Skillibeng To Release Sophomore Album Titled ‘Mr. Universe’
Skillibeng, who has a 2020 single and a 2022 EP titled Mr. Universe, is working on his sophomore album, a follow-up to his Crocodile Teeth LP debut, reportedly also titled Mr. Universe.
“The album, the name is Mr. Universe,” he told Office Magazine in a new interview. “It’s just me showing the world that, you know, I’m just a Jamaican kid who is very relatable through music internationally.”
The project will feature several international collaborations, including a new single produced by Nigerian-British P2J during his visit to England for the Wireless Festival.
Skillibeng previously worked with P2J on WizKid’s Slip n Slide, featuring Shenseea. The producer is also credited for several other tracks with Wizkid, including the hits Essence with TEMS, Ginger with Burna Boy, Mood with Buju, and Blessed with Damian ‘Jr. Gong’ Marley.
He told Office that he remained open to natural collaborations and expressed a desire to work with international stars like Lil Wayne or Future. “Those are some of the artists that I haven’t collaborated with yet internationally,” he said.
“As a kid, the only person that I really wanted to collaborate with was Vybz Kartel, and now I already have two Vybz Kartel collaborations. And I’ve already collaborated with the queen of rap Nicki Minaj. Twice.”
Skillibeng said one of his main career goals was to become a household name like his high school influences, Vybz Kartel and Popcaan.
“That’s the main aim, you know, to be respected musically,” he shared. “For the people to know that music is just my thing, and accept me even 20 years after, for me to be able to still drop a track. It’s like a supermarket. People gonna go to the supermarket that everybody trusts and they got the products they want.”
“So me as an artist, I’m trying to differentiate myself from other artists who might come up and fade away. That’s not what I’m trying to pursue.”
The St. Thomas native’s 2020 single titled Mr. Universe, produced by Cubanlynk Records and Eastsyde Records, was one of his early hits, picking up 14 million views on YouTube. Soon after, he copped some new ink on his forearm to celebrate the song’s success, with the title ‘Mr.’ followed by colored drawings of the planets in the solar system.
In 2022, he released the five-track Mr. Universe EP via RCA Records with the songs Rocket Launcher featuring Rich The Kid and Popcaan, Loves Handles, Thee Most Power, Piano, and Whap Whap featuring F.S.
Later that year, Skillibeng complained that his more substantial songs, such as Mr. Universe, were not being given the same level of support as his new “gimmicks” tracks, such as Whap Whap.
“I’ve been doing good music,” he told Ras Kwame of London’s Capital XTRA.
“I have so much good music that people stop embracing. Why you stop embracing the good music then? I have so much good music. Embrace the good music then. It is the exact point need to be made bro because why don’t you embrace the music? Why do I do Crocodile Teeth (its) at 35 million and Mr. Universe is like stuck at 10 million?” Skilli asked, in a pained manner.
“Missa Universe is so impactful bro. So powerful with so much knowledge and a man mean fi tell me seh, a dem song deh mi fi write everyday. A bet seh him nuh learn everything inna Missa Universe yet. Not even about learning the lyrics – understanding what I’m saying in that song. They don’t bro! But when man seh ‘whap whap whap’, today they say yow it’s rubbish. Tomorrow they hidin in the bathroom dancing bro,” he added.
Skilli’s debut album, Crocodile Teeth LP, was released in 2021 after he signed with RCA Records—an American label under the Sony Music Entertainment group—in partnership with the Jamaica-based EastSyde Records. The album had taken inspiration from the Crocodile Teeth single, which was certified Silver in the UK in September last year.
However, the Crocodile Teeth LP album failed to debut on the Billboard Reggae Albums chart, recording just 627 in sales and streaming equivalent units in its first week of release.
His other projects include The Prodigy: Ladies Only Edition (2021) and The Prodigy (2020) mixtapes.