WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.020 You know, when we think about classic cartoon 00:00:02.020 --> 00:00:05.120 characters, there's like this comforting, built 00:00:05.120 --> 00:00:07.839 -in expectation of invincibility. Oh, totally. 00:00:07.940 --> 00:00:10.460 Like Wile E. Coyote. Exactly. A character runs 00:00:10.460 --> 00:00:12.660 entirely off a cliff. They hang in the air for 00:00:12.660 --> 00:00:14.699 a second looking at the camera. They plummet. 00:00:14.779 --> 00:00:17.539 They create a massive, chaotic crater in the 00:00:17.539 --> 00:00:19.399 ground. And then in the very next scene, they're 00:00:19.399 --> 00:00:21.940 perfectly fine just dusting themselves off. Right. 00:00:21.940 --> 00:00:24.339 It's hyperkinetic. It's incredibly colorful. 00:00:24.579 --> 00:00:28.660 And crucially, nothing ever really hurts. The 00:00:28.660 --> 00:00:31.199 damage is just an illusion. It's the ultimate 00:00:31.199 --> 00:00:34.039 form of escapism. The consequences are entirely 00:00:34.039 --> 00:00:36.460 temporary, and the chaos is generated purely 00:00:36.460 --> 00:00:38.640 for our entertainment. But what happens when 00:00:38.640 --> 00:00:41.899 you take that exact hyperkinetic, invincible 00:00:41.899 --> 00:00:44.880 cartoon energy, apply it to a real -life musical 00:00:44.880 --> 00:00:47.240 movement, and then real life, with all of its 00:00:47.240 --> 00:00:50.759 brutal, irreversible permanence, actually crashes 00:00:50.759 --> 00:00:53.320 in? Yeah, that is a heavy transition. It is, 00:00:53.560 --> 00:00:56.240 because today's Deep Dive is exploring the Wikipedia 00:00:56.240 --> 00:00:59.299 page of a figure who lived exactly that impossible 00:00:59.299 --> 00:01:02.399 duality. We are looking at the life, the meteoric 00:01:02.399 --> 00:01:05.219 career, and the profound resilience of Stokely 00:01:05.219 --> 00:01:07.859 Cleavon Goldborn. Who you listening almost certainly 00:01:07.859 --> 00:01:11.040 know better by his stage name, Ski Mask the Slump 00:01:11.040 --> 00:01:15.280 God. Right. It is a remarkable heavy story to 00:01:15.280 --> 00:01:18.140 analyze because for you the listener This isn't 00:01:18.140 --> 00:01:20.920 just like a standard music biography where an 00:01:20.920 --> 00:01:23.260 artist releases a few albums and wins some awards 00:01:23.260 --> 00:01:25.700 No, not at all. This is really a real -time case 00:01:25.700 --> 00:01:29.459 study on how highly localized completely unpolished 00:01:29.459 --> 00:01:32.560 internet movements can suddenly morph into global 00:01:32.560 --> 00:01:35.799 phenomena. It really is. And, perhaps more importantly, 00:01:35.939 --> 00:01:38.500 it's a deep exploration of the immense psychological 00:01:38.500 --> 00:01:41.959 toll that comes when sudden stratospheric fame 00:01:41.959 --> 00:01:44.480 violently collides with devastating personal 00:01:44.480 --> 00:01:47.420 loss. And our mission for this deep dive is to 00:01:47.420 --> 00:01:50.159 explore that exact tension. Like how does an 00:01:50.159 --> 00:01:53.219 artist who essentially helped invent the wildly 00:01:53.219 --> 00:01:56.379 colorful hyper energetic subgenre known as meme 00:01:56.379 --> 00:01:58.780 rap navigate a personal life that became defined 00:01:58.780 --> 00:02:00.819 by incredibly public tragedy. It's an almost 00:02:00.819 --> 00:02:03.659 unimaginable juxtaposition. You have this candy 00:02:03.659 --> 00:02:05.900 colored internet troll aesthetic on one side 00:02:05.900 --> 00:02:08.180 and some of the absolute darkest realities of 00:02:08.180 --> 00:02:10.159 the human experience on the other. Okay, let's 00:02:10.159 --> 00:02:12.139 unpack this from the very beginning, because 00:02:12.139 --> 00:02:15.080 the origin story here is dripping