Up next in 10
SKILLZ Explains How He "Ghostwrote" For Jay-Z, His Grammy Nod, Pioneering Outta VA & More Rap Stuff
3K views
Jan 14, 2025
Join us as Mad Skillz dives into his Grammy-nominated album, The Seven Number Ones. He shares pivotal life moments, the grind of breaking into hip-hop from Virginia, and the art of ghostwriting for the industry’s biggest names. Skillz reflects on hip-hop's evolution, his legendary collaborations, and why Michael Jackson remains his dream collab. Plus, hear his thoughts on staying authentic in today’s music scene. Don't miss this deep and inspiring convo! 🙌 #MadSkillz #HipHop #TheSevenNumberOnes #GrammyNominated #raplegends Subscribe to AllHipHop on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/allhiphoptv?sub_confirmation=1 Check out more of AHH here on social media: https://allhiphop.com https://twitter.com/allhiphopcom https://facebook.com/allhiphopcom https://instagram.com/allhiphopcom Executive Producers: “Grouchy” Greg Watkins and Chuck “Jigsaw” Creekmur AllHipHop.com, a powerhouse in the Hip-Hop world, was established and brought to life in 1998 by the visionary CEOs "Grouchy" Greg Watkins and Chuck "Jigsaw" Creekmur. Over the years, AllHipHop has solidified its position as an invaluable hub for all things Hip-Hop on the web. With its daily dose of news, exclusive interviews, in-depth reviews, multimedia content, a newly-minted expanding community, and a treasure trove of other engaging material, it has garnered immense praise and a dedicated following. Renowned publications consistently turn to AllHipHop for their news and feature references, attesting to the site's unparalleled accuracy and trustworthiness. Additionally, AllHipHop has fostered strong partnerships with numerous offline print magazines, newspapers, television networks, and radio stations, further cementing its influence and reach in the world of #HipHop. #chuckcreekmur #allhiphoptv #allhiphop #grouchygreg
View Video Transcript
0:08
yo what up y'all this your boy Mad Skills VA in the building all day and right about now you checking out
0:13
allhiphop.com the number one source for hip hop all right peace yes yes yes
0:19
welcome to another edition of allhiphop.com I'm your host DJ thorough AKA thoro bris to the streets I got a
0:26
legendary figure in the building yeah introduce yourself yo this your boy Mad Skills VA all day from where your
0:34
favorite rappers favorite Ghost Writer all that you already know what it is man what's up exactly yo thanks for coming
0:39
through man it's honor man I'm a big time fan man I've been following you since 9596 thank you man you put out the
0:46
KN Factor everybody yeah rest in peace that was on um Atlantic right at Atlantic artifacts
0:55
double X posy right I um you know what's funny I what I remember from you it was a line you said and and and rest in
1:01
peace to Biz you said something about I'll keep Ramen until B get cute rest in peace Biz how did I go over
1:09
with Biz yo yo he I remember one time he ran to me he was like yo you ain't have
1:14
to do me like that yo I was like come on Biz all love he was like yo your breath
1:19
smell like doooo too like you know how Biz was so he got me back mean he got me
1:25
back but um yeah shout out to Biz man rest in peace great brother right there yeah that was definitely a great brother so I'm I'm going just go all over I was
1:31
going to go chronologically but I'm going to go all over okay we going to talk about this new album cuz I I like to get into the now you know mean right
1:37
right uh um let's talk about that title of the album with with these sevens and the ones break it down for us it's a
1:43
spoken word poetry album and it's called a seven number ones um which you know is
1:48
I the album is about seven different things that happen in my life that change the direction of my life okay so
1:55
each song is a moment so the first song is my parents meeting right the second
2:00
song is when my mom used to play hip-hop in the I mean music in the house okay third song is when I first heard hip-hop
2:06
my first daughter first time I fell in love so it's all first that's from where that's from
2:12
where the seven number ones is um the the album that's out now we we got nominated for a Grammy okay um so yeah
2:19
if you're a Grammy voter please listen to it consider it and um check it out but you know in February we going to be
2:25
at the Grammys man now I I I briefly um heard the album I didn't hear everything so not going to sit here and live right no all good all good but um I I was I
2:32
was skimming through it if you will and I noticed how you it was like a spoken word it was like a story it's like a story book it's not your typical album
2:39
it's like you're telling a story of how you became Mass skills even to how you got your name because before Mass skills
2:45
you were known as the funky orator which is trash the name was trash trash it
2:51
wasn't as bad as noris Nori got the worst first rap name ever I'll take the
2:58
funky oror in the chin Nori your name was MC Yahoo with the Baler Bean you out
3:05
of pocket that was crazy right MC Yahoo with the Bal to be next time y'all see Nory call him that right and actually
3:10
somebody I guess a fan if you will a listener yeah a listener name to me cuz you were rhing over mob Deep
3:16
instrumental and somebody said yo I don't know who that was but he got mad was they got mad skills and that was how
3:21
I got my name somebody I never met gave me my name do we know who that person is I still don't know who that person was
3:26
to you need to reveal yourself you know what I mean yo find me bro I for you yeah I got I got I got a old
3:32
school T door for you bro you know right that's crazy so that's that's dope man
3:38
um you seem to have a um a a deep passion for for hip-hop yes changed my
3:44
life yeah Chang your life it comes out in your music it comes out in the way you live Chang out in everything you do
3:50
