Skaiwater – “wonderful” review

This is the 3rd studio LP from Nottingham, East Midlands, England, United Kingdom rapper & producer Skaiwater. Beginning in 2019 off their debut EP After God Fear Eve, the 4ersona member would go on to put out 7 more EPs along with a mixtape& a couple albums, the most notable being their 2024 sophomore effort #Gigi under GoodTalk Records & Capitol Records fully realizing on the potential that was shown on their earlier material. Coming off the Pinkprint trilogy however, they’re ready to make a wonderful return.

Ti Steele appears for the R&B-tinged duet “as above so below” starting off with both of them singing about the possibility of losing their heads whereas “Star” combines rage & digicore flexing that they made their bitch go punk. The self-produced “iPhone 5” carries over the hypertrap influences talking about leaving their old life in London while “1 battle after another” tries to convince their partner to turn against the streets & their friends.

“Nitty” works in more rage beats to talk about being a real black British punk rollin’ off ecstasy just before “Skins” brings back some of the digicore elements thanks to Ginseng talking about them not needing anyone. “Zoot” is essentially a remix of “6AM” featuring diamond* & one that I lean towards more than the original version while “bodies bodies bodies” melodically asks this woman if she could settle for their soul & admitting to being a bit insecure.

Reaching the halfway point of wonderful, the rage-inducing “Tool” talks about Young Skai loving their bitch more than their firearm & showing her what real hustlers do leading into “Playa” trying to open up their romantic interest’s mind as well as getting geeked after popping’ a couple mollys. “Let the House Burn” fuses hypertrap & industrial hip hop talking about plotting against a hoe who wasn’t even theirs while “blink twice” produced by North West feels more like an interlude sampling “ぽっぴっぽー” by ラマーズP featuring 初音ミク.

“Virgo / My Room” comes through with a 2-parter asking the women they’re seeing if they can trust them & once “Dog” featuring Tezzus continues the subject of relationships over a chaotic BenjiCold instrumental differing from his signature pluggnb style, “A Threesome” leans heavier towards the digicore side of things following a person home to pose the question of possibly having sex with them.

The song “midsommar” featuring Ti Steele reunites the pair that gave us wonderful’s opening moments 1 last time portraying themselves as a couple who meditates over each other while “Marilyn” spends a couple minutes on top of an OPM BABI beat talking about doing drugs for their hoe whilst maintaining control over themselves. “My Zombie” sends off the LP on a more colorfully catastrophic note telling anyone who’s willing to bleed for them that they’ll have to live with that for the rest of their life & telling their babe who wants to get paid that she will.

We were supposed to get Femme Fatale this past Christmas until it got scrapped, but it wouldn’t surprise me at all if some of the material recorded during those sessions made their way onto wonderful & this new era marking Skaiwater’s independence from a major label begins with a full-length that captures Young Skai’s growth since Happy Hour & of course #Gigi. They only produce a few tracks themself rather than doing the whole thing like #mia or the Pinkprint trilogy, reaching out to some of the biggest names currently both behind the boards & on the mic in the process to make tiger lily’s great musical achievement.

Score: 4/5

Keep up with @legendswill_never_die on Instagram & @LegendsllLiveOn on Twitter for the best music reviews weekly!

Skaiwater – “#mia” review

Skaiwater is a 24 year old rapper & producer from Nottingham, East Midlands, England, United Kingdom who began in 2019 off their debut EP After God Fear Eve. The 4ersona member would go on to put out 3 more EPs along with a mixtape & a couple of full-length studio LPs, the most notable being their sophomore effort #Gigi from last summer under GoodTalk Records & Capitol Records fully realizing on the potential that was shown on their earlier material. 7 months later, Skai’s looking to prelude their 3rd album with their 5th EP.

The intro “pop” brings together trap, pop rap, alternative R&B, rage, pluggnb & industrial hip hop telling their bae that they’ve been hustlin’ extra hard for her as of late whereas “feral” talks about being the one to find a reason to run away. “by the moon” expresses the fear of losing the woman they’ve seeing currently just before “wolf” featuring Rada talks about a chick who hasn’t slept in 4 days falling in love with the drugs they doing not even knowing either of their names.

“You don’t feel the same.” reaffirms the love they still has for this woman & suggesting she must think they’re a clown when they’re far from it just before “maria” addresses an individual with that very name wanting to own their heart. “ur song” is a tribute to their soulmate loving her for the way she is just before “manicinamerica” ends the the EP by confessing they’re far from sober wanting to hold Mia in their bleeding arms & asking if they can be a home to their partner.

Young Skai managed to push themself artistically back in June & they prelude the next LP in their disposal with what’s definitely the most I’ve enjoyed an EP from them. The production takes the UK hip hop sound & fuses it with pop rap, plugg, jerk, electropop, trap, alternative R&B, rage, pluggnb & industrial hip hop once more leveling up their pen-game like Skai did previously.

Score: 3.5/5

Keep up with @legendswill_never_die on Instagram & @LegendsllLiveOn on Twitter for the best music reviews weekly!