Rapper Skillz has
launched his own label and inked a distribution deal with Koch to release an upcoming
untitled album.
The Richmond, Virginia’s label, Big Kidz Entertainment,
recently inked a joint venture deal with Koch to release an album filled with
all-new material.
Skillz said the concept of Big Kidz Entertainment came to him
a few years ago, as he was out shopping with a friend.
“I was getting some money from writing and some checks
started coming in so I just started buying s**t and [a friend] was like ‘Damn,
dog, that’s one thing that ni**as act like when they get some money.’
[I said] ‘What’s that?’ [He said] ‘Like a big ass kid,
you actin’ like a big ass kid,’” Skillz told AllHipHop.com.
The logo for the new imprint features a child holding a briefcase
full of money, sitting on top of the world.
“I think the average person, everybody’s got a little
bit of a child still in them,” Skillz said of the concept.
Originally known as Mad Skillz, the rapper released his critically
acclaimed album From Where??? in 1995, that featured the single “The
Nod Factor.”
The rapper resurfaced on albums by fellow Virginia natives Timbaland,
Missy Elliot and The Neptunes and appeared on the remix to Aaliyah’s Timbaland-produced
single "Are You That Somebody," in 1998.
The rapper officially dropped the “Mad” from his
name with 2002’s album, I Ain’t Mad No More and released several
more albums, as well as the popular yearly “Rap Up” singles that
recap major events in the world at the end of the year.
Almost 10 years later, the rapper is preparing to release an
album on his record label, with international distribution.
“Back in the day, I just got the regular artist deal,”
Skillz said. “You [are] breaking your neck, doing all this s**t and you’re
getting the smallest amount of money you can get. And gone are the days where
n**as are spending $300,000-400,000 to record an album. I’m happy about
it. Now, I’m getting all kinds of demos. I listened to like 9 demos and
beat CD’s on the way up here [to New York] because I never know. I might
stumble on the next Kanye, the next Just Blaze.”
Skillz untitled
album is slated to hit stores in early 2006 on Big Kidz Entertainment/KOCH Records.