you dress or whatever like what what does hip-hop mean to you man listen everything man I don't know why I would be without hip-hop this culture you know
3:56
what I mean it spoke to me directly as as a young and you know what I mean and I just remember you know having to
4:04
immerse myself in it I had to have those Shell Toes I had to have that Kango you know I mean I had to have that Puma
4:10
jacket you know what I'm saying so anything that was hip hop related as a youngster man I was I was on that
4:15
cardboard break dance and so when I look back at the life that I've been able to you know have for myself and be able to
4:22
you know put food on the table for my family and a roof over my head just from hip-hop man like that's I never thought
4:28
in a million years that would happen right now that's that's that's dope because see a lot of people now because of the internet we take for granted you
4:34
could get hurt like that yeah but at the time when you were coming up you were from Virginia yes correct um Virginia
4:40
wasn't known for hip-hop so it was very difficult to get notice being from VA
4:46
come yeah even though you're 6 hours away you had to come here yes it's not like that anymore just for you you can
4:53
pick your phone up and get hurt pH and get hurt anywhere we couldn't do that we had to come to New York was what was that struggle like cuz I knew it was a
4:59
struggle coming up here on that Turnpike you know at least once a month twice a month sometimes going to the labels
5:05
going to the you know the seminars and you know what I mean the open mics and standing outside of the clubs with your
5:11
tape trying to get on and then um you know then I did that battle that you know rest in peace clar Ken I did that
5:17
Superman World Supremacy battle battle in 9393 and um that changed my life you
5:23
know what I'm saying like once that happened I had already sent the tape out so hella people went back to work on
5:30
Monday and the Tate was already on their desk desk so he like oh I saw that kid this weekend let me check him out so I
5:35
did then the bidding war started you know I'm saying and Atlantic beat big big beat yeah Atlantic big beat uh one
5:42
that who else was interested if you um oh man you know Tommy Boy loud at the time I want to say East remember East
5:48
West records effect East boy I want to go to Tommy bo back I
5:54
was like day you know what I'm saying like but um you know big beat gave me like a a R&B budget they dropped a whole
6:01
bag on the kid at at 19 you know what I mean so we went with Big B and um
6:07
started working on the album and you know from where it came out of that ni now was Clark instrumental in helping
6:13
you let's speak very much so Clark man listen I lost the battle right came in second and Clark was like yo you dope
6:19
man I want to help you make some demos so I was like all right cool so when I would come back and forth to New York
6:24
you know I would sleep on Clark's couch you know what I'm saying we would make records we would make demos he would help me structure my bars cuz I was just
6:31
rapping you know what I'm saying clock will slow me down get in the pocket say you know the way you say this say it
6:37
like that you know what I'm saying like so when I got on the first thing I did was come back to my OG like OG got to be
6:43
on the album you know what I'm saying cuz clar was Heavy in his production talking about the spread my wings remix
6:48
he just did Junior Mafia the single and the remix so um yeah shout out the clock
6:54
man I used to I used to be on clock's clock's couch talking about Jay-Z no
7:00
not knowing how close him and Jay-Z was and then it got to a point where I you know cuz I was trying to prove myself to
7:06
claw cuz I lost that battle so it it got to a point where clar was like yo son
7:11
chill like I'mma work with you you dope you good but yo chill on the Chill on the Jay-Z Jay-Z is Jesus Christ rap he
7:18
used to tell me this in 93 Jay-Z's is Jesus Christ rap like relax I'm like yo CL I'll battle that like I go at him and
7:25
he like nah chill chill and then later on I remember hearing some of these Jay-Z records that were some of the most
7:32
amazing songs I ever heard in my life and I was like oh I see why he talk like that about him right yeah it it it's
7:38
funny that Clark um took a liking to you because at that time he was multitasking yes he had everybody he was he was
7:44
dealing with Biggie and Jay at the same time while he was dealing with you foxy too foxy what say he had his hands in a
7:50
lot of pots so um rip Clark man he changed a lot of people's lives he helped a lot of people and he definitely
7:56
will be remembered and missed yeah one of the greatest man I ever met Man true friend right now now back to your album
8:03
SE what is it seven make sure I got the title seven number ones seven number ones uh who else who's all on This Album
8:08
uh a lot of people from VA actually um should be yeah I I kept it I kept it fam um I got a couple people on some hooks
8:15
uh is it William William Devon is on there uh Raheem Devon is on there rahem Deon is on there Leila half theway is on
8:22
there I got tracks from James pois you know he played for the roots okay um and uh and my friends I I that's why this
8:30
this nomination is so you know big for us because I'm I'm a manifest it when I
8:36
win this joint I'm winning it with my friends with your friends it ain't like we it ain't like y'all Y they tag me to
8:42
some producers I did this with my brothers and my friends right now now VA has come a long ways man we got mad
8:49
skills we got Clips we got missy we got Timberlin yeah the Neptunes the Neptunes
8:54
I don't know if you remember this group you from VA remember grandm fli and Izzy chill yeah of course girls move their butt yo they some damn yo they was do as
9:02
like they was nice yo they was like our fresh prins and Jazzy Jack I think that was the first people I heard out of va
9:09
yeah girls mve their bus that record was Electric Slide they was dope yo the DJ was they