with unbelievable 00:02:15.080 --> 00:02:18.020 irony. Oh, the irony is thick. Right. So Stokely 00:02:18.020 --> 00:02:20.439 was born in 1996. He grew up in Fort Lauderdale, 00:02:20.439 --> 00:02:23.319 Florida. And the spark that essentially ignites 00:02:23.319 --> 00:02:26.300 his entire career and frankly, a massive chunk 00:02:26.300 --> 00:02:29.639 of 2010s hip hop culture. He's around $10 worth 00:02:29.639 --> 00:02:31.819 of weed. Around $10 worth of weed. I mean, it 00:02:31.819 --> 00:02:34.599 really is the ultimate butterfly effect. A completely 00:02:34.599 --> 00:02:37.860 microscopic event reshaping a massive industry. 00:02:38.090 --> 00:02:41.250 It reads exactly like a comic book origin story. 00:02:41.409 --> 00:02:44.210 In 2013, he gets sent to a juvenile detention 00:02:44.210 --> 00:02:47.330 center over this tiny, almost negligible amount 00:02:47.330 --> 00:02:49.370 of marijuana. Which is crazy to think about. 00:02:49.469 --> 00:02:52.210 It is. And it's inside that lockdown facility 00:02:52.210 --> 00:02:54.909 that he meets another teenager during time. And 00:02:54.909 --> 00:02:58.110 that kid happens to be XXXTentation. Yeah. You 00:02:58.110 --> 00:03:00.250 have these two rebellious kids meeting in a high 00:03:00.250 --> 00:03:02.449 -stress environment. And according to the sources, 00:03:02.569 --> 00:03:04.710 their initial plan for when they got out wasn't 00:03:04.710 --> 00:03:06.789 to take over the music industry. Not at all. 00:03:06.810 --> 00:03:09.620 They were actually planning to commit home invasions. 00:03:09.960 --> 00:03:13.159 Which serves as a very stark reminder of the 00:03:13.159 --> 00:03:15.520 socioeconomic realities these teenagers were 00:03:15.520 --> 00:03:18.719 facing. The trajectory they were on was incredibly 00:03:18.719 --> 00:03:21.199 dangerous. Absolutely. But instead of going down 00:03:21.199 --> 00:03:24.539 that path of escalating criminality, they pivot. 00:03:25.159 --> 00:03:27.360 They start making music together upon release. 00:03:28.060 --> 00:03:31.180 And what's fascinating here is the musical foundation 00:03:31.180 --> 00:03:34.139 that Stokely Ski Mask already had built up before 00:03:34.139 --> 00:03:36.900 he even met X. Right, because it wasn't just 00:03:36.900 --> 00:03:39.500 a sudden random decision to try rapping. Exactly. 00:03:39.580 --> 00:03:41.960 It wasn't just raw, unguided aggression, was 00:03:41.960 --> 00:03:44.139 it? He actually had technical chops from day 00:03:44.139 --> 00:03:47.800 one. He really did. Yeah. He is of Jamaican descent. 00:03:47.960 --> 00:03:50.159 And his parents constantly played Jamaican music 00:03:50.159 --> 00:03:53.439 in the house, exposing him to very specific complex 00:03:53.439 --> 00:03:55.180 rhythm. Oh, that makes a lot of sense. But more 00:03:55.180 --> 00:03:58.139 directly, his father was actually a rapper himself, 00:03:58.460 --> 00:04:00.659 operating under the stage name Sin City. Sin 00:04:00.659 --> 00:04:03.180 City, got it. And his dad didn't just casually 00:04:03.180 --> 00:04:05.490 encourage him or like buy him a microphone for 00:04:05.490 --> 00:04:08.590 his birthday, he actively forced his son to focus 00:04:08.590 --> 00:04:11.289 on writing his own raps. He made him study the 00:04:11.289 --> 00:04:13.909 craft. Wow, so he was really trained. Yeah, so 00:04:13.909 --> 00:04:16.810 by the time Ski Mask is in juvie, trading ideas 00:04:16.810 --> 00:04:18.629 and learning different rapping cadences from 00:04:18.629 --> 00:04:22.550 X, he already has this deeply ingrained, highly 00:04:22.550 --> 00:04:24.870 technical understanding of how to construct a 00:04:24.870 --> 00:04:27.790 verse. He understands breath control, internal 00:04:27.790 --> 00:04:30.399 rhyme schemes, and pocket. I