s what my fans know me for. That’s what opened me up to the world just as a time when pop music wasn’t popular and gangster rap was at its height I was able to be successful with a song that made you feel good. You know we broke all kinda rules on that album. I didn’t curse on that album. It’s not that I don’t curse it’s just that I wanted to prove a point for that project. I broke every rule for what people were saying. “You gotta be this if you wanna be a rapper. Etc”. I was able to say, look man, you can do this on your own terms. I would never not want to be known for doing that record. But I’ve matured. It’s been 13 years and there’s a lot of growth that comes with that. When you hear Skee-lo today you still hear all the things the fans loved about me, the delivery, and the ability to play with words. But the content us even deeper and the sound is a lot rawer because, like I said, your music matures with you.
Essince: I always saw you as a really fun rapper. That CD is one of few that I can just put in and let it ride. But in today’s socio-economic climate what do you talk about? Is this different from 1995? This is obviously a very different time.
Skee-Lo: Yes. But what’s good about it is when I say I’m a scientist I took the sound, or better yet the feel. What was good or good about rap then and put it into a today’s sound, today’s package, today’s flow. This album is very diverse. It’s a roller coaster ride. It’s almost like a complete cycle. You’ll feel like there’s no stone unturned on this project. It’s just very diverse. And it’s a feel good album. It feels like summer time, light in the music but very real. Some records you’ll say, hey, I wanna hear urban music I’m gonna go buy this artist, or if I want pop I’m gonna go get this artist. But what I’ve evolved into is just a well-rounded artist where you’ll get all of that in one package. It’s something you can put in your CD player and play from A to Z without turning it off.
Essince: Did you ever play any instruments growing up or did you always want to be an MC?
Skee-Lo: I was always an MC. But even back in the day when I couldn’t find a producer I wound up buying my own equipment. Some people have egos you can’t deal with. I didn’t have musical training just a good ear and ended up putting together the I Wish album. I’m just very good at working musical equipment. But on this album I have several producers I’ve recruited to work on this project.
Essince: Are there going to be many features or is this going to be a mostly Skee-Lo album?
Skee-Lo: There are quite a few features and climbing. There are some in the works now as we speak. We’re still recording and have like seven songs left. I don’t want to mention any of the features on that because they’re not confirmed yet. It’s not done til it’s done. But what IS done, is YD, ya boy will, Doc Ice from Whodini, Michael Debarge, but there are a lot of features and featured musicians, very well known musicians as well. We just put together a project that was fun with different sounds.
Essince: I loved that about I Wish. There were actually live instruments on it, saxophone, keys, guitar, bass…Is that important to you? Being able to go outside of equipment and having live music?
Skee-Lo: Definitely, definitely. I’m a big fan of live music, myself. The biggest hit records have live music. I’ve studied rap a lot and one year I’ll hear a song and the next year I won’t hear it anymore. And I still hear I Wish. That’s how you know you have a true hit song. I thank God for that and I thank my fans for that.
Essince: I guess touching on that a little bit, how do you feel about the state of hip hop, or even music in general right now that it’s easier for people to record themselves in a home studio and blast it online themselves? I guess it’s easier to get heard but do you think that oversaturation hurts the music?
Skee-lo: I think it’s a good thing. It takes the power away from the majors and allows the artists their freedom and allows them to get paid. One thing I don’t care for is a lot of the content. I come up from an era in rap where you can rap about anything. Kurtis Blow did basketball, the Fat Boys rapped about food. Heck, you can rap about anything. I did a song about being tall! I did another song on my first album called “The Burger Song” which is the McDonald’s menu. As an emcee I feel I can make a song out of anything. But today, there are only 3 topics you’ll hear on the radio, sex, women, and drugs….oh, and money. And that’s about it. I need more content to get through my day. These are tough times. People are really going through it with the economy, with the wars, etc. We can use some more diverse music that really speaks to the people in this time.
Essince: I always felt as an artist and a fan, that the people don’t support artists who don’t make a connection with the fans. Yea, you have money…we can dance to it, it’s kinda cool…but there’s nothing to grasp on to! Those are the artists people download and don’t buy. No connection between fans and artists.
Skee-lo: You’re right. When we dropped “I Wish” the press described it as a breath of fresh air. Rap was going through the same thing then. The more things change the more they stay the same. That’s the kind of project that I hope to put out, a breath of fresh air. This is what you haven’t got. I’ve never been much for trying to fit in.
Essince: I actually reached out to some friends and fans of yours and got a question from Japan actually. She says she’s been a big hip hop head and she noticed the feeling now in hip hop is different from the 80’s and 90’s that no one talks about police brutality or anything social issues. She wanted to know what your definition of hip hop is and is it changing?
