Lil Skies - Life of a Dark Rose

Lil Skies
Life of a Dark Rose
2018
Spotify

Ever look at an album cover or an album title and think "man I'm gonna hate this shit". That's how I felt when I saw this debut album from Lil Skies Life of a Dark Rose. As trap has become more mainstream it has made a decided shift towards the emo in the underground scenes. Lil Skies has gotten some decent play on Youtube and Soundcloud but even some diehard hip hops fans would scratch their heads when hearing his name. Think of Lil Uzi Vert in style and substance but much much worse. I didn't think these wrods would ever come out of my mouth but it feels to much like pop-trap. He still cuses, still has tattoos and talks about "trappin" but it feels hollow as all hell. Yet throughout the album He is right on the edge of something pretty good. The beats are solid, his delivery is pretty good and He is actually able to rap but when you listen it just feels off. Should trap be this romantic? "Garden" is an all out love song that feels like it should be sung by Usher rather than Lil Skies. He also does this fucking annoying thing where He says certain words like other rappers, the exact same inflection, which adds to this idea that maybe Lil Skies isn't coming up with this stuff all on his own. The beats also feel so slick for a debut record. everything is razor tight making you think that someone or something big is behind the scenes pushing this forward.

One of the most important aspects of old school hip hop was authenticity. When someone said the dealt drugs you needed to know it was true or their rap career would be short lived. In hip hop today the premium isn't on truth telling anymore, instead it's just about making a good song. People are much more willing to let someone say something in music without having to back it up today. It makes it hard for someone who has listened to hip hop their entire life to adjust to this sentiment, but it is important for understanding where music is moving. "Kill4u" however is where much of this breaks down and it becomes some inane fucking song about what Lil Skies would do for his love. He is so emo throughout this whole thing, it's almost laughable. It's all the sadness and romanticism of  Drake with Lil Uzi Vert's delivery and it is eye roll inducing at best. This album ended up being better than I thought at first pass, but man it will really take a shift in perception to stat thinking this style is where hip hop is going.

6.4 out of 10