do have to push 00:04:30.399 --> 00:04:32.360 back a little here, though. Sure, go ahead. Because 00:04:32.360 --> 00:04:34.839 if you look at the list of his actual musical 00:04:34.839 --> 00:04:36.839 influences from the sources we're pulling from, 00:04:36.939 --> 00:04:39.899 it is completely chaotic. Oh, it's all over the 00:04:39.899 --> 00:04:42.680 place. Right. He cites Busta Rhymes, Missy Elliott, 00:04:42.819 --> 00:04:45.199 Lil Wayne, and the Wu -Tang Clan, which, you 00:04:45.199 --> 00:04:47.220 know, makes perfect sense for a rapper. Standard 00:04:47.220 --> 00:04:49.339 hip hop foundation, yeah. But then he also says 00:04:49.339 --> 00:04:52.459 he actively listens to classical music, heavy 00:04:52.459 --> 00:04:56.339 metal, and, wait for it, Adele. Adele? Yeah, 00:04:56.420 --> 00:04:59.399 Adele. So how on earth do you put heavy metal 00:04:59.399 --> 00:05:02.079 Busta Rhymes and Adele into a blender and pour 00:05:02.079 --> 00:05:04.560 out something that the industry labels meme rap 00:05:04.560 --> 00:05:06.699 and SoundCloud rap? Like how does that actually 00:05:06.699 --> 00:05:09.480 work musically? Well that tension is the exact 00:05:09.480 --> 00:05:13.459 genius of that specific era of internet rap and 00:05:13.459 --> 00:05:15.839 Ski Mask was the primary architect of how to 00:05:15.839 --> 00:05:17.620 make it function. Okay break that down for me. 00:05:17.819 --> 00:05:20.819 When you have influences that broad, you aren't 00:05:20.819 --> 00:05:22.800 constrained by the traditional boundaries of 00:05:22.800 --> 00:05:25.949 what hip -hop is supposed to sound like. To understand 00:05:25.949 --> 00:05:28.050 how he did it, you really have to look at the 00:05:28.050 --> 00:05:30.990 mechanics. Right. He took the rapid fire, triplet 00:05:30.990 --> 00:05:33.449 vocal cadences of someone like Busta Rhymes, 00:05:33.810 --> 00:05:35.670 but instead of putting it over a traditional 00:05:35.670 --> 00:05:39.050 boom bat beat, he layered it over aggressive, 00:05:39.550 --> 00:05:43.430 distorted, blown out 808 bass lines. Bass lines 00:05:43.430 --> 00:05:45.730 that literally sound like your car speakers are 00:05:45.730 --> 00:05:48.310 breaking. Exactly. It mimics the aggression and 00:05:48.310 --> 00:05:50.029 the clipping distortion of punk rock or heavy 00:05:50.029 --> 00:05:52.329 metal. It commands your attention because it 00:05:52.329 --> 00:05:54.560 sounds dangerous. It has that edge to it. But 00:05:54.560 --> 00:05:57.579 then he juxtaposes that heavy metal aggression 00:05:57.579 --> 00:06:01.860 by sampling melancholic, melodic vocals, like 00:06:01.860 --> 00:06:04.839 in a Dell track, or even ridiculous nostalgic 00:06:04.839 --> 00:06:07.180 cartoon theme songs. Which is just so bizarre 00:06:07.180 --> 00:06:09.660 when you think about it. It is. But that friction 00:06:09.660 --> 00:06:12.839 between elite technical rapping, ear -shattering 00:06:12.839 --> 00:06:16.800 bass, and weird, nostalgic samples is what creates 00:06:16.800 --> 00:06:18.399 the sound. And that's where the term meme rap 00:06:18.399 --> 00:06:21.000 comes in. But I think people really misunderstand 00:06:21.000 --> 00:06:22.959 that label. Oh, so? They think it just means 00:06:22.959 --> 00:06:25.620 funny rap. like parody music, but it was actually 00:06:25.620 --> 00:06:27.740 about weaponizing internet culture, wasn't it? 00:06:27.839 --> 00:06:29.800 Precisely. It was about hacking the algorithm. 