9:16
was dope I ain't G and they really did their homework those records really Popp and surprised I knew that right I mean
9:22
yo you really du in the CR on that like but yeah Izzy chill Grand Master s man shout out to them they was they was dope
9:28
listen when tell you I'm just like you even though I'm from New York I bought everything outside of New York right
9:34
like I knew about Texas rap I knew about La Chicago if it was like where when I
9:41
went to Tower Records I just bought I didn't know who these people were that's how I discover L finesse though he's
9:46
from the BX he's a wild pitch record L finesse Mike smooth who's this oh Premier the function I just bought it I
9:52
was just buying yeah do what you like digital on the ground I was just buying everything because it was like a sponge
9:57
I just wanted to hear everything that's dope man and that's how I got turned on to every type of music so when it comes
10:04
time to go through parties I know what's going on right you already you already got yeah you already got it that's dope
10:10
you got to do your homework and your research you got to definitely do your homework now man your your pen game is
10:15
is is is uh tremendous I'll just say this to the point where you you you you started ghost riding for a lot of people
10:21
yeah and like the I would say late 90s late 90s 9798 I started ghost writing by
10:26
like by accident so how how did that happen was like it was um it was a DJ
10:32
who uh who was working I was up here working with Timberland actually okay that's around time Missy started bubb
10:37
the rain was out um I was working with Tim and it was another DJ that heard he
10:43
came into my room by accident and he heard the track playe with the hook on it so he he asked he like yo what you
10:49
doing with that and I was like um I was like yo I'm working on it he's like yo you should let me get that I'm not even
10:54
knowing what he's saying to me and in retro say he like yo you should let me get that I'm like yeah yeah I'm going drop like probably do like two verses on
11:01
it maybe like you know maybe I might do three vers he like n you just let me get this part right and I'm like n just hope
11:07
just give me like give me to tonight I'm gonna have a verse on and because I really wanted to be on his he's he's trying to say it in a nice way like I'm
11:14
cool this part crazy right I don't even need your verses I'm I'mma go so so I
11:19
let him get it and and um he put I didn't even know what publishing was or nothing and he put some other rappers on
11:24
it and it was my hook so they hit me back for the splits or whatever I didn't know what that was I own this percentage
11:30
of the record and then like they came out it did what it did and then the check came and I was like
11:36
oh so then he started telling people like they like yo who D like yo you know skills Mad Skills be with Tim and Missy
11:43
he did this so they that would help me get into sessions right and then that's how it happened right you know what I
11:48
mean so that's that was the beginning of the ghost riter journey right and is that what inspired you cuz I on the rockus label you put out a song called
11:55
ghost is that what inspired that whole damn drop but on the Ed yeah yeah on the edits I never put it I
12:01
never put it out there but um back you know when you look back at it you know what I'm saying like it was a smart move
12:07
but I was I was really I wasn't really thinking I was just trying to before it was viral I was just trying to get
12:12
people talking that's what it was I put it out there it was kind of like what 50 did with how to rob and you know what
12:18
I'm saying all those things like that so um I I put it out there and then and it jumped off and um people like oh my God
12:25
who you talking about who you talking about and then like later on they would try connected dos and figure out I never
12:30
I always f a good Ghost Writer never reveals their never reveals right you know what I'm saying but for me I'm like
12:37
I made way more money just by shutting up than than talking so right did
12:42
anybody that you write for tell you verbally like yo don't tell nobody you wrote this I'm I'm going to take care
12:48
for this they was just like yo come on don't do me like that I was like yo I ain't get that paperwork they like yo
12:53
I'm on it and then the lawyer will the lawyer would be fast that day cuz it's like yo you heard His record he calling
12:59
everybody out they thought their names was in it and at the end of it I said if y'all keep around I'mma put this back
13:05
out what your names what your name in it and I think a couple people took that seriously so that was inspired because people was fronting on the money yeah a
13:12
couple people not a lot but I was like let me stretch this out and and see what
13:18
it does and when I threw it out there it went up you know what I'm saying that 12 in went crazy for rockers right now um I
13:24
want to commend you on this too because you're what I call a triple threat and
13:30
what I mean by that is you rap produce and you DJ yeah at the same time yes I have done
13:38
that before you've done I've seen you do that you know um there's a lot of triple threats large professor yeah Diamond D
13:44
finesse finesse you know I mean you know what I'm saying um Eric Sherman's a triple Red Man real Dr Dre be real
13:53
rockim rockim yeah there's a I'm in I'm in a very right small club that's a nice
13:58
club to being you know what I mean how did you develop your DJ skills is that from being around from being around uh
14:07
great great DJs you know what I'm saying like the time that I spent you know I mean around Jeff you know I'm saying I
14:13
tour with Jazzy Jeff for like 13 years as his MC so the time that I spent around with Jazzy Jeff was you know me
14:21
paying attention to cow how to read a room how to read a room right like I didn't I didn't I the one thing about
14:27
