Orlando rapper Skyxxx comes with mad energy. His presence is potent and dynamic, but he’s also self-aware and completely in command of all aspects of his artistic identity. Take the music video shoot for the remix to his rambunctious banger “Hotboy” with burgeoning rap star NLE Choppa, where he called the shots from the beginning.
“My look is like a moving GQ photoshoot,” he said about the making of the “Hotboy” music video. “That’s the aesthetic I go for. I don’t really use effects in my videos or none of that. I just like a clean look and our aesthetic is what balances everything.”
Born on the East Coast and raised in Orlando, Skyxxx grew up listening to and, still does, mainly listen to Mobb Deep, Lauryn Hill, and an underground rapper named Kekone, whom Skyxxx claimed as one of the best rappers he knows. Kekone is why Skyxxx chose to chase his rap dreams.
Skyxxx’s upcoming EP Madhouse EP is finished and upon its release, it is sure to be a true representation of the creative monster he is.
“I represent that house in the neighborhood, in the suburban neighborhood, [where] everyone’s just out there, jogging outside and sh*t,” he said of the forthcoming project. “I thought of the idea when I was just getting home at 9 in the morning from the studio. I was f*cked up, I’m smoking a cigarette and I see people just getting up jogging and I was like, damn, they’re not even aware of this house full of creators right next to them. It was like a madhouse. It was like the place you can’t see what’s right there, that you choose not to see because you live in a different world than we do. The world is a madhouse.”
Choppa and Skyxxx brought their magnetic mania to the lavish music video set, trading dance moves and performing their parts on-camera multiple times until the director was satisfied with each shot. For Skyxxx, Choppa hopping on the track was “dope” and he credits the powers that be for getting him on there since the “Shotta Flow” rapper doesn’t do many features.
“I made that song a year ago,” Skyxxx revealed. “Honestly, I made that song in five minutes. I was just high as f*ck. Drunk as f*ck and that’s just how I felt, like a hotboy. That’s that moment when you feel like you good, you got some money in your pocket, no one can tell you sh*t, you feel fly, you feel good. That’s what ‘Hotboy’ is about.”
Watch the music video to Skyxxx’s “Hotboy” remix featuring NLE Choppa up top.