00:06:30.560 --> 00:06:33.620 By using obscure pop culture references, ridiculous 00:06:33.620 --> 00:06:36.540 song titles, and recognizable cartoon samples, 00:06:37.000 --> 00:06:39.000 Ski Mask was building an inside joke community 00:06:39.000 --> 00:06:41.500 with his listeners. Sort of a if you know you 00:06:41.500 --> 00:06:44.319 know vibe. Exactly. Aesthetically, he's wearing 00:06:44.319 --> 00:06:47.100 these multicolored durags, presenting an image 00:06:47.100 --> 00:06:49.860 that is deeply unserious on the surface. But 00:06:49.860 --> 00:06:52.360 when you actually hit play, you were met with 00:06:52.360 --> 00:06:55.180 lethal technical skill. It catches you off guard. 00:06:55.800 --> 00:06:58.540 So he and X formed the collective, very rare, 00:06:58.879 --> 00:07:00.939 and then co -found members only, and they just 00:07:00.939 --> 00:07:03.579 start dropping these raw audio files on SoundCloud. 00:07:03.920 --> 00:07:06.079 But this hyper -local, completely unpolished 00:07:06.079 --> 00:07:08.339 energy cultivated down in Broward County, Florida, 00:07:08.779 --> 00:07:11.920 didn't stay a local curiosity. It breached containment. 00:07:12.040 --> 00:07:14.379 It absolutely exploded. Following his release 00:07:14.379 --> 00:07:16.779 from GUVC, mass just starts flooding the internet. 00:07:17.019 --> 00:07:19.540 We get the members -only volume 1 collaboration 00:07:19.540 --> 00:07:22.800 mixtape with X in 2015, followed quickly by volumes 00:07:22.800 --> 00:07:25.819 2 and 3. He was relentless with the output. As 00:07:25.819 --> 00:07:28.220 a solo artist, he's dropping tracks that are 00:07:28.220 --> 00:07:30.279 basically taking over the internet's underground. 00:07:30.620 --> 00:07:33.600 Songs like Catch Me Outside, Life is Short, Baby 00:07:33.600 --> 00:07:36.120 Wipe, and the massive anthem Take a Step Back, 00:07:36.399 --> 00:07:39.019 featuring X. Which eventually goes gold. Right. 00:07:39.620 --> 00:07:43.600 The momentum was staggering. By May 2016, he 00:07:43.600 --> 00:07:46.689 drops his first mixtape. drown in designer. But 00:07:46.689 --> 00:07:48.290 you can't just look at the streaming numbers, 00:07:48.449 --> 00:07:50.430 you have to look at the network he was building. 00:07:50.589 --> 00:07:52.910 Because he wasn't just insulated in Florida anymore. 00:07:53.069 --> 00:07:55.779 Not at all. The features list alone tells you 00:07:55.779 --> 00:07:58.019 how big this was getting. He's suddenly working 00:07:58.019 --> 00:08:01.259 with Lil Pump, Denzel Curry, and Lil Peep. All 00:08:01.259 --> 00:08:03.339 massive names in that scene. And he's doing tracks 00:08:03.339 --> 00:08:07.259 with established stars like AAP Ferg, Lil Yachty, 00:08:07.339 --> 00:08:09.759 and Offset. He's crossing international lines, 00:08:09.839 --> 00:08:11.839 collaborating with artists from the 88 rising 00:08:11.839 --> 00:08:13.800 label like the Higher Brothers and Keith Ape. 00:08:13.980 --> 00:08:15.980 It was a global movement. And on top of all that, 00:08:16.079 --> 00:08:18.439 he gets to work with his favorite producer, Timbaland. 00:08:18.649 --> 00:08:21.230 That is a massive collision of different musical 00:08:21.230 --> 00:08:23.529 subcultures. If we connect this to the bigger 00:08:23.529 --> 00:08:27.250 picture, this specific run is the moment the 00:08:27.250 --> 00:08:29.790 mainstream music industry establishment realizes 00:08:29.790 --> 00:08:32.350 they can no longer ignore the internet. They 00:08:32.350 --> 00:08:36.110 had to wake up. Ski Mask was proving that this 00:08:36.110 --> 00:08:38.549 blown -out SoundCloud revolution, as Rolling 00:08:38.549 --> 00:08:41.230 Stone called it, wasn't just a quirky teenage 00:08:41.230 --> 00:08:45.000 fad. It was... highly commercially viable. Right. 00:08:45.019 --> 00:08:47.279 It was generating millions of streams without 00:08:47.279 --> 00:08:49.460 a traditional marketing budget. But wait, I'm 00:08:49.460 --> 00:08:51.480 a little confused here. Okay, what's confusing? 