DJing is you could be in a room by yourself sharpening your skills you can get the cuts right you get the Fades right the Blends right the transitions
14:34
but you can't practice reading the room you got to be in the room got in the room so once I started getting outside
14:41
and um figuring out you know the thing about DJing where you could kind of
14:46
build Peaks and valleys you could take people up and then take them down and start them back up again so you know
14:51
being able to entertain somebody and keep them on the dance floor for two hours 2 and a half hours is a is a skill
14:57
that's a skill not even that it's one thing to DJ but a lot of people can't rap and DJ at the same time on beat that
15:04
is a that is a mental like I'm in a different club with that too like only people I see do that is like K apri I
15:10
see Ki used to do that back in the days yeah and there's this white boy named Edon I don't know Eon
15:18
J they they dope with that you know cutting cutting yeah and rapping at the
15:23
same time I remember telling Clark I remember telling Clark Kent I was like I said y I want to be the first DJ to like
15:29
be juggle and rap at the same time and he was like yeah I don't know if you going to be able to put it all I was
15:35
like why he said cuz the timing of what your what you have to have in your head to your hands it's like two sep ambidex
15:42
you going have to have two separate things going on I was like I I'm I'm going do it you saying I definitely have
15:48
I'm close I'm close when I when I pull this out comp yeah this just going to be a regular beat jugle it ain't going to
15:55
be no triplets and all of that you know what I'm saying but a beat juggle and I
16:00
don't mean bringing a record back and bringing it other record in while you rapping I mean cutting a Juggle and then
16:08
doing your flow while you're doing the jugle like so your your head is going to have to be like this you I mean like
16:16
right now on your shows do we see a DJ or your everything on the stage oh man as as some of the shows most of the time
16:23
I have I'll have a DJ okay uh or or at least some some band elements I might have a keyboard player drummer just so
16:29
we can get that live feel right um sometimes I might hop back there and do a couple joints but I've been doing a
16:34
lot of parties and the I've been doing a lot of parties in the last five years just spinning just knocking down joint perk I
16:41
mean think qtip used to do a lot of DJ uh rest in peace Biz Mary you know he he
16:47
started KV yeah yeah listen if you would have told me in 88 that by 2,000
16:56
whatever Biz would be the busiest member of the juice crew I'd have been like hell no you know what I mean but Biz
17:03
figured it out man so I watched him I definitely watched he he became a DJ yes for real in high demand in high demand
17:11
like not to rap but the DJ and it and it and it would be so ill when you can DJ
17:16
and then you still got one record that you could get off that everybody know so for Biz the player set and then end with
17:23
just a friend or make the music you know what I'm saying or nobody beats the biz like he had at least like three right
17:29
right so that that's that was always the go so speaking of speaking of those records like everybody has their go-to record that forever that's embedded in
17:35
hip-hop um for you growing up what was the record that got you into hip-hop do you remember that record sucker MC's
17:41
suck MC's run the MC yeah I remember hearing sucker MC's Bare Bones just them
17:46
drums and run right you know what I mean and then I I remember memorizing the record know knowing the record back and
17:52
forth and then one day I saw him on Soul Train and I was like oh like the little
17:58
skinny dude with the sideburns he he kind of reminded me of me and was like oh the other dude with the glasses he cool as hell like so I automatically was
18:06
in tune to it from a from a young right uh for me the first um my first tape um
18:12
was um fat boys my mom B me the fat voice tape W that was the first tangible
18:18
piece of that I had it was the cassette tape and the first tangible piece of
18:24
vinyl I had was um it's yours Jazzy J yep comment
18:29
UST Rock and Jazz by the way was the first record on Jam in Cas you didn't know yeah yeah you know so uh unsung
18:37
hero T Rock T Rock right people always say LL you know in no disrespect to LL but the first time I saw Death Jam logo
18:44
on the record it was T Yeah well yeah I mean if you want to by by by definition
18:50
and how it actually happened that was the first record on that g um I would say maybe um if I'm not mistaken La was
18:57
the first one to put an album out right that's what he was the first to do put a whole album out T Rock never put a whole
19:03
album out on or whatever so that's what he was mentioning now speaking of LL um
19:08
recently LL was on a um internet saying he's the most and I don't want to quote him wrong but he's pretty much saying
19:14
that he was he's the most important person in hip-hop in terms of uh he was the first to wear Jordans he was the
19:20
first to wear uh Golden ice in the chain he was the first to do love stories and
19:26
songs um what's your take on that I now listen I'm going to say this when you're first at something
19:33
that's the first thing let's talk about that when you first at something people usually don't remember right right okay
19:40
a lot of if we if we going back to who did what first then we going to be in trouble we going to be in trouble so but
19:46
here's the thing L if you talking about a man who came out in
19:52
8584 8484 and we still talking about him in 2024 right first of all that's a hell of
19:59
a career bro if you could get 36 years of relevancy in anything right in
20:08
anything so I listen he was the first
20:13
freaking hip-hop Superstar teen Star right it's a lot of first with him yeah
20:20
and and and and I know sometimes it may sound like you know if he sing like d he say he s you on his soap box it's no
