Review For Skillz "Confession Of A Ghost Writer"

[bigted]

http://www.ukhh.com/reviews/nonuk/1976.html

Skillz Confessions of a Ghostwriter LP

Now if you think Virginia imposed itself on the hip hop map with the arrival of Missy, Timberland and the Neptunes, then you need to step off that video game you’re playing or website you’re browsing and go back to your history books. Before any of these people started making noise, there was a VA MC by the name of Mad Skillz who was dropping gems and making people stand up and think, ‘well there’s gotta be more to this hip hop thing then NY or LA’.

Coming up in 94, Skillz released his first opus in 95, named ‘From Where???’, catching the attention of heads worldwide with a singular flow, catchy lines and able metaphors. The success of the album saw him become an in demand featuring MC and drop regular yearly hip hop round ups, that had strong club and comic appeal. Yet it seemed a second album was not to happen. After a false start a few years back, Skillz’ ‘Confessions of a Ghostwriter’ finally drops, albeit a bit late. With productions from some of the aforementioned Virginia golden producers as well as himself, Skillz offers tasty lyrics, treading subjects you don’t really hear about much these days and still packing in punchlines and jokes at the right times. The material hasn’t aged, but the time of release may not be the wisest. Still it gives us something different to chew on, which I for one am glad for.

‘Confessions…’ does serve up some classic Skillz moments: we’ve got ‘Suzie Q’ featuring Ceelo, a southern anthem if I ever heard one, and luckily untouched by the midget hands of Lil Jon, ‘Off the Wall’ with its trademark Timbo beat, ‘PA to VA’ another party song that is bound to work on any floor it’s dropped on and the excellent ‘Skillz vs Shaqwan’, the highlight of the album with Skillz battling himself in the shape of a hater. It’s songs like that which show Skillz’ true potential as an MC. Unfortunately, with 13 songs on there, the flow and energy that Skillz displays early on feels lost at times as the beats and styles change up. You can’t help but feel like this has indeed been rushed through slightly after being held back for so long. Tracks like ‘Imagine’ and ‘Wave Ya Hands’ feel out of place. Lyrics wise, the subjects are varied as you’d expect from this VA veteran, from party mood to serious subjects, he never follows the road of the thugs and gangsters instead opting for lyrical sceneries which are so missing from many albums today. His mom, tours, groupies and lovers all feature at some point, yet this also adds to the confused element that the album is trying to do too much instead of focusing on the things it does very well.

Still this is a lovely headnodder of an LP and one which you should check if you’re unfamiliar with the man’s work. He may not be mad anymore, but he’s still got the skills, that’s for sure.

[MaxFly]

Hope he has a 3005 rap-up... Should be hot