00:08:51.620 --> 00:08:54.440 If the entire appeal of SoundCloud Wrap is that 00:08:54.440 --> 00:08:58.679 it's raw, unpolished, and completely anti -establishment, 00:08:58.820 --> 00:09:02.330 doesn't... signing with a major label kill the 00:09:02.330 --> 00:09:04.330 very authenticity that made him popular in the 00:09:04.330 --> 00:09:06.009 first place? That is the danger, yes. Because 00:09:06.009 --> 00:09:08.529 he bridges that gap. He goes from uploading raw 00:09:08.529 --> 00:09:11.830 files on SoundCloud to signing with Victor, Victor 00:09:11.830 --> 00:09:14.590 Worldwide, an imprint of Republic Records. How 00:09:14.590 --> 00:09:17.250 did he survive that transition without his core 00:09:17.250 --> 00:09:19.769 fans turning on him? That is the tightrope he 00:09:19.769 --> 00:09:22.169 walked so well. He survived it because he didn't 00:09:22.169 --> 00:09:24.230 compromise the core aesthetic. He just upgraded 00:09:24.230 --> 00:09:26.629 the distribution pipeline. Oh, I see. When he 00:09:26.629 --> 00:09:29.279 dropped his debut commercial mixtape, You will 00:09:29.279 --> 00:09:33.740 regret. In June 2017, it still sounded like Ski 00:09:33.740 --> 00:09:36.200 Mask. You still had that gritty feel. Exactly. 00:09:36.440 --> 00:09:38.840 It still had the distorted bass and the cartoonish 00:09:38.840 --> 00:09:41.519 energy, but now it had the muscle of Republic 00:09:41.519 --> 00:09:44.379 Records to push it onto the Billboard 200. So 00:09:44.379 --> 00:09:47.240 he didn't sell out his sound. No, he proved you 00:09:47.240 --> 00:09:49.679 could take the raw DNA of the internet and package 00:09:49.679 --> 00:09:52.830 it for the masses. By 2018, he is named to the 00:09:52.830 --> 00:09:55.789 prestigious XXL freshman class. And it peaks 00:09:55.789 --> 00:09:58.409 with his debut studio album, Stokely, released 00:09:58.409 --> 00:10:01.649 in November 2018. It reaches number six on the 00:10:01.649 --> 00:10:03.809 Billboard 200 chart. Huge accomplishment. It 00:10:03.809 --> 00:10:06.730 gives us massive Hot 100 hits like Faucet Failure 00:10:06.730 --> 00:10:09.149 and Nuketown, which featured a rising rapper 00:10:09.149 --> 00:10:11.389 he had recently befriended named Juice World. 00:10:11.750 --> 00:10:14.169 So from a purely career -oriented perspective, 00:10:14.409 --> 00:10:16.990 he has achieved the impossible. He took a chaotic 00:10:16.990 --> 00:10:19.509 underground culture, forced it into the mainstream 00:10:19.509 --> 00:10:22.169 on his own terms, and successfully translated 00:10:22.169 --> 00:10:24.570 viral fame into undeniable billboard dominance. 00:10:24.750 --> 00:10:26.370 But if you look closely at the dates here, there 00:10:26.370 --> 00:10:28.610 is a really disturbing collision between his 00:10:28.610 --> 00:10:30.950 highest commercial highs and his absolute lowest 00:10:30.950 --> 00:10:34.769 personal lows. Yeah, the timeline is rough. Here's 00:10:34.769 --> 00:10:37.389 where it gets really interesting, but also incredibly 00:10:37.389 --> 00:10:41.000 heartbreaking. Just as Ski Mask is hitting the 00:10:41.000 --> 00:10:43.879 absolute peak of those Billboard charts, his 00:10:43.879 --> 00:10:47.360 personal world is entirely shattered. The contrast 00:10:47.360 --> 00:10:49.759 between his professional ascension and his personal 00:10:49.759 --> 00:10:53.100 devastation during this roughly two year period 00:10:53.100 --> 00:10:56.259 is genuinely difficult to comprehend. The timeline 00:10:56.259 --> 00:11:00.820 is just brutal. So Ski and XXentation had an 00:11:00.820 --> 00:11:02.759 incredibly intense bond. They were essentially 00:11:02.759 --> 00:11:05.279 brothers who built an empire from a juvie cell, 00:11:05.740 --> 00:11:08.820 but it was volatile. Very volatile. By late 2017, 00:11:08.820 --> 00:11:11.159 they actually had a falling out and distanced 00:11:11.159 --> 00:11:13.100 themselves to work on their own projects. They 00:11:13.100 --> 00:11:15.559 needed space. But they eventually reunite in 00:11:15.559 --> 00:11:18.080 May 2018 at the Rolling Loud Festival in Miami. 