A Review of Lil Skies' "Shelby"
Pennsylvania rapper, Lil Skies looks to capitalize off the traction built from his 2017 debut project “Life of a Dark Rose,” with the release of his 2019 project titled “Shelby.” Lil Skies made waves with his songs “Nowadays” featuring Landon Cube along with songs like “Welcome to the Rodeo,” “Lust,” and “Red Roses” also featuring Landon Cube. Fast forward to this project with Lil Skies with Lil Skies releasing the lone single to the “Shelby” titled “Name in the Sand.” With that being the only single let’s take a look at the tracklist! “With the release of “Shelby,” Lil Skies releases fourteen songs with Gucci Mane, Landon Cube and Gunna featured on throughout three songs which equate to 43 minutes of music. Excited to get into this project, so without further ado, let’s get to the review!
Categories
The songs on this album divided into three lanes that are prevalent throughout the project
Slow Melodies
“i” (1), “Breathe” (1), “Name in the Sand” (.5)
These songs are primarily melody focused. There’s little rapping on these songs.
Melodic Rap
“Bad Girls” ft. Gucci Mane (.5), “Nowadays Pt. 2” ft. Landon Cube (1.5),
“Stop The Madness” ft. Gunna (1.5), “When I’m Wasted” (1.5), “No Rainy Days” (1)
These songs are containing rap aspects to them. Typically, Skies starting a line rapping and finishing the line with a melodic twist at the end.
Flowin
“Flooded” (1.5), “Blue Strips” (1), “Ok 4 Now” (1), “Mansion” (1), “Through The Motions” (1.5), “Highs and Lows” (1)
These songs have many flows that work directly with the beats on each song.
Must Listen Songs
The concept of Must Listen songs are the songs that would give the best overview of the album as a whole. Songs that stand out for reasons to be described in the pending descriptions of the songs.
“Breathe”
On this third track on Lil Skies’ “Shelby,” the alteration of Skies’ voice, especially on the hook, reminds me of the late rapper, Lil Peep (R.I.P.). The cadence used by Lil Skies is reminiscent of Lil Peep’s cadence on his song “Sex with My Ex,” off his posthumous project “Come Over When You’re Sober, Pt. 2.” The dragging of syllables along with the cadence sounding farther away from the mic on both songs creates a similarity between the songs. The beat made by Palazzo, Based1, and MVAbeats collaboratively is a hard bass driven beat with a fast paced high hats and what sounds like a wind instrument or high pitched piano sound in the background.
“Nowadays Pt. 2” ft. Landon Cube
Dilip, Yugi Boi, and Danny Wolf collaborate for the beat on the fourth song of the project. This bass driven beat with a nice tempo to the high hats and what could be a string instrument in the background. Lil Skies gives his sound on the beat throughout the hook and his first two verses before Landon Cube comes on the beat and gives his contrasting sound. Skies is simply rapping on this song and using a bit of his melodic skill on the adlibs while on Landon Cube's verse, Landon Cube completely sings on the beat which is where the contrast comes into the song.
“Stop The Madness” ft. Gunna
Skies gets a feature from Gunna on this seventh song on this project. Based1 and DruArmada come together to create a calm beat with the use of bells, high hats and a prevalent bass. The use of autotune from on towards the end of both verses gives a new sound to the song which is started off by Skies’ rapping. The Gunna feature is perfectly chosen on this beat which would give a consistent sound on his project “Drip or Drown 2.” As he is known to do Gunna does a great job on this feature which adds to the quality of the song.
“Through The Motions”
The eleventh song on this project and my favorite song on Lil Skies’ “Shelby.” The beat made by Menoh Beats starts with a piano before the high hats bass and wind instruments come in. This song is a showcase of Lil Skies as an artist. He starts off rapping on the hook with a great flow before he uses autotune on the post hook which gives the song the feeling of a pop song. After this comes Skies’ verse which shows him flowing on the beat perfectly. Towards the end of his second verse, Skies is heard singing without the autotune which adds another talent in his toolbox. This song is a great showcase of the potential Lil Skies has as one of the newer rappers.
Final Review
“Shelby” by Lil Skies is an improvement from his first release “Life of a Dark Rose.” The production on this project mainly by Based1, Menoh, and CashMoneyAP is exceptional throughout the project. The use of bass and high hats throughout the project gave an upbeat feel to many songs which helped Lil Skies gain momentum with his flows on these beats. The use of features throughout worked well especially on “Nowadays, Pt. 2” with Landon Cube and “Stop The Madness” with Gunna. The use of only three features throughout the project allowed for Skies to be able to show what he can do on the eleven featureless songs. With the use of autotune from Skies reminded me of the style of deceased rapper Lil Peep (R.I.P.). Overall, this is a great follow up to a strong debut project and I’m excited to see what’s next for Lil Skies.
Scoring
Raw Score: The number of good songs on a project versus the overall amount. Songs must have a +1 or above to be counted.
Quality Score: The total amount of points accumulated over the total amount of songs.
Playback value: The resonance an album is perceived to have if played again in full. Scale out of 5.
Raw Score: 12 /14
Quality Score: 15.5/14
Playback Value: 3/5
Go out and listen to Lil Skies’ “Shelby” wherever you listen to your music. Also, don’t forget to check out OLDMLK’s Instagram page (@OLDMLK) and Twitter (@OLDMLKDOTCOM) for updates on OLDMLK.COM: The Most Essential Hip Hop Blog, The OLDMLK.Com Playlist, The OLDMLK Radar and more!