20:27
it's true right you know what I'm saying it's true LL is he one of them ones man
20:32
like if you could ask me like yo who whose career would you want to have SK you can trade your career with anybody
20:39
the first two people I think of is LL and Will Smith
20:45
will you know what I'm saying like I get it and I see things like I get it I see
20:51
things in ways sometimes that people don't see them right you know what I'm saying so it's it's weird for me right
20:58
no I get it I get it um I'll just speak on the Jordan thing he said he was the first would have wear Jordans right on
21:04
the album I would say that's true but you were the only one signed to be able to wear Jordans on the album at the time
21:10
if that makes sense yeah you see what I'm saying that's not to say that nobody else had on Jordans yeah you know what I
21:16
mean maybe I mean we get into the semantics then yeah we get into the semantics of he was definitely the first
21:23
to do all of that and I commend him on that and you again we're talking about somebody 36 years later
21:29
still relevant so to me and he coin the term goat people don't give him credit
21:34
bro you got to understand when L was doing hipop when L was rapping he literally would have to get on stage and
21:41
explain what it was it was I saw funny you said that that's crazy that that footage is in Maine he was in Portland
21:48
Main 1984 he was at some school some gymnasium and he had to announc okay the DJ is going to do what we call cutting
21:55
now he's going to go back and forth this is Cut Creator I'm going to do a rhyme over to be like imagine having to
22:01
explain explain what you have seen and it turned into what it turned nobody he
22:06
goes back that far yeah nobody nobody knew hip hop would turned into this right to me LOL is the goat like he call
22:12
the term the goat and I think people just throw that term around oh yeah legendary titles and they're nothing
22:19
they're nowhere near that you can't you can't give yourselfself that title people got to give you that you got people got to give you that you know
22:24
what I mean so that's a I love your perspective on that you know what I mean so so um what do you think you brought
22:30
to the table in terms of hip-hop first of all I put a whole state on the map okay facts by myself Factory when you
22:37
know talk about yo I put my neighborhood on I put my block on I put my city I put a whole state on yeah you were the first
22:42
one by myself nationally to go up from VA you know what I'm saying like we was just talking about grandm slice is Chill
22:48
they didn't nobody knew where they was from yeah they didn't go globally you know what I mean so for me before the clips before Tim Missy the Neptunes it
22:56
was me it was it was me and D'Angelo right see people forget the end you know what I'm saying so you know he an R&B
23:02
singer so he he can't represent like we would want to Rapp it or represent T songs is from VA too right yeah t SS
23:09
from is from VA Chris Brown Brown you know what I mean so um rage lady rage
23:14
damn you're right Lady of Rage is from VA I forgot about that she from out there where I he chilling from CH from
23:19
okay wow so yeah man I I would say I brought a lot of originality to the game
23:25
um you know when I first came out I used to get a lot of like L comparisons cuz our voices were similar that's my
23:31
favorite rapper okay so you know listen totally understand my fav
23:36
rest in peace to rest in peace God bless the dead big one of the illst man I always think about what he would have
23:42
been able to accomplish if he was still here yeah he was insane you know what I'm saying so um you know I was always
23:48
you know trying to bring New Perspectives to the game and I I made sure that I just screamed out where I
23:54
was from people knew where I was from I never wanted people to be like yo where is he from again I was going say that all the time if I wasn't going to say
23:59
nothing else is that why you named the album from where cuz people were listen to you assuming you was from somewhere else when you say VA they go from where
24:06
like from where like n kid you gotta be from Uptown I'm like no I'm from I'm from Virginia from where like it didn't
24:13
even sound rappers like you be in Virginia right and I'm like yeah right
24:18
see now that segue me to this next question what's your perspective now I'm glad you brought that up what's your
24:23
perspective now on the current state of hip-hop and and what's going on like musically uh fashion wise just
24:30
culturally just what's your take on I mean we've lo I feel like we've lost uh
24:35
the originality uh we Lo we definitely lost the balance um we did but you know I
24:42
think as Elder Statesmen and we we've moved into a place where you know most people most Generations don't like the
24:50
generations music that comes after them right the only connection that we had to our parents was we were sampl Recs right
24:58
so when I'm playing my mom biggie she like boy ain't nothing but the AY so now these kids got smarter so
25:05
they're like I'm not gonna sample nothing CU if I sample something I got to get him half I'm not sampling we gonna make this me and Tommy gonna make
25:11
this from scratch right you know what I mean and and we gonna post it on our whatever um right and it's a lot of like
25:18
people attempting to just just Chase Chase Trends instead of be original
25:24
right so I I hate that for these kids that they feel like they got to be something else
25:29
ganga whatever you know I mean like man listen if you a nerd and you sit in the room and you want to make a song about
25:35
anime and Jordans then do that bro don't go out here and try to be that just cuz
25:41
you think that's what's going to get you popping right and who do you who do you think is the blame for kids thinking
25:46
