S. Samuel
Virigina rap veteran Skillz is showing he represents the real hip-hop by taking on Jay-Z and Kanye West's "Otis" instrumental and proclaiming his greatness as an emcee.
Titling the track “Yeah So What,” Skillz reminds fans of his talent.
You have to give it to Virginia repping rapper Skillz on one thing at least, he knows how to get people talking. Hot on the heels of the unveiling of “Otis” the first official single from Jay-Z and Kanye West’s forthcoming Watch The Throne LP, Skillz gets his hands on the instrumental and delivers some heat on “Yeah So What.” With lines like “I heard they sh*t, fam that was it”, “old n*ggas trying to make a comeback song” and “If I ain’t the best from Virginia then godd*mmit who is?” Skillz will definitely ruffle feathers, but… So what right? (Soul Culture)
Skillz also hit up Twitter to defend his freestyle plus remind fans he is not beefing at Jay and Ye.
“I cant rap over Ye and Jay’s beat?? Says who? You? FOH…lol And while Im at it? Lemme clear sumn ish up! I rap. Over beats. Been doing that for awhile. lol And I aint sneak dissin Ye or Jay…them 2 n*ggas will prolly never hear the freestyle!! But if they did? So What? They aint worried abt me,” he tweeted July 24th.
“I know Jay personally…I heard “Otis” and thought it was ok.. I expected more..I said that in the freestyle…”
“The “old n*ggas trying to make a comeback song” aint about Jay. Its just a line. I talk slick…I talk slick in regular conversation.”
Months ago, Skillz talked to SOHH about flourishing as a ghostwriter.
“I have a passion for writing songs. So that’s where it all stems. Sometimes [my lyrics] work well for me. Sometimes [they] work well for other rappers. Sometimes [they] work for R&B artists. But it all stems from the passion of songwriting. I wouldn’t even consider it ghostwriting now. It’s just songwriting. I have a passion to tell stories through music. [There’s] a zillion things that I could say in a song that I could never say in a rap. And sometimes I know, ‘This song, it’s cool for me but it works better for Justin Timberlake and it’s going to make me a lot more money if I can sell it to him.'” (SOHH Guest Star)
He is also known for dropping an annual “Rap-Up” record chronicling the year’s headlines.
“As long as people want me to do it, I’mma do it,” Skillz revealed to radio host Jenny Boom Boom in 2009 about his infamous series. “[I began] the 15th of the month. I usually start right after Thanksgiving but like I said, I went out of the country, I was out of the country for a while and you know, I was just trying to get my thoughts together and when I came home, I was just formulating how it was gonna go and when I was gonna leak it. I was in the UK, me and Jazzy Jeff…You can get [the song] on iTunes, it should be available on iTunes — I appreciate the people that like the song. It’s a good song, it’s a funny song and I think it works so well because it’s actually what people are thinking, they’re just not used to hearing it how I say it.” (“Jenny Boom Boom”)
Check out “Yeah So What (Otis Freestyle)” below:
