Steve 'Flash' Juon“I ain’t foldin under pressure, I ain’t switchin for no hoes
I ain’t talkin to no cop and I ain’t tellin on my bros
Ain’t no killer but don’t push me, fingers itchin on that pole
Niggaz plottin on my come up, gotta watch, they on my nose”
Honestly when I first looked at Lil Skies in 2019 I wasn’t that impressed. You might be wondering why then I’m going back even further to review “Life of a Dark Rose” from 2017… or is it 2018? You’d think in the modern internet era it wouldn’t be hard to determine the exact date an album came out. You’d be WRONG. Spotify says December 12, 2017. Wikipedia says January 10, 2018. It’s not a huge difference since they are only a month apart chronologically, but it’s telling that two of the biggest websites online can’t even agree on this one fact. I’ll let you flip a coin and decide who is right because that’s all I can do on my end.
These disparate sources do agree on one thing though — Landon Cube is the sole guest on the album, appearing on the song “Red Roses.” I wish I could say this makes a difference for Lil Skies, but the song is the most aggressively Gen Z thugged out emo trap AutoTune pitched rap possible. “No you can’t see me/say you need me/but you deceive me.” I’m sorry but all I can hear in my head after that is “YOU NEVER LOVED ME MOM.” I’m not sure what Mr. Cube could have done to save this, but it’s an impossible mission even for Tom Cruise. Let’s try “Cloudy Skies” instead.
“So don’t fuck up the vibe, don’t ever waste my time
And when I’m feelin down, will you come stay the night?”
I’m more conflicted about this than I should be. I think men expressing their emotions is healthy and those “grown men don’t cry” people can fuck off. I have no problem with Lil Skies admitting he’s vulnerable and wants a woman he can put his trust in emotionally. His narrative is confusing though because in “Signs of Jealousy” he’s immediately talking about BREAKING HEARTS and being a player. “Think she loyal? I’m fucking your bae.” I’m pretty sure it’s wrong to hear him talking about “old Uncle Tom ass niggaz” even if he wasn’t inconsistent about his attitude toward women. It’s normal for young people to be disrespectful. Is it normal for them to be as obsessed with “Big Money” and using it to abuse women as he is? “All these bitches fuck with us/we on some jiggy shit.” “She know I’m a trick or treat … no I can’t pay your rent.” “If you a pussy I’ma beat the kitten.” Need I go on?
It’s a little depressing that after over 40 years of listening to rap this kind of misogyny doesn’t move me to outrage. I was weaned on Too $hort and in some ways he was more progressive than Lil Skies. Todd Shaw said that women could pimp men too, and that some men were bitches too. Not exactly a productive way for these genders to treat each other, but he was at least equal opportunity oriented. For Lil Skies women exist only to service his needs — emotionally, sexually, or otherwise. They might as well be barefoot and pregnant.
Does it offend me? No, it disappoints me. For a man with a rose tattooed on his face he’s not much of a lover. I guess that’s why he’s a “Dark Rose.” I wish there was more to recommend on this album but it’s rather telling when you scroll left and right on YouTube and see the peak viewership drops off in about 10 seconds on any songs. That’s exactly how I feel about these songs — they’re banal and uninteresting. He offers nothing new and even the same old shit he does offer isn’t done well enough to justify listening to it. I thought by going back further in his catalogue I’d learn more about him but walked away less impressed than I already was.