00:11:18.460 --> 00:11:21.019 They hug on stage in front of thousands of people. 00:11:21.039 --> 00:11:23.039 completely reaffirming their friendship. Of a 00:11:23.039 --> 00:11:25.399 profoundly beautiful moment of public reconciliation. 00:11:25.480 --> 00:11:28.620 It was, but then, barely a month later on June 00:11:28.620 --> 00:11:33.080 18, 2018, XXXTentation is murdered. Yeah. And 00:11:33.080 --> 00:11:35.320 the detail from the sources that just stops you 00:11:35.320 --> 00:11:37.879 in your tracks. Ski Mask learned about his best 00:11:37.879 --> 00:11:40.259 friend's death while he was actively broadcasting 00:11:40.259 --> 00:11:43.500 on Instagram Live. Just wow. He had to tearfully 00:11:43.500 --> 00:11:46.440 inform his own fans about it in real time. This 00:11:46.440 --> 00:11:48.279 raises an important question about the human 00:11:48.279 --> 00:11:51.470 capacity to process grief. when you are fundamentally 00:11:51.470 --> 00:11:53.830 living your life in the public eye. Because there's 00:11:53.830 --> 00:11:57.080 no off switch. Exactly. Because of the intense 00:11:57.080 --> 00:11:59.980 parasocial relationship that internet fans have 00:11:59.980 --> 00:12:02.720 with these artists, there was no private space 00:12:02.720 --> 00:12:05.460 for Ski Mask to mourn. Everyone was watching. 00:12:05.539 --> 00:12:08.100 His grieving process was live streamed to millions 00:12:08.100 --> 00:12:10.740 of teenagers who were also grieving and looking 00:12:10.740 --> 00:12:13.840 to him for a reaction. He wasn't just losing 00:12:13.840 --> 00:12:17.559 a friend, he was losing a cultural icon alongside 00:12:17.559 --> 00:12:20.139 millions of strangers. And almost immediately 00:12:20.139 --> 00:12:23.529 he became this living memorial. After X's death, 00:12:23.730 --> 00:12:25.850 Ski Mask made a point to honor him constantly 00:12:25.850 --> 00:12:28.850 at his concerts, playing his songs, keeping his 00:12:28.850 --> 00:12:30.870 energy alive. He really carried that weight. 00:12:31.210 --> 00:12:33.470 The sources even note a deeply emotional moment 00:12:33.470 --> 00:12:36.549 where he met X's son Gekyum for the first time 00:12:36.549 --> 00:12:39.210 in person while at a show. Just incredible. But 00:12:39.210 --> 00:12:41.470 the tragedy doesn't stop there. Let's look at 00:12:41.470 --> 00:12:43.409 his relationship with the Juice World. They had 00:12:43.409 --> 00:12:47.200 bonded deeply in early 2018. They made the massive 00:12:47.200 --> 00:12:50.039 hit Nuketown together. They were so creatively 00:12:50.039 --> 00:12:52.799 in sync that they even announced a joint mixtape 00:12:52.799 --> 00:12:55.639 titled Evil Twins. Though it never officially 00:12:55.639 --> 00:12:58.639 saw the light of day. Right. Sadly. But they 00:12:58.639 --> 00:13:00.379 were inseparable. They were touring together 00:13:00.379 --> 00:13:03.120 in 2019 on the death race for love tour alongside 00:13:03.120 --> 00:13:04.980 Cole Bennett who directed a lot of their most 00:13:04.980 --> 00:13:08.940 famous music videos and Then on December 8 2019 00:13:08.940 --> 00:13:12.299 juice world dies from an accidental drug overdose 00:13:12.299 --> 00:13:15.100 So within a span of roughly 18 months, he loses 00:13:15.100 --> 00:13:17.960 his two best friends The two artists who, alongside 00:13:17.960 --> 00:13:20.600 him, essentially defined that entire era of hip 00:13:20.600 --> 00:13:22.919 hop are suddenly gone. And I think we need to 00:13:22.919 --> 00:13:25.059 look at an additional layer of personal struggle 00:13:25.059 --> 00:13:27.399 