Lil Skies is a 25-year-old MC who has been making waves for nearly a decade now. The Pennsylvania native just released his latest full-length effort, in the form of a mixtape titled Out Ur Body Music. Connected Sound producer Zerby solely produces the project, which has already sparked a wide array of responses from fans since its release on March 29th. Out Ur Body Music serves as a follow-up to Lil Skies’ sophomore effort, 2021’s Unbothered. The project spans 8 tracks, spread across 24 minutes, including a few singles that were released ahead of the tape’s Easter Sunday drop. Without further ado, let’s examine Lil Skies’ latest effort and review the material therein.
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The Mixtape Seriously Lacks Sonic Diversity
Out Ur Body Music starts strong with a track titled “Call Me.” The opener offers a distant vocal sample from the 2011 Joell Ortiz track of the same name, as Lil Skies raps about loneliness, difficulty connecting with friends, and his desire to turn to illicit substances to numb his pain. Unfortunately, the following track “Drank Talk” touts a nearly identical instrumental, and continues to harp on the same subject matter without adding any new or innovative ideas. Both songs utilize aggressive high hat-forward drum kits, stuttering over low-end 808s to provide a sparse background for Skies to synthesize interesting themes, though he ultimately never does.
Instead, Lil Skies auto-croons his way through some sleepy vocals, once again highlighting alcohol and drug use as self-medication for his tortured emotions. However, it’s important to note that Skies self-identifies as straight edge, opting to abstain from alcohol and drugs. This means that references to such substances throughout his music are there simply for artistic license, and ultimately ring hollow.
The Singles Didn’t Do Skies Any Favors
The mixtape continues into “Thousands” and “Death,” which were each released prior to Out Ur Body Music as singles. While “Thousands” serves as a preview to Lil Skies’ latest material, it ultimately falls flat. The track sees Skies tapping into a growling aggressive voice, which plays so against-type that it makes the track sound like Lil Skies’ lackluster attempt at performing a DMX song on karaoke night. The track also features painful lyrics such as “All you n****s talkin’ tough, but we know you ain’t bold. Treat ’em like some toilet paper, throw ’em down the toilet bowl.” 2024 has already been a big year for poop and toilet bars, which need to be retired from modern music at all cost so that we can progress as a society.
“Death” has some of the same problems, though Lil Skies’ deeper delivery sounds much better here than it does on “Thousands.” Still, this track sounds like Skies doing a forgettable Playboi Carti impression. Even after burying his voice in layer after layer of reverb and autotune, Skies fails to experiment outside of the sound presented in the first tracks of the mixtape, making the whole project run together in a blend of forgettable SoundCloud trap. Having said that, the vocal refrain of “I had to stomp him with the big Balenciaga boots” is admittedly catchy, and makes this track kind of a highlight.
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Conclusion
Out Ur Body Music ends with a four-track run of ultimately forgettable songs the completely rehash the ideas at play in the first half of the tape, causing listeners to tune out somewhere between “Misunderstood” and “Change On Me.” The closing track is one of the worst on the outing, offering insufferable vocal mixing that overstays its welcome almost immediately. Unfortunately, Lil Skies didn’t put his best foot forward on this mixtape, leaving very little to love about Out Ur Body Music. The good news is, the only way to go from here is up, so perhaps the Atlantic signee’s next project will be his best yet.
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