Skee-lo: Yea. To be more specific rap music was evolving even in the 90s rap music was reaching its height and was becoming more conscious. That’s what it’s missing. It was conscious music. Like Bob Marley it caused awareness. It makes you think it makes you feel it makes you aware of what’s going on. The music is being dumbed down. It’s by design. It’s not an accident. There’s a generational gap. They’ve not only dumbed it down but they’re not supporting the great artists that brought hip hop this far and introduced a whole new arena of artists who, many of which, have no knowledge of the roots of the music whatsoever. And what is anything without it’s roots?
Essince: I heard someone talking to a kid the other day who didn’t even know who Wu Tang is. I can’t imagine that…if you don’t know Wu Tang then you definitely won’t know Whodini, Grandmaster Flash, or DJ Disco Wiz or any of these people.
Skee-Lo: It’s true. I’ve had the same conversation with a young man who had no idea who Wu Tang was. We watched the video together and he was like, “this is great. Where is this at? Where is this?” [laughs]. It was refreshing to him to hear it. But it’s the powers that be issue. Public Enemy is needed more than ever right now. You dumb down the music music affects the whole culture. Countries like China and Japan today are able to thrive because of ideas that were implemented in their music and their art. It changed an entire society. What happens when you dumb down the music? You change an entire society and not necessarily for the positive. They need more conscious rap.
Essince: I always felt it’s strictly financial. It’s easier to put out some dance song and sell a million ringtones. They don’t develop us. There is no A&R work. They just look for artists who are ready to go, get a few singles out of us, and that’s it.
Skee-Lo: It’s the same thing that’s affecting the whole country which it why we’re in a depression, not a recession, a depression. And that’s greed. Everyone’s trying to get that quick buck. You know? They don’t put anything out.
Essince: And that’s also why you wanted to go independent.
Skee-Lo: That’s exactly why I wanted to go independent. My vision is completely different. I have a more humble approach about my music. I strongly take into consideration the fans. In the past 13 years women probably got the worst deal as far as their image in music being so negative. That’s why on this record there are a lot of songs that will uplift women and make them feel good about themselves. Not calling them B’s and H’s. Not disrespecting or saying that there aren’t songs which do that. I understand there’s a time and place for everything under the sun. I recognize that. But it’s been so overwhelming as far as the negativity. I really hope I can do that, provide some balance to the music.
Essince: I actually talked with MC Lyte and she said a lot of the same things. Just female MCs are so few and far between right now and we’re seeing the same kind of women who are reinforcing the stereotype. There aren’t many stepping up to be in a position to possibly be a role model.
Skee-Lo: It’s really hard for the sisters to get into music because the brothers just wanna sleep with them. They don’t actually wanna help ‘em. This is also affecting the music in a negative way. We need more female MCs. They shouldn’t have to feel like they have to give up something or themselves to do music. It’s ridiculous.
Essince: Are you looking for artists with your new label? Or is this mostly going to be for pushing your project? What are you looking to do with the label?
Skee-Lo: I can’t even tell you when the next Skee-Lo album will be. The only reason I’m releasing an album now is like I said, this isn’t the comeback of Skee-Lo thi s is the start of Skee-Lo music. And I think I’m the best artists to start that. [laughs]. I have a few artists that are coming behind this project and we’re always looking for new artists, talent and producers of all sorts. That offer is always open for any upcoming artists who would like a shot at the title.
Essince: How would someone get in contact with you if an artist or producer sees this and wants to get on?
Skee-Lo: My website, www.skeelomusik.com.
Essince: How many stops are you looking to do on this tour?
Skee-Lo: Well, as many as possible. It’s been a while and we just want to remind people we’re out there. We have a lot of gigs booked from now until December. On the Myspace [http://www.myspace.com/skeelomusic] we have a list of all the gigs and places we’re going to and it’s increasing every day.
Essince: Also, since this is for the Ohio Hip Hop Awards, of course I have to ask about Cleveland. We have a nice music scene out here, with the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and everything. Have you been to Cleveland before?
Skee-Lo: I’ve been to Cleveland before. Twice. And it was the best time that not only I had but my entire crew. Cleveland is definitely one of the livest music scenes and we’re really looking forward to getting there. We got a great show planned and we’re gonna have a good time in Cleveland for sure.
Essince: What can we expect for the show?
Skee-Lo: You’re looking at the best of the new and the old. You’re looking at a time capsule. On the one hand we have the new material which is bangin’. We’re able to take you back right into the mid 90’s with the first project so we’re able to give you the best of both worlds. And then, an added surprise at the end but I can’t tell you about it.
Essince: Ahhh, you’re making us come out to find out, huh?
Skee-Lo: [laughs]. Yea, you’ll have to come and see it. You’ll definitely enjoy it.
Thanks To:
http://ohiohiphopawards.wordpress.com/2009/08/20/interview-skee-lo/
Labels: skee lo comeback 2009
posted by Future1 at 8:29 PM
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