Respecta.is - The Ultimate Hip Hop Portal

1996 - From Where
2005 - Confessions of A Ghost Writer
2008 - The Million Dollar Backpack
2010 - The World Needs More Skillz

Skillz was born in Detroit, Michigan, but at a young age moved to Richmond, Virginia. He first made a name for himself by finishing in second place (Losing to MC Supernatural) in a national freestyle competition which resulted in a recording contract with Atlantic Records. At this time he went by the stage name Mad Skillz rather than just Skillz. Mad Skillz' Atlantic debut album, From Where???, and its single, "The Nod Factor", were released in 1996, but neither received much commercial or critical attention. The album's title was a reference to the regionalism in hip-hop, and at the time the state of Virginia did not have a large hip-hop scene. In the late-1990s more of a Virginia scene emerged, and he allied himself with fellow Virginia natives Missy Elliott, Timbaland, and The Neptunes. He made appearances on Timbaland's albums Tim's Bio in 1998, and Indecent Proposal in 2001; Timbaland made plans to sign Skillz to the Blackhand label he was developing; however, the label failed to materialize. He along with Danja Mowf, Lonnie B, and Kalonji, members of Skillz' Supafriendz collective, also appeared on a remix of Aaliyah's hit single "Are You That Somebody" in 1998.

More recently (2000) Skillz is known for his tell all single "Ghostwriter". Within this single, he names (but edits) artists for which he has written hit singles. It has alluding lines such as 'I'm a ghostwriter, I'm the cat that you don't see/I write hits for rappers you like and charge 'em a fee'. Un-edited versions of the track have not surfaced but Skillz is known to do a live performance in which he includes the names. In one live performance he mentions P. Diddy, Foxy Brown, Mase, Will Smith and Jermaine Dupri. One artist who openly admits Skillz has written hits for him is P. Diddy.

Skillz eventually got a deal with Rawkus, where he recorded his 2002 LP I Ain't Mad No More, the title of which commemorated the official change of his MC moniker from "Mad Skillz" to just "Skillz". The afore mentioned LP was never officially released in the U.S., however, during the Sprite Liquid Mix Tour in 2003 he sold some bootleg versions of this CD. The CD was re-packaged without several tracks as "Confessions Of A Ghostwriter" in 2005. A Supafriends LP, Supavision, and another solo LP. A client for the Mama's Boys management company which also includes Musiq, Skillz has been a featured artist at okayplayer.com, run by Questlove of The Roots. Since the year 2002 Skillz has done a year end "Rap-Up" song that encapsulates the events of the prior 12 months. These have been well-received among fans. Also, after the conclusion of the HBO series "The Wire," Skillz released "The Wire: 5 Seasons in 5 Minutes."

He is the creator of the web series "Hip Hop Confessions" a series of shows that gathers hip hop purists and hip hop lovers alike where they reveal something hip hop related that they have never told anyone. The show has featured Q-Tip , Peanut Butter Wolf, Kwame and Dj Jazzy Jeff. It can be viewed at www.hiphopconfessions.com

He has performed with The Roots, Mos Def, Talib Kweli, Common, Jay-Z, Will Smith, Dj Jazzy Jeff, DJ AM, among others. He is also the creator of The Rap Up a song that he releases at the end of every year that recaps the events of that year in song format.

Skillz's latest album was released Oct. 26, 2010 and is entitled " The World Needs More Skillz".

2003 - Tomorrow Right Now
2003 - Now Soon Someday
2004 - Shock City Maverick
2006 - Only
2008 - Thorns
2011 - End It All

Beans (aka Mr. Ballbeam) hails from White Plains; a suburb of New York City. He is one of the founding members of New York's legendary Antipop Consortium, who disbanded in 2002 but have since reformed: new material was released in the form of the group's 2009 album Fluorescent Black on Big Dada Records.

With his distinctive, fast-flowing and poetic style Beans amalgamates witty, thoughtful lyrics with his own productions of "Chunky psychedelic electro-hop".

Beans has released 2 LP's and an EP on Anti-Pop Consortium's former label Warp Records since launching his solo career in 2003: Tomorrow Right Now (2003), Now Soon Someday (2003 EP), and Shock City Maverick (2004). His 2005 album Only was released on Thirsty Ear, followed by a self-released LP on his own imprint, Adored and Exploited, entitled "Thorns".

Beans has recently released a new album entitled "End It All", which features production by Fourtet, Flying Lotus, Ade Firth, In Flagranti, Son Lux, DJ Nobody, Sam Fogarino of Interpol, Clark, Tobacco, and Fred Bigot. The album was released in 2010 on Anticon.

Beans has performed on the same stage as acts as diverse as Radiohead, Prefuse 73, Public Enemy, Kool Keith, Edan, The Rapture, Missy Elliott, Ex- Models, The Locust, Mike Ladd, and Tortoise.

He has collaborated with, among others, Vernon Reid of Living Colour, Ghislain Poirier, Arto Lindsay, Alec Empire, Funkstörung, Holy Fuck, Evil Nine, and DJ Shadow.

He has been known to perform in a wide variety of venues, from underground clubs in New York's East Village to festivals worldwide. In the past has has taken to the stage armed with only a microphone and a portable CD player for his backing track, further reflecting the minimalist nature of his style. In recent times he been performing and touring with That Kid Prolific.

1996' Hi-Tech - Book Of Life [12'']
1996' Hi-Tech - 24/7 [12'']
1997' Hi-Tech - All Time Einstein [12'']
1998' Creative Feat. Hi-Tech - The Presentation / Continously [12'']