Lil Skies Biography

American rapper and singer (born 1998)

Musical artist

Kimetrius Christopher Foose (born August 4, 1998), better known by his stage name Lil Skies, is an American rapper, singer, and songwriter from Waynesboro, Pennsylvania. He signed with Atlantic Records in 2017 to release the hit singles "I," "Nowadays," and "Red Roses." The songs peaked at numbers 39, 55, and 69 respectively on the Billboard Hot 100. His major label debut mixtape, Life of a Dark Rose (2018) peaked at number ten on the Billboard 200 chart and received platinum certification by the Recording Industry *ociation of America (RIAA). His debut studio album, Shelby (2019) and its follow up, Unbothered (2021) followed thereafter, peaking respectively at numbers five and 50 on the chart.

Early life

Kimetrius Christopher Foose was born August 4, 1998, in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania. He began freestyling at age three. He was introduced to music by his father, Michael Burton Jr., a hip hop artist formerly known as Dark Skies, now as BurntMan, and his mother Shelby Foose. Foose's stage name is a play on his father's. Foose and his family moved to Waynesboro, Pennsylvania when he was in third grade. When he was 11, his father was injured in a workplace chemical explosion at the Rust-Oleum plant near Williamsport, Maryland.

Career

2016–2018: Career beginnings and Life of a Dark Rose

Skies claims he used to have to sell * and work "little jobs" to pay for studio time and music videos. He also worked at a McDonald's and a *anese restaurant in his hometown. In the meantime, he would spend the summer at a relative's house; it was at that point in time he worked in collaboration with his dad on his first project released on August 14, en*led, "Birth of Skies Vol. 1". Foose and his father would write an album the following year, Father-Son Talk, discussing the recovery process. Foose graduated from Waynesboro Area Senior High School in 2016 and briefly attended Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania before dropping out to focus on his rap career. His musical inspirations are Lil Wayne, Eminem, Wiz Khalifa, The Offspring, Punchline, MxPx, Audiovent and 50 Cent.

In October 2016, Foose opened for Fetty Wap at Shippensburg University and later released his first mixtape, Alone, in January 2017. In July 2017, he released two songs, "Red Roses" featuring Landon Cube and "Off The Goop" featuring Sprite Lee. He would later release other songs that year, including "Rude" and "Signs of Jealousy."

Foose's repertoire of singles caught the attention of Atlantic Records who partnered with his own label, All We Got. He released his first major label mixtape, Life of a Dark Rose, on January 10, 2018. The mixtape debuted at #23 on the Billboard 200 chart and went on to peak at #10. The songs "Nowadays" and "Red Roses" (both featuring Landon Cube) debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 list at #85 and #98 respectively and have since peaked at #55 and #69 (also respectively). He also toured nationally with Lil Uzi Vert in 2017 and began his "Life of a Dark Rose" tour in 2018, but had to end the tour early due to pneumonia. On May 4, 2018, the music video for "Lust" was released, peaking at number 87 on the Billboard Hot 100 and being certified platinum by the RIAA. On May 31, he released "I Know You", featuring Yung Pinch, which peaked at 79 on the Billboard Hot 100 and is now certified gold by RIAA.

Lil Skies performing at the Fillmore Auditorium in May 2019

2019: Shelby

Main article: Shelby (album)

On March 1, 2019, Lil Skies released his album Shelby, named after his mother, while simultaneously debuting the music video for lead single "I". He made a short do*entary for the album on his YouTube channel by interviewing her and surprising her during it by telling her he was going to name it after her. On May 21, 2019, Lil Skies released a video for "Breathe", a song from his album, Shelby.

2020–2022: Unbothered and standalone singles

Main article: Unbothered

On March 4, 2020, Skies released the song "Havin My Way", which features close friend Lil Durk and serves as the lead single from his second studio album, Unbothered (2021). It was followed by the second single, "Riot", which was released on May 14, 2020. "On Sight", the third single, was released on November 6, 2020. "Ok", the fourth and final single, was released December 16, 2020. Skies released "My Baby" with American Singer Zhavia Ward, the lead single to the Unbothered Deluxe, on April 29, 2021.

Skies released multiple standalone singles during his Unbothered singles rollout. "Fidget" was released April 20, 2020. On July 10, 2020, he released the track "Red & Yellow" from the Road to Fast 9 mixtape. "Lightbeam", featuring American Rapper NoCap, was released July 23, 2020.

After Unbothered released, Skies released "Play This At My Funeral", featuring Landon Cube, on March 25, 2022 and "Rage!", released November 27, 2022.

2023–present: Independence and Out Ur Body Music

Main article: Out Ur Body Music

On February 21, 2023 Skies released "Make A Toast" marking his final release signed to Atlantic Records. Skies announced his independence via Instagram Live. On May 19 Skies released "Base", his first release as an independent artist since 2017. On July 7, 2023 Skies released "How Things Go", August 4, 2023 he released "Wake Up", September 22 he released "M.O.M!", October 13 he released "Out My Way!" marking his final release of 2023.

Skies featured on Lyrical Lemonades debut album All Is Yellow, on the song "This My Life" alongside Lil Tecca and The Kid Laroi. The song charted Number 19 on the Bubbling Under Hot 100, 49 on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs and number 20 on the Official New Zealand Music Chart.

Skies unexpectedly released and open mic performance to the song "Pivot" on January 3, 2024. The song did not release on streaming services however, until the release of his mixtape Out Ur Body Music. Skies released the single "Thousands" on February 9, 2024, marking his first solo release of the year. "Thousands" acted as the lead single to his mixtape Out Ur Body Music. "Death" released March 8, 2024 and acted as the second single to the mixtape. Out Ur Body Music released March 29, 2024 and featured eight tracks total, this was Skies first project since Unbothered in 2021.

Personal life

Foose resides in Waynesboro, Pennsylvania. In July 2019, Foose and his longtime girlfriend, Jacey Fugate, had a son.

Foose cites his own song "Red Roses" as his personal favorite song, referring to the musical combination with him and Landon Cube as "epic". He cites Lil Wayne as his biggest music inspiration.

Foose tries to avoid drugs as much as possible after seeing it negatively impact the lives of his old friends.

In an interview, Skies claims if he was not rapping, he would like to do some "Bear Grylls type, outdoor stuff" and that his favorite hobby is fishing.

Discography

Main article: Lil Skies discography

• Shelby (2019)
• Unbothered (2021)

References

Portals:

• :United States
• :Biography