Skillibeng Says ‘Crocodile Teeth’ Not His Most Lyrical Song

Skillibeng, who says he was just fooling around in the studio when he recorded his mega-hit Crocodile Teeth, is also adamant that the track is not his most lyrically potent song.

“Crocodile Teeth wasn’t really lyrical.  It was me like making a fool of myself in the studio, like dumbing out, like just talking some crazy stuff.  It wasn’t me like really going in,” Skilli recently told Atlanta-based DJ Kash in an interview.

“I have songs like Mr Universe, Genetics, songs like Lyrics, songs like Powerful, songs like yuh know dat guh…  I have a song called Mission.  If you listen Mission right now, it’s a whole complete different person.  I’m just like spitting bars,” he added.

According to Skilli, Crocodile Teeth came out of attempts by him to slow down the choruses of music, so that non-Patois speakers who were fans of his music could better understand what he was saying, even though he goes hard in his verses.   

“In Crocodile Teeth I was spitting my bars.  In Crocodile Teeth, in the second verse, I was going crazy,” he said.

“In a simple way too, I was using metaphoric lyrics shorter, catchier, stingier lyrics, on point, sharp, so the international market could really hear me like understand or try to understand what I am saying in Patois, because I am sayin it in an easier way,” the Hot artist added.

Produced By Johnny Wonder and Adde Instrumentals, the original Crocodile Teeth just surpassed 40 million views on YouTube. 

The remix with Nicki Minaj, which Skillibeng performed live with the rapper at the Young Money Reunion event over the weekend, had peaked at No. 100 on the Billboard Hot 100, last year.

Skilli said even though he now has a solid catalogue of songs, he believes it is still incumbent upon him to continue recording, in order to remain fresh in the minds of his fans.

“I am still not chillin now, but if I wanted to chill like now in terms of recording, I could, because there is a whole catalogue of music I could perform but… that’s what keeps you fresh; that’s what keeps you going through the years and years of music. Yeah man, consistent to your sound and your fans.,” he explained.

He explained that he had already got his heart’s desire in terms of his dream collab with an artist after DJ Kash asked him if there were international artists with whom he was yearning to collaborate with in future.

“My favourite person who I really wanted to do a collaboration with was Vybz Kartel and I already did a collaboration with Vybz Kartel.  So, now it’s like I’m just experimenting like doing songs with new artists, even new artists that are gonna come up, so it’s not about that; it’s about just doing the work,” Skilli said.

He also explained further that the overtures have not been made by himself, but that all the international artists with whom he has collaborated, have been the ones to reach out to him first.

“A lot of artiste reach out to me but I won’t say.  Even most of my collaborations done in the past with international artists, they reached out to me.  It’s been like that,” Skillibeng pointed out.  

As for music producers, Skillibeng said he had no specific producers that he yearned to work with, as for him, his focus was on the beats and not the name of the beat-maker/producer.

“Its all about the riddim,” Skilli said.  “I am a very sceptic beat-picker.  So sometimes I’m like I listen a lot of instrumentals until I find the right one, then I start to vibe right then and there and go with the beat,” he said.

The topic of artists from rural areas like himself, opting to head to Kingston to make a name in music, was also broached, but Skilli was a bit ambivalent about whether or not it is ideal. 

“You don’t have to but you have to at least do what you gotta do to get there. It’s not about like leaving.  But leaving would be more beneficial because… what if you won a Grammy?  How would you collect the Grammy?  Certain stuff you got to do.  When I was living in St Thomas, it was kinda harder to get like on mainstream in Jamaica.  You have to be where everything was happening like Kingston where all of the music was poppin where all a the radio stations deh nd all a dat,” he said.

“Nothing is wrong with leaving.  I don’t like the idea of leaving where you are originally from though, but some people just think about it different.  I don’t have a problem with leaving but, I gotta go back someday, sometime,” he added.