that's what they have to do to get on who who's ultimately the the I I would say us because number one ain't no more
25:52
gatekeeper there's no more Gatekeepers right and I would say right it used to have to be a it was a you had to you had
25:57
to be dope in order to get a little fur you couldn't get on certain platforms or on
26:03
certain things if you weren't dope if you wasn't dope but the internet took all of that away yeah the internet made
26:09
it if you're popular cool not if you're dope not if you're capable you're popular come on so this is a thing where
26:16
everybody's welcome now regardless of their talent playing field and that's and that's just like everybody should
26:21
not be able to play in the NFL no just because I know Deion Sanders that don't mean don't mean that I'm good enough but
26:28
that's how that's how the music is right now you know what I mean and you know another thing too man that I that I see
26:35
um so music success is subjective right so I tell kids all the time if you're
26:41
making a living doing what you love you're successful you are successful yeah period that's it you're you're
26:49
successful that's it you don't have to have the big car the house the Mansion if you're making a living you can pay
26:56
your bills bills doing what you love you're successful so the problem is too A lot of people like all right so when I
27:02
when we were growing up I'll speak for we because I know you can attest to this when we were growing up we had choices
27:07
it it was um it was um how do you call it it was a equal playing field so I can listen to Daylight Soul yeah but then I
27:14
could go listen to IC te yeah I could listen to um schooly D but then I could
27:19
go listen to the Jungle brothers and it's all coexists and it's all we could
27:25
go to a show and see all of this and see all of these people go show and see ks1 NWA Public Enemy De La Soul and freaking
27:33
de Jeff and all on the same show Soul right all on the same on the same show
27:38
and everybody brought something different right the problem is now kids think they have to rhyme and have a on
27:44
track mind because that's what they see mainstream you know what I mean now some of the biggest flashy dudes in the world
27:49
and we can test to this never spoke about the flash but they were Rock himim one the most gold in the world yeah ran
27:56
with the pton full posy if you know you know right you know what I mean never spoke on no jewelry never spoke on the
28:03
Rolls-Royce him they had never spoke on the Dapper Dan clo you saw it it was what it was saw it and we want to talk
28:08
about jewelry who who who wears the most Slick Rick yeah name me one song where Slick Rick is talking about jewelry
28:14
right there is not one there isn't one it was it was it was brought on to to be
28:20
an accentuation to what I was doing not everything that I was doing not everything you was doing I'm not like
28:25
matter of fact I'm so good at what I do I don't even have to talk about this right and see that goes back to the
28:31
talent a lot of this is why everybody figure I can't do that because I have to talk about this in order to get on I
28:37
don't have a mind I don't have a a free mind of talent of of will of I'm not intellectual enough to speak on
28:42
something outside of right Facebook because we we would see our heroes we
28:48
would see somebody like rock Kim Houdini or whatever on on video music box or whatever and we would look at TV and go
28:54
yo I'm never going to be that good do that these kids look at YouTube and go I can do that I can do that tomorrow you
29:01
get a whole bunch of people that can do that and it's not special if every you know they say everybody can have it it's
29:07
not special it's not special if everybody can have it I don't want it I don't want it what's so special about it
29:12
I mean you're right if everybody can hit that I I don't want to I don't want that everybody hit that that's law like
29:18
that's what music is tur into you know what I mean so I appreciate people like you that stick to their heart their
29:25
beliefs they don't sell their soul they don't compromise the Integrity you do the music you love and I always tell
29:32
people this your fans or your fans either you like it or you don't that's how I approach everything I do yeah I'm not trying to appeal to somebody that's
29:38
I like what I do I'm doing what I like if you like it cool if not cool it wasn't for you yeah the problem is
29:45
people try to make these music I call them immature veterans you get people of our age that's a dope term immature
29:51
veteran imature veterans they trying to appease people that they shouldn't be appealing to and that immature you're
29:58
right you got to follow your heart man yeah you got you got you got to follow you got to follow your heart you know me so I used to man listen I would ride
30:05
around in the most expensive cars playing the jungle brothers or playing Public Enemy you know what I mean it
30:10
don't like you would think I'm going to be playing some drug dealing I'm hip hop
30:16
yeah this what I Come From This what I come from so people gotta understand that you don't have to speak about
30:22
materialism that's hip-hop is more than materialism it is it definitely is you know where you from we knew that in day
30:28
right where you from tell a story how you grew up like take me somewhere you know what I mean yeah it's just like
30:34
that's what I don't like about hip-hop now you don't know where nobody's from everybody sounds the same they use the same terminology yeah it's nobody has an
30:42
identity they really don't they just don't and if you don't have an identity you you lost right even you been from VA
30:49
you made it known you were from VA but I'm still dope right right you see what I'm saying yeah that was the difference
30:56
right there yeah you got to do what's in your heart man you know what I'm saying and sometimes it's like don't worry about if everybody else is if that's the
31:02
