BlackRadioIsBack.com Flashback Video of the Day: Skee-Lo

I remember when this joint came out in the 1990s, thinking that Skee-Lo (real name: Antoine Roundtree) was a bit corny but that the beat for the "I Wish" single was that HEAT.

Somewhere in my Mom's house in Maryland, that cass-single - what y'all know about cassette singles? * waves old lady cane in air * - is buried somewhere in my old room along with my old black and white GameBoy, a cartridge of Tetris and Sega Genesis in a dresser.

Being a shorty in height for life - one is called the 5 Foot Wonder for a reason - it was like, get over it dude and get some confidence, you're not a little bit taller or a baller.

This is the only song I know that really got a lot of play by him - I think its partially because other songs on the I Wish album (1995) didn't compete with the title track, sort of an early case of Amerie Syndrome (ridiculously great set of singles, but the rest of album feels like eh afterwards, fair or unfair).

Folks also have to remember that the more mainstream Hip-Hop being pushed from the West Coast from the mid-to-late 1990s (and soon pretty much everywhere) was gangster rap - the Death Rows, Ruthless Records, etc.

Looking back though, that album isn't really a horrible or a mess at all - almost a pre-Kanye West sort of thing with lesser beats, an average dude sort of vibe.

I don't know anything at all about the Holdin' On album (I Wish with a bunch of remixes) or the I Can't Stop album that was put out around 2000/2001 so I can't comment on whether they are decent, cornball or whatever.

Some interesting things about Skee-Lo I didn't know anything about until Internet Digging:

* He did a cover for the Schoolhouse Rock Rocks! album, "The Tale of Mr. Morton", that covered sentence structure. Folks like Biz Markie, Ween, Moby and Blind Melon were on this compilation too, which seems crazy random.

* Co-wrote a song for a boy band called Youngstown that ended up on the Inspector Gadget movie soundtrack, "I'll Be Your Everything". (Editor's Note: Must have made him some good loot even though that sounds crazy as hell).

Here goes the video:

Skee-Lo - I Wish



Skee-Lo Record Label (don't know if current or not)
Skee-Lo Old Interview
Skee-Lo Wikipedia Entry

Bonus Video of "Where Are They Now?" 1990s Hip-Hop Folks:

Sagat - Funk Dat

What in the hell ever happened to this dude?! Old boy from Baltimore had his video get stupid play around 1994 on The Box, Video Soul and the old Rap City back in the day for about a month or so and it was a wrap.

* dead * at the radio edit being "Funk Dat" instead of "F*** Dat", otherwise there wouldn't have been a FCC regulated joint.



Sagat has an mp3.com if folks want to check it out here.