Skee-Lo | |
---|---|
Background information | |
Birth name | Antoine Roundtree |
Also known as | Tha Skee-lo |
Born | [1] Chicago, Illinois, U.S. [2] | March 27, 1975
Origin | Riverside, California, U.S. [2] |
Genres | Hip hop |
Occupations |
|
Years active | 1994–2013, 2024 |
Labels | Skeelo Musik LLC, Scotti Brothers |
Antoine Roundtree (born March 27, 1975), better known by his stage name Skee-Lo, is an American rapper. He is best known for his 1995 song "I Wish", which became a hit in several countries and reached No. 13 on the Billboard Hot 100. [3]
The song was known for its lack of explicit lyrics at a time when gangsta rap was very popular. [4] His debut album of the same title was released shortly thereafter, earning him two Grammy nominations for both the album and single. Afterwards, he stopped his rapping career before coming back to release a new album in 2000 and another in 2012. [5] [6]
This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (September 2020) |
Born in Chicago, Illinois, Roundtree and his family subsequently relocated to Poughkeepsie, New York before then moving to Riverside, California when he was nine. [6] He first started rapping in 1983. [4]
He graduated from Canyon Springs High School in Moreno Valley before moving back to Los Angeles in 1993. He attended El Camino College. At about this time, he converted to Islam and joined the Nation of Islam. [5]
Skee-Lo's debut album I Wish was released in 1995, which he first started working on in 1993. The album was a huge success. One of the singles, "Top of the Stairs", was featured in the ending credits as well as the soundtrack to the 1995 film Money Train . He quietly "retired" from rapping five months after the album's release because of a dispute with label Sunshine Records. Skee-Lo claims Sunshine Records took all the credit from the album's success, and he did not make a single cent from it. [5] "So I refused to shoot any more videos, promote or record music. I'm not their slave. I wasn't working for free." [5] After many years, he eventually won the rights against the label in court.
Skee-Lo recorded a cover of the Schoolhouse Rock! song "The Tale of Mr. Morton", which taught sentence structure (subject, verb and predicate). The song appears on the 1996 compilation album, Schoolhouse Rock! Rocks . [7]
In 1996, Skee-Lo became a VJ for both MTV's The Beach House and The Grind .
He co-wrote "I'll Be Your Everything" by boy band Youngstown. The song is featured on the 1999 Inspector Gadget movie soundtrack.
He returned to the music scene in 2000 with a new single I Can't Stop, which would be the titular track on his second album released in 2001. [8]
In January 2010, Skee-Lo returned from another musical hiatus with the EP Overdose where he collaborated with record producer Michael DeBarge.[ citation needed ]
In 2011 he wrote "Burnin' Up" as part of the soundtrack of the 2013 horror movie Killer Holiday from Lionsgate Entertainment. MTV produced a music video directed by Marty Thomas that was filmed at actor Howie Mandel's house, which was rented by his son to MTV without Mandel's knowledge. [9] It was released under his own indie label, Skeelo Musik.
Skee-Lo made a guest appearance on a track "Now You See My Life" with former Hollywood Undead rapper Deuce from Deuce's album Nine Lives in 2012.
He released his third album, Fresh Ideas, on his own label Skeelo Musik, via iTunes on November 13, 2012. [5] It appeared in stores July 9, 2013. [10]
In 2024, after an 11-year break, he released a new single "Slow Down" independently on Bandcamp. [11]
He and his wife, Stacy Ambrose, reside in Los Angeles. He has five children. [12]
Title | Album details | Peak chart positions | Certifications | ||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
US [13] | US R&B [14] | ||||||||||||
I Wish |
| 53 | 37 | ||||||||||
I Can't Stop |
| — | — | ||||||||||
Fresh Ideas |
| — | — | ||||||||||
"—" denotes items which were not released in that country or failed to chart. |
Title | Year | Peak chart positions | Certifications | Album | |||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
US [16] | US R&B [17] | US Rap [18] | AUS [19] | UK [20] | |||||||||
"I Wish" | 1995 | 13 | 33 | 8 | 74 | 15 | I Wish | ||||||
"Top of the Stairs" | — [A] | 73 | — | — | 38 | ||||||||
"Holdin' On" | 1996 | — | — | — | — | — | |||||||
"Superman" | — | — | — | — | — | ||||||||
"I Can't Stop" | 2000 | — | — | — | — | — | I Can't Stop | ||||||
"At the Mall" | 2001 | — | — | — | — | — | |||||||
"Bounce Back" | — | — | — | — | — | ||||||||
"I Love LA" | 2012 | — | — | — | — | — | Fresh Ideas | ||||||
"Vibe Is Right" | 2013 | — | — | — | — | — | |||||||
"—" denotes items which were not released in that country or failed to chart. |
Year | Video | Director |
---|---|---|
1995 | "I Wish" | Marty Thomas |
1995 | "Top of the Stairs" | Marty Thomas |
1996 | "Holdin' On" | Marty Thomas |
2001 | "At The Mall" | Marty Thomas |
2011 | "Burnin' Up" | Marty Thomas |
2013 | "Vibe Is Right" | Henry Zavala |
2015 | "Raw" | Stacy Ambrose & Antoine X |
Katrina Laverne Kearse, known professionally as Trina, is an American rapper. She rose to prominence in the late 1990s for her collaborations with Trick Daddy on the singles "Nann Nigga", "Shut Up", and "Take It to da House". In 2000, she released her debut album Da Baddest Bitch. Afterwards, she made an appearance on the remix of "One Minute Man" by Missy Elliott and Ludacris. In 2002, she released the Kanye West-produced single "B R Right" featuring Ludacris, from her sophomore album Diamond Princess (2002).