here that often gets overlooked in the shadow 00:13:27.399 --> 00:13:29.360 of those tragedies. What's that? Right in the 00:13:29.360 --> 00:13:31.799 middle of all of this, in March 2018, just months 00:13:31.799 --> 00:13:33.899 before X was killed and right as his own solo 00:13:33.899 --> 00:13:36.860 career was exploding, Ski Mask himself had a 00:13:36.860 --> 00:13:38.899 heart condition that required surgery. At 22 00:13:38.899 --> 00:13:41.159 years old. Exactly. And it makes you wonder, 00:13:41.279 --> 00:13:44.159 is it possible that the hyperkinetic, invincible 00:13:44.159 --> 00:13:47.220 cartoon energy of his music was actually a psychological 00:13:47.220 --> 00:13:49.440 coping mechanism? That's a really interesting 00:13:49.440 --> 00:13:52.299 point. Because the sheer volume of physical trauma 00:13:52.299 --> 00:13:55.000 from having a failing heart, combined with the 00:13:55.000 --> 00:13:57.460 devastating emotional trauma of losing your closest 00:13:57.460 --> 00:14:01.580 brothers in a two -year window, it is staggering. 00:14:01.799 --> 00:14:04.059 It's a fascinating theory. You have an artist 00:14:04.059 --> 00:14:07.120 whose entire brand was built on carefree punk 00:14:07.120 --> 00:14:10.850 rap rebellion. the music was about defying gravity. 00:14:11.289 --> 00:14:13.830 Exactly. And suddenly he is weighed down by the 00:14:13.830 --> 00:14:17.370 heaviest realities imaginable. His own mortality, 00:14:17.990 --> 00:14:20.429 profound grief, and the overwhelming pressure 00:14:20.429 --> 00:14:22.570 of being the one left behind to carry the torch. 00:14:22.710 --> 00:14:24.629 Which naturally leads to the obvious question, 00:14:24.710 --> 00:14:27.309 how does a person possibly move forward? When 00:14:27.309 --> 00:14:29.570 the collaborators who defined your sound, your 00:14:29.570 --> 00:14:31.730 rise, and your entire youth are suddenly gone, 00:14:32.169 --> 00:14:34.090 How do you keep making the cartoon character 00:14:34.090 --> 00:14:36.490 slip on the banana peel when the real world has 00:14:36.490 --> 00:14:39.049 been so relentlessly cruel? For a while, the 00:14:39.049 --> 00:14:40.950 output definitely slowed down, which is the most 00:14:40.950 --> 00:14:42.929 natural human response. Of course. Following 00:14:42.929 --> 00:14:45.710 that massive Stokely album in late 2018, he only 00:14:45.710 --> 00:14:49.190 released one single in 2019. In 2020, he released 00:14:49.190 --> 00:14:51.889 one single, Burn the Hoods. He was laying low. 00:14:52.210 --> 00:14:55.750 He did drop the Sin City mixtape in 2021. a nod 00:14:55.750 --> 00:14:58.330 to his father's stage name. But there were years 00:14:58.330 --> 00:15:01.169 of relatively quiet periods. He needed time to 00:15:01.169 --> 00:15:03.509 process the profound impact those deaths had 00:15:03.509 --> 00:15:05.830 on his life and his art. But the story doesn't 00:15:05.830 --> 00:15:08.690 end in that quiet period. Bringing us up to the 00:15:08.690 --> 00:15:11.129 modern resurgence, looking at the years 2024 00:15:11.129 --> 00:15:14.990 through 2026, we see that Ski Mask absolutely 00:15:14.990 --> 00:15:17.730 did not quit. He came back incredibly strong. 00:15:17.850 --> 00:15:20.830 He did. In June 2024, he released his highly 00:15:20.830 --> 00:15:23.409 anticipated second studio album, 11th Dimension. 00:15:23.870 --> 00:15:25.730 And what's really touching is that the project 00:15:25.730 --> 00:15:29.289 features posthumous vocals from both XXXTentation 00:15:29.289 --> 00:15:32.009 and Juice World, alongside current heavyweights 00:15:32.009 --> 00:15:34.409 like Future and ATL Jacob. He literally carried 00:15:34.409 --> 00:15:36.230 his brothers with him into his new era. He made 00:15:36.230 --> 00:15:37.629 sure they were still