Skeme is closer and closer to becoming a household name in hip-hop thanks to the monster success of DJ Drama’s “Wishing” single, featuring the Inglewood, California rapper alongside Chris Brown and Maryland’s Lyquin.
“It definitely worked out for me,” Skeme says during an interview with Soren Baker on Unique Access. “That song is dope. It’s doing crazy numbers right now. I just looked at it walking in here too so I didn’t say the wrong number, but we was like at 18 million views or something like that, so that’s big for that joint right now. And we Top 3 in Urban Radio. I gotta keep saying that all week. That’s the first time doing that for myself, so gotta keep saying that to everybody.”
This was not the first time Skeme collaborated with Brown. The singer was also featured on “36 Oz” from 2015’s Ingleworld 3. The song was a stark contrast to the subject matter Breezy usually tackles.
“That’s crazy right?” Skeme says about having the crooner on a song about drugs. “…You get the homie, try to talk for himself, go ahead and sing the dope dealer record. That’s dope, though. It was tight.”
When asked about how he connected with Brown, Skeme says it was an organic relationship built upon mutual respect.
“Same kinda feeling when it comes to music, when it comes to making music,” he shares. “We sat across the hall from each other for about maybe two and a half, maybe three years, so we was used to seeing each other, used to working around each other, used to hearing each other’s music, so it just came a point in time where you built up enough to just work. Instead of like, ‘Oh, can you get on a song?’ No, I’d rather just build it and we’ll figure it out.”
Skeme continues to grow in popularity not only as a rapper but also as a songwriter. He says there’s no special process in how he balances his artistry, but just like how he connected with Brown, the working relationship just has to make sense.
“I don’t do too much in neither,” he explains of splitting time between writing and making his own music. “Unless I know I’m in my own mode or I don’t want to be bothered by nobody, it’s just music, at that point in time I know I’m dedicated to whatever my album is or mixtape is or whatever’s coming next for me. Now at this point, the profile’s gotten bigger, so now we kinda only come out for certain things. It’s not like the new cat, that’s really hard. That’s messed up to say, but they don’t have enough head that’s needed. We always gotta figure it out, but it’s not hard at all. Once we pick artist to artist who we’re gonna work for, or we’re gonna figure it out, it takes me all of 20 minutes, maybe an hour to get my head around what we wanna do. Then take me a day to have about four or five songs for that record.”
In regards to how he approaches collaborations, he says it is hard to yield creative control, but understands the importance of creating a support system for his work.
“The control freak has to chill,” he laughs. “You definitely gotta pay attention to some things that’s going on, but other than that, it’s cool either way it go. You just gotta get used to how people work. You get used to the area. That’s it. You see how they playing that day, you’re good. It’s just adapt every time. So if we wasn’t good at that, I wouldn’t be here in the first place.”
For when he does take the time to focus on himself, Skeme is working on his Paranoia mixtape, which has a very real meaning to him. For the most part.
“I’m paranoid about everything at the moment,” he shares. “So that’s where we coming from with that name, that’s just the feeling at the moment, especially when you take a break from music for a minute, too. That becomes a paranoia thing. My son’s growing up, that’s another thing you’re paranoid about. There’s a few things. … Plus it looks cool on a T-shirt.”
The final song, “Star is Born” shows a deeper side to Skeme than most of his records and reflects a pattern that he has established through his career.
“I always try to start off and end that way if I can, if it permits,” he reveals. “Even with ’36 Oz,’ the verse is broken down, a little bit more introspective than anything. So you’re kind of checking yourself out and talking shit about it if you got to, big up on what’s happening. I don’t know, it’s weird. I just got that built in me. I don’t know where I got that from, but I definitely gotta do it every time. I think I’m gonna change that, too. Maybe on the album I’ll do something different, make like a ratchet song for the last one.”
Skeme acknowledges that he’s not the only one to have such a balance in content. He says there’s a whole movement of rappers that stemmed from a certain emcee.
“I’m Lil Wayne’s kids,” he says. “That’s all we is, all of us in this era, a lot of us at least. That’s where I get all of that from. I gotta cover everything. … Even on ‘Wishing’ it’s like I couldn’t just paint a beautiful summer day with a woman. Nope, gotta talk the nasty shit so let’s do it that way.”
Besides “Wishing,” many will remember Skeme’s Ingleworld series as helping launch his career. But Paranoia might be a step in a new direction for the rapper.
“Man, for right now, I put ’em to bed,” he says of naming another Ingleworld project. “I chilled out, I was gonna call my album Ingleworld Forever, but in my head, I’m on so much a different kind of artist at the moment, I don’t even wanna call it that no more. I’m playing with titles, but I’m really set on this one, I think I’m gonna call it Overdue, so that’ll be the name of the first album that’ll be released through a label that I haven’t told anybody that I’ve done a label deal.”