Skillz – The Million Dollar Backpack - @@@

With each passing year our culture thrives off of a need for fresh faces bringing novelty to the game and in 2008 for every act like Common who has maintained relevance since the early-mid 90’s, you can find four Black Moons struggling to hold on. [Formerly Mad] Skillz finds himself in just this position having had bad luck battling the corporate machine, as he’s faced obstacles like his debut From Where??? hitting stores the same day as seminal releases All Eyez On Me and The Score, and cutting deals with Rawkus Records & Timbaland that went nowhere just to name a few setbacks. After questionable career moves like entertaining a serious rap battle with Shaquille O’Neal and relegating himself to a role combining those of Peter Jennings and Dick Clark with his annual "Rap Up" series, Skillz has finally shifted his focus back to recording albums. His official sophomore release The Million Dollar Backpack is an artistic vision of caking up while simultaneously staying rooted in making music of substance.

Employing braggadocio is understandable as a process nearly as involuntary as blinking for a MC, and while anyone rapping should believe their shit bears no odor, Skillz comes off as cocksure to a fault. On the album’s opener “Where I Been” he opts to strut with “swag” rather than honestly detail the 11 year gap between his albums, while “Sick” is unoriginally reminiscent of Canibus’ antiquated “I been nice since…” raps and “Don’t Act Like You Don’t Know” featuring Freeway is a blatant bite of the guest star’s classic “What We Do”. Other low points include the uninspiring “So Far So Good”, his attempt at reaching women and clubs with “He Don’t Own Me”, and the bizarre “Crazy World” which would be better suited on a Broadway stage than a rap album. Infrequent celebratory moments come courtesy of stirring production from ?uestlove & James Poyser on “Hold Tight”, Bink’s “I’m Gon’ Make It” and “My Phone” which is still a PG rated rehashing of Biggie’s “Dreams”.

While some may give Skillz a pass for sounding “authentic” and having his heart in the right place, The Million Dollar Backpack finds him running Hip-Hop’s omnipresent risk of falling victim to one’s own hype. His essence is comprised of stale battle raps and a self-assured confidence that he assumedly believes will capture the hearts of the masses, ultimately finding him uninteresting with little new to say.