Skee-Lo — I Wish

Debut album by Antoine "Skee-Lo" Roundtree, a Chicago native rapper who grew up first in Poughkeepsie, New York, then in Riverside, California, moving to Los Angeles as a teenager.

He later converts to Islam and joins the Nation of Islam. The album revolves around the lead single, the title track, which comes out in spring 1995: "I Wish" becomes a huge commercial success, is classified on three continents, sells 600,000 copies domestically and is certified gold. It's warmly received by critics as one of the best rap songs of the season, due to Skee-Lo's humble and honest lyricism, it has a good slow and smooth flow, simple chorus and fresh rhythm, with good loop, good drum and funky samples. The single is nominated for a Grammy as Best Rap Solo Performance, losing to Coolio.

The great, completely unexpected, success of the song forces the label to monetize this extraordinary event as quickly as possible and the album is put together with sensational speed. The production is carried out by Kandor and by Skee-Lo himself, who make use of a deep live instrumentation performed by ten different people, as well as some choristers. In search of another hit, bland songs come out that don't matter: the production is neat, clear, soft, West Coast, never impressive. There's a dry and gaunt midtempo drum, sometimes hammering and tight, hard, there are many g-funk synths and good samples. In fact, the album features some of the less memorable uses of Isley Brothers '"Between the Sheets", Miles, Monk, again Isley Brothers, DeBarge, Simply Red, Kool and the Gang, "Rapper's Delight", Honey Drippers and J.B.'s.

On these sound carpets, Skee-Lo spits bravado rap with an effortless, slow, decent style, unable to tear off the one-hit wonder label: the lead single dragged the album to the top 40 among rap albums and gold certification. In addition to the title track and its remix, there are ten songs, for a total of over three quarters of an hour of listening. Released by Sunshine and Scotti Bros., the CD gets worldwide distribution because this latest label has signed a distribution agreement with BMG: the Sunshine instead, managed by Kandor, drains the pop rap artist to the last penny and forces him to retire from the scene for many years after the release of his debut. Only later will Skee-Lo win the court case against Sunshine. The product is definitely not the album of the year, if not for the Grammys, for which it's a candidate for this title, losing to Treach.

Rating: 5/10.