Lil Skies

Lil Skies crafts melodic emo rap where verses and hooks blend irreverent humor, casual boasts, and vulnerable confessions without distinction. Breakthrough came in 2018 via the multi-platinum singles “Red Roses,” “Lust,” and “Nowadays,” all housed on his major-label debut mixtape Life of a Dark Rose, which reached the Billboard 200’s top ten. The Pennsylvania native followed that success with his first studio album, Shelby, a 2019 number-five entry, then issued the more refined Unbothered in 2021 and the short 2024 project Out Ur Body Music, plus various standalone tracks.

Born Kimetrius Foose in Waynesboro, Pennsylvania, in 1998, he showed an early pull toward music, writing and recording by age twelve before adopting the Lil Skies name as his commitment deepened. While attending Shippensburg University he withdrew to pursue music full-time once his audience expanded rapidly. Regular live appearances followed, including opening slots for Fetty Wap and other rap acts. Several independent singles and videos surfaced, among them “Signs of Jealousy,” which drew Atlantic Records’ attention and secured a deal in 2017; Life of a Dark Rose arrived late that year and peaked at number ten on the Billboard 200.

Further 2018 collaborations yielded the Top 100 hit “I Know You” with Yung Pinch and “Creeping” with Rich the Kid. Additional non-album releases paved the way for Shelby, released in early 2019 and featuring Gucci Mane, Landon Cube, and Gunna; the set reached number five on the Billboard 200. In 2020 came “Riot” and the Lil Durk-assisted “Havin My Way,” both later included on Unbothered, which entered the Billboard 200 at number fifty upon its January 2021 arrival. Roughly a dozen singles appeared between projects from 2021 through early 2024, after which the concise mixtape Out Ur Body Music surfaced in March, fronted by the defiant “THOUSANDS.”