Armando Christian Pérez, better known by his stage name Pitbull, is an American rapper, singer and actor. He began his career in the early 2000s as a reggaeton, Latin hip hop, and crunk performer, and signed with TVT Records to release his debut studio album, M.I.A.M.I. (2004). Executive produced by Lil Jon, it moderately entered the Billboard 200 along with his second and third albums, El Mariel (2006) and The Boatlift (2007). His fourth album, Pitbull Starring in Rebelution (2009), yielded his mainstream breakthrough, spawning the singles "I Know You Want Me " and "Hotel Room Service"—which peaked at numbers two and eight on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, respectively.
Clifford Joseph Harris Jr., known professionally as T.I. or Tip, is an American rapper. Born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia, Harris is credited as one the pioneers of the hip hop subgenre trap music, along with fellow Georgia-based rappers Jeezy and Gucci Mane. He first became acquainted with local music executive Kawan "KP" Prather, and joined his company Ghet-O-Vision Entertainment by the late 1990s. He was led to sign a major-label record deal with its parent company LaFace Records, an imprint of Arista Records in 1999. His debut studio album, I'm Serious (2001), was met with lukewarm critical and commercial reception, becoming his only release with the label. He then signed with Atlantic Records, where he soon reached his mainstream breakthrough and co-founded his own label imprint, Grand Hustle Records by 2003.
Marece Benjamin Richards, better known by his stage name Rich Boy, is an American rapper from Mobile, Alabama. He is best known for his 2006 single "Throw Some D's", which peaked at number six on the Billboard Hot 100. It served as lead single for his eponymous debut studio album (2007), which was released in March of the following year by Polow da Don's Zone 4, an imprint Interscope Records.
"My Life" is the third single from The Game's third studio album, LAX which was released on July 22, 2008. The song, produced by Cool & Dre, features Lil Wayne.
Carlos Rico Walker, better known as Shawty Lo, was an American rapper from Atlanta, Georgia.
"I Wish" is a song written and performed by American rapper Skee-Lo. It was released on April 10, 1995, via Scotti Brothers Records as the lead single from the rapper's debut studio album of the same name (1995). Recording sessions took place at Sunshine Studios in Hollywood, California. Production was handled by Walter "Kandor" Kahn and Skee-Lo himself.
"Deuces" is a song written and performed by American singer Chris Brown featuring fellow American musicians Tyga and Kevin McCall. Produced by McCall, "Deuces" was released digitally on June 25, 2010, as the lead single from Brown's first collaborative effort with Tyga, titled Fan of a Fan (2010). The song is a slow, down-tempo R&B ballad featuring elements from the genres of house and pop music, while the song is lyrically about "breaking it off with a girl after failed attempts to make the relationship work". "Deuces" was later included on Brown's fourth studio album, F.A.M.E. (2011).
F.A.M.E. is the fourth studio album by American singer Chris Brown. It was first released on March 18, 2011, recorded by Jive Records. The album serves as the follow-up to his third album Graffiti (2009). The album also marks his last album with Jive Records.
