Lil Skies

His parents are divorced since a long time, but he remains in touch with both of them.

In a recent interview, he denied all rumors about him being a drug addict. He, however, stated that he sometimes smoked marijuana. He stated that he understood the side effects of consuming drugs and that he did not like the fact that many young artists were dying due to drug overdose.

Lil Skies was born Kimetrius Foose, on August 4, 1998, to interracial American parents in a middle-class household. His father, Michael Burton Jr., was a struggling musician and was known by his stage name, ‘Dark Skies.’ He could not make a great music career, but his immense love for music made Skies fall in love with the art form.

As a child, Michael loved listening to rap music. Skies, however, was introduced to all genres by his father. Michael would often take him to the studios with him. Inspired by his father, Skies started freestyling on his own. His father recorded his voice and showed it to his friends. Hence, Skies was inside a recording studio for the first time at the age of 4.

While he was in school, his father was badly burned in an explosion and sustained severe injuries. Skied finally formed a bond with his father when he was in hospital. Prior to that, Skies was not serious about his career. However, forming a bond with his father changed his perception. Soon, he decided that he wanted to become a rapper.

Skies attended the ‘Waynesboro Area High School’ in Pennsylvania and graduated with good grades. He listened to Lil Wayne and 50 Cent and became a huge fan of both these artists. Inspired by Lil Wayne, he decided his stage name would be ‘Lil Skies.’

After graduating high school, Skies got enrolled at the ‘Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania.’ By then, he had decided that it was the right time to get into a full-fledged music career. He tattooed his face to prevent himself from getting a steady job. He dropped out of college in the first year and ventured into a rapping career at the age of 18.

By the time he joined university, he had already started freestyling on rap beats at college shows. He was also academically good. As a result, he became quite popular in college. He once got the opportunity to open a Fetty Wap show. This led him to gain a massive online fan base.

However, by then, he was already a minor celebrity on ‘YouTube’ and ‘SoundCloud.’ He uploaded his music video for the song ‘Lonely’ in August 2015, and the thunderous response to the song made him work on more music. He continued to upload music videos on ‘YouTube’ and slowly gained followers.

In 2016, he uploaded a second music video, ‘Da Sauce,’ which became a massive hit and gained more than a million “views.” His ‘SoundCloud’ account gained followers with each new upload. The same year, Skies released his debut mixtape, ‘Good Grades, Bad Habits 2.’

The first instalment of the mixtape was not released publicly. The tape talked about his struggles in school and college, as he was a straight-A student. However, his interests lay somewhere else. The mixtape was released on ‘SoundCloud’ and ‘YouTube.’

By 2017, he had started making music full-time, as he had already dropped out of college by then. In January 2017, his second official mixtape, ‘Alone,’ was released. Following this, he started working on his first debut album, which was to be recorded under the independent label, ‘All We Got.’