trend or whatever like bro you literally talking to a rapper who I was rapping for 30 years I just made a poetry album
31:08
and it's Dope by the way and got a and got a Grammy nomination first time in my life ever right you know what I'm saying
31:15
from just speaking my truth and being vulnerable and and going you know this is how I'm going to do this I don't want
31:21
to follow that Trend I'm going do this I'm glad you're not an immature veteran cuz I would look at you differently I
31:26
could tell you a man like yo come on right likeo you out of pocket you doing you out of Pock I want to hear that from
31:31
you cuz I'm growing with you so I'm up here mentally why are you still down here right right and a lot of people
31:36
still are bro you see what I'm saying we got to make music there are still people of our age that want to hear something
31:42
from our perspective you don't have to make music for teenagers yeah you're 40 you're not a teenager why you making music for for for for 20 19 year olds
31:49
why yeah that's a quick way to fail you know what I mean very quick way for that's why you're still here yeah you know what I mean and I commend you on
31:55
that than you brother definitely so um ultimately what what's your lifelong goal in terms of this music are you
32:00
getting everything you got out of it um listen man I you know I like I said the life that I've been able to have for
32:06
myself through hip hop you know I don't get up and punch nobody's clock I get up every day and do what I want to do I'm
32:13
successful man I I ran this up from from VA to the Grammys you know what I'm
32:18
saying by myself you know what I'm saying I've written for some of the most prolific people in the game so you know
32:24
what I mean I'm I'm happy man A Day live a day lived and a life live through music is is an amazing life right real
32:31
quick let's play a hypothetical game I'm like your skills I just produced this crazy record you can put any artist on this record right but it's we gon to
32:37
play hypothetical now the artist could be dead or alive and it could be from any era and it could be any genre or
32:43
music but it could only be one who would you do the song with from any era any genre and dead or alive but one artist
32:51
who are you going to do a song with Michael Jackson I'm going to do the Michael Jackson That's the number one up here
32:57
Micha Jacks I'm going to do the King of Pop if I could have well I know I know why but why Michael Jackson Man listen
33:03
man cuz I never seen nobody I lived through that era and I never seen nobody had that type of impact on people you
33:09
know what I mean so people can sit up like listen I'm going say it to y'all straight in your face I'm going look you dead in your face and tell you this stop
33:16
comparing anybody of this era to Michael Jackson cuz we and you will never see
33:23
another Michael Jackson and I'll piggy back off that if you will uh this man's off of one album we're going to talk
33:29
about Thriller this man sold listen to the word sold not
33:36
physical copy physical copies we talking at the time uh albums not even not even
33:42
CDs we talking cassetes and albums all right he sold 52 million copies of one
33:50
album okay yeah that means 52 million people had to leave their house M to
33:55
purchase this no downloads no streams no nothing so don't ever compare nobody to Michael Jacks never going to see never
34:02
going to see never going to see a person that can't even come to where you live
34:08
to perform cuz there's no place there big enough to hold the people that would
34:13
come right right I'm not even finished yet like so then if he did come let's say he did
34:20
come do the stadium he can't even do the stadium for one day cuz that still ain't enough for everybody to come he going to
34:27
to do the stadium for seven days at least seven days so when he does do the stadium for seven days imagine this he
34:35
takes all of the money that he made from the stadium shows and just give that to
34:40
the community cuz he don't even need the money we not going to see no artist like that we never going to see that again
34:47
man ever so can we please lay that the rest disrespecting anybody but you're not Michael Jackson I'm disrespecting
34:53
everybody ain't nobody fainting at your shows y about to stay up yo ain't nobody
34:58
F at who's fainting who's fainting yo he went to wimbley Stadium nobody's fainting no more you go to wimbley state
35:05
nobody's fainting for you they literally had people that were there just to catch the people that fainted male we talking
35:11
female and male grown men fainy fainy faint catchers who's who can do that now
35:18
who's F bro please who's going to faint for you it's too accessible we know too many people nobody's fainting for you so
35:23
stop it ain't nobody fainting for none of y'all that's a snuff y'all you're not
35:29
even fainting right right now now before we get now we're we're getting close to the end of the year right with that
35:35
being said um you you are known for the end of the year wrapup yes along with um
35:41
now uncle murder right now uh in the past I I don't know if I don't know if it was actual like a disagreement but it
35:47
seems that he kind of overshadowed you in in what you what I what I see you you created that I created he definitely
35:53
created wrapup and he kind of like took the took the crown so to speak like where are you at with that are you still
35:59
doing it are you are man listen what's going on I haven't done it in like three years okay okay um I think it's three or
36:05
four I think I my last one was 2021 maybe so I haven't done it since then um
36:12
and and I probably had some of the most peaceful you know peaceful Decembers
36:17
since then you know what I mean so and when I look at the things that have happened and in my life since I stopped
36:23
doing that song like I mean I wrote I wrote the Jay-Z Rock and Roll Hall of
36:28
Fame speech I wrote that for H you know what I mean say that again I wrote the