The discography of American rapper Wiz Khalifa consists of seven studio albums, one compilation album, one soundtrack album, three extended plays (EP), two collaborative albums, 84 singles, seventeen promotional singles, twenty-one mixtapes, and 82 music videos. After signing to the Pittsburgh-based independent label Rostrum Records as a teenager, Khalifa released his first mixtape Prince of the City: Welcome to Pistolvania, and his first studio album, Show and Prove (2006). Following the release of Show and Prove, Warner Bros. Records signed Khalifa in 2007 as part of a joint deal with Rostrum. At Warner, Khalifa released the singles "Youngin' on His Grind" and "Say Yeah". The latter became his first song to appear on a Billboard chart, peaking at number 20 on the US Hot Rap Songs. Disagreements with Warner over the release of a purported major-label debut album led Khalifa to part ways with the label, and release his second studio album Deal or No Deal in 2009 on Rostrum Records alone.
The discography of American rapper Wale consists of seven studio albums, three compilation albums, ten mixtapes, one extended play, sixty-five singles, two promotional singles and forty-one music videos. In 2005, Wale started his music career by releasing mixtapes in the Washington, D.C. area. His debut mixtape was titled Paint a Picture. Following that, Wale released his second mixtape in 2006, Hate Is the New Love. That same year, Wale signed with a local record label in Studio 43. In 2007, Wale was discovered by Mark Ronson and signed with his record label Allido Records, who released his third mixtape, 100 Miles & Running in July of that year.
I Wish is the debut studio album by American rapper Skee-Lo. It was released on June 27, 1995, via Sunshine/Scotti Bros. Records. The album was recorded and edited at Sunshine Studios in Hollywood, California. It was produced by Walter "Kandor" Kahn and Skee-Lo, and recorded and engineered by Todd Tracy. It features guest appearances from Funky & Trend. The album peaked at number 53 on the Billboard 200 and number 37 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums, eventually achieving gold status by the Recording Industry Association of America on November 16, 1995, for sales of 500,000 copies in the United States. It was also nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Rap Album at the 38th Annual Grammy Awards.
Nine Lives is the debut studio album by former Hollywood Undead rapper Deuce. The album was released on April 24, 2012, through 10th Street Entertainment. The album uses both new songs, remake versions, and demo songs recorded following Deuce's departure from Hollywood Undead in early 2010.
Nayvadius DeMun Cash, known professionally as Future, is an American rapper, singer-songwriter, and record producer. Known for his mumble-styled vocals and prolific output, Future is considered a pioneer of the use of Auto-Tuned melodies in trap music. Due to the sustained popularity of this musical style, he is commonly regarded as one of the most influential rappers of his generation.
"Collard Greens" is a song by American hip hop recording artist Schoolboy Q, released on June 11, 2013 as the lead single from his third studio album Oxymoron (2014). The song, produced by production team THC and co-produced by Gwen Bunn, features a guest appearance from his Black Hippy cohort, Top Dawg Entertainment labelmate, and fellow American rapper Kendrick Lamar. The song has since peaked at number 92 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number 36 on the UK R&B Chart. It was met with generally positive reviews from music critics.
"I Wish" is a song by English recording artist Cher Lloyd. It was released on 2 September 2013 as the lead single from her second studio album, Sorry I'm Late (2014). The song, produced by Shellback, Ilya and OZGO, features a guest appearance from American rapper T.I. The song was leaked online on 28 August 2013. Lloyd performed the song on her I Wish Tour (2013–14).
"My Nigga," censored as "My Hitta" or "My N*gga," is a song by American rapper YG, released by Def Jam Recordings and CTE World on September 17, 2013, as the lead single from his debut studio album My Krazy Life (2014). The song, produced by frequent collaborator DJ Mustard, features guest appearances from CTE World label boss Jeezy and Atlanta-based rapper Rich Homie Quan. It interpolates "The Sky is the Limit", as written and performed by Lil Wayne as well as the refrain from C-Murder's single "Down for My N's".
"Show Me" is a song by American hip hop recording artist Kid Ink. The song was released on September 17, 2013, by Tha Alumni Music Group, 88 Classic and RCA Records as the lead single from his second studio album, My Own Lane (2014). The song, produced by DJ Mustard and Mike Free, features a hook by American recording artist Chris Brown. The song peaked at number 13 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and number 23 on the UK Singles Chart.
"Break the Bank" is a song by American hip hop recording artist Schoolboy Q, released on January 21, 2014, by Top Dawg Entertainment (TDE) and Interscope Records, as a promotional single from his major label debut studio album Oxymoron (2014). The song was recorded in 2012 and was produced by The Alchemist. The song has since peaked at number 32 on the US Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart.
"R.I.P." is a song by American rapper Young Jeezy, released as the second single from his twelfth mixtape It's Tha World (2012). It features vocals from fellow rapper 2 Chainz and was produced by record producer DJ Mustard.