Music Review! Lil Skies’ New Project ‘Life of a Dark Rose’ & Why It’s Changing My Views on the Young Generation of Hip Hop

So, this music review is a little different for me. If any of you guys have been paying attention to Rap/ Hip- Hop lately, or music in general, the younger generation is taking over and bringing a whole new vibe to the genre, also nicknamed “Mumble Rap”. They are coming from a more Rock/ Alternative background and most of them have admitted to dealing with severe depression; relying heavily on Xanax or similar anti-depressants.

I mean, a lot of mainstream artists suffer from anxiety and depression as well but these much younger artists talk about it a lot more in their music; reaching a pretty diverse group of fans who are struggling with the same demons. While I respect the fact that they are trying to be different, the old school Hip Hop/ Rap fan in me can’t call most of it REAL music. Sure it’s catchy but it doesn’t has much substance. It’s just the same thing repeated over and over again, with verses many of us can’t even interpret.

Let Me Introduce You to Lil Skies…

Kimetrius Foose aka Lil Skies is a 19 year old rapper out of Pennsylvania. He started writing when he was 12 years old and supposedly his father, who was a musician, pushed him to work on his craft. Lil Skies did attend University briefly before dropping out to pursue his music career and dropped some tracks on Soundcloud and Youtube. It didn’t take long before he started to attract some fans and gain popularity.

His popularity really started to grow after he released “Red Roses,” “Lust” and “Nowadays.” “Red Roses” and “Nowadays” have collected over 40 million views on YouTube. Lil Uzi Vert has already co-signed for him and recruited him for his Christmas Tour last year (2017). Skies is currently signed to Atlantic Records, inking the deal some time last year as well.

He is pretty low-key and hasn’t shared much of his family life and background, yet anyway. I can appreciate that, though, especially since he’s still so young and is just really starting to blow up. Things will only get crazier from here and everyone will be dying to know everything little thing about him, whether he wants to tell them or not. Just like with every other young artist, I hope it doesn’t change who they are and what got them to where they are now.

Life of a Dark Rose… What Do I Think?

Let me first say that I was scrolling through Instagram and came across a video of him rapping along to one of his songs in the car. First impression of him was of course how cute he was, even with all of the tattoos on his face. But when I really listened to him rap, I was impressed. He still has the same kind of vibe of Lil Uzi Vert and Lil Yachty, but his lyrics are definitely more clear and lyrics are a bit more diverse.

I definitely  surprised myself because I am not that big a fan of many of the new artists that have been out. I may like 1 or two, mainly the radio-friendly ones, but that’s it. For Lil Skies, I actually like the entire album. I really am trying to give this music a chance; looking at it from a fan perspective, and knowing how much music can help us get through hard times.

As of right now, some of my favorite songs are “Red Roses”, “Lust”, “Cloudy Skies”, and “Nowadays”. Landon Cube, the only feature on this album, is amazing on “Red Roses” and “Nowadays”. And I honestly don’t have any specific reasons for liking those particular songs. Certain songs just stand out to me because of the beat or how the melodies are.

You guys should really check it out, though. Please let me know if you do and what you think of Lil Skies and his music; or “mumble rap” as a whole. But for now, enjoy a little video 🙂

via Director by @_ColeBennett_

Check Him Out!

Twitter & Instagram @lilskies

Soundcloud: www.soundcloud.com/lil-skies