36:33
Jay-Z Rock and Roll Hall of Fame speech for HOV that when he got inducted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame I did that I
36:40
did the I did the wp up on BET the 50th when the 50 of year hip-hop came I did
36:45
the wrapup on BET for the 50 year hip-hop wrapup so um and now we talk now
36:51
I'm going to the Grammys for a Spoken Word album so man listen bro shout out
36:57
Uncle M you got it bro enjoy it enjoy it cuz I'm
37:02
on to other things man you know we had our issues back back in 2018 2017 but
37:08
you know murder's a funny dude man I'm sure he gonna make something funny and and entertain the people he going to
37:13
give him the shade he that's all I got man but you know I like to have teachable moments and you know let
37:18
people know it's not what you think it is you know I mean yeah no and I realized I realized mine you know mine
37:24
was very you know I I was you know very ill with it like in in the way that
37:32
I you know like oh skills he don't be going in they don't be talking sh and I'm like yeah cuz he's my friends right
37:39
you know what I'm saying I'm not about to blow a I'm not about to blow a 20y year relationship for a punchline for
37:44
y'all right right you know what I'm saying like I'm I'm still going you know what I mean continue these things so you
37:50
know he got it man and and he can he can um you know he he can definitely put a record together and and keep the people
37:56
entertained but I'mma go Inn this Grammy hey me I feel you I'm busy you're busy
38:03
all right that's that's that's the name of a new album I'm busy I'm busy I'm busy right wow I love it so um before you get
38:11
out of here man I would like to know you are a Lyricist you're one of my favorite Lyricist by the way you know what I mean
38:17
because especially off the top you know what I mean a lot of people can a lot of people can write as you can but a lot of people came off the top also who are
38:23
some of your favorite um Lyricist I won't even say top five but give me some of your some of your lenes that you
38:28
respect that you admire that's up there kooie rap come on Rock him of course uh
38:35
Black Thought black thought he don't get enough credit man he don't get enough credit he don't get enough credit man of course big ho you know what I'm saying
38:42
um ice cube I always admire he's a hell of a Storyteller yeah yeah I always admire Ice Cube's pin game and how he
38:49
could go from writing you know songs to movies this in you got to have a meane ping game to be able to write in
38:54
different um different mediums like that uh man some of the unsung
38:59
heroes of just you know I was Nas of course you know what I'm saying I was always a pride with rest in peace you
39:06
did any work with nas yeah yeah man Nas watched me on the song Nas put me in a blender bro Nas crossed me up at the key
39:13
was that Miss listen I'mma tell y now I'm going go ahead and tell you now dig it up listen to it so it was a song
39:19
on on I always say this I said it on another platform but it's a song on Timberland's first album right timberin
39:26
had a song called uh to my and it was on the Timberland's first album and the album was called um uh Tim's Bio Life in
39:34
the basement you remember uh remember up jumps the bookie it was on that album okay n oh okay I got to go back and he
39:41
bed listen bro to the point like I I I I did my verse right and I thought it was
39:48
dope you know what I'm saying it was almost like a cannabis moment I left my I come back to the studio Manhattan Cent
39:54
I never forget down Hammerstein Ballroom I come back to the studio and N it's like 3 Days Later Nas in latest verse
40:02
and I listen to it and I'm telling Tim like n like I got to go back in it was
40:09
it was too late I couldn't get back I couldn't get I couldn't redeem myself so but then again I looked I was like damn
40:16
VA got a song with nas right right you know what I'm saying got a song with Gods son so I I had to take it but the
40:22
MC in me I was like then he got me you comp you got to know when somebody got you he got me right hey I appreciate
40:28
that man lot a lot of people want want admit that but you know he floated bro so shout out to God Son man man
40:34
definitely definitely so listen man before we get out of here man let people know how they can follow you get in contact with you where they can get the
40:40
album from and all the good stuff listen skills VA on everything that's SK k i l LZ VA on everything um you can follow me
40:48
tap in what I'm doing and like I said man if this if this drops before January 2nd uh the Grammy voting uh Community go
40:56
listen to you know the seven number ones it's up for best spoken word poetry album um and it's for your consideration
41:03
so check it out and if you like it you know by all means um you know check y'all out man love y'all you already
41:08
know what it is all right and real quick man let's talk about that that 1988 Acura Legend B yeah I'm pull up on I'mma
41:13
pull up on you I got a two door CP man with BBs is blue I need I got to holl at you cuz I got to get my interior redone
41:19
I need an interior guy so I Gotta Give by the time I swing it back out next summer I want to have my interior
41:25
straight so you look you look out for us man be out there them accurates Legends yeah I might just come up and just pull
41:30
up on 125th and just sit there 3 days straight let's do it BBS boys we out
41:35
here man all right we got a new member man you see what I'm saying I'm in the building in the building I got the VA
41:41
plug exactly that's the VA plug right there all right so with that being said man I go by the name of DJ thorough let them know the name again your boy Mad
41:47
Skills VA all day like that and like always when you see us one KNE us that mean get on one KNE and Kiss the Ring We
41:53
out Bang
#Celebrities & Entertainment News
#Entertainment Industry
#Urban & Hip-Hop