Search - Skillz :: The Million Dollar Backpack

A flawless album from Skillz

Lucky Sevens | Tiger Town, Alabama | 11/02/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"There has been a long-running joke in hip hop about battle rappers. While they are great at competing, they are terrible at songwriting and song structure. For a minute, it looked like Skillz was headed down that path, especially if you've heard his 1996 debut, "From Where???". He's back with his first new album in three years, "The Million Dollar Backpack", named so because he was more successful behind the scenes than in front as an artist. He was an in-demand ghostwriter for P. Diddy, Jermaine Dupri, and Will Smith (he co-wrote the title track to Smith's 2005 album, "Lost And Found") among others.



On this new album, it is more focused lyrically, while musically, the sound is an obvious attempt at commercial success, especially on the songs "Crazy World", "(For Real) He Don't Own Me", and "Where I Been", which features singers on the hooks. Surprisingly, it works very well. As a master of punchlines, his humor is still intact on the song "Sick". The hilarious "My Phone", in which Skillz tells the story about how he has the phone numbers to numerous beautiful actresses and singers...until his phone got run over by Jay Leno.



However, not everything is funny, as he talks about the strange world we live in today on "Crazy World". On "I'm Gon' Make It", he describes his experience being in poverty and his willingness to rise above the situation.

The album closes with the industry themed "Hip Hop Died" and "Preachin' To The Choir", a religious themed song with a surprise ending that will leave you baffled. The best track on the album is the song, "Don't Act Like You Don't Know", in which Skillz is upstaged on his own song by Freeway. Overall, I'll say that I really love this album and hated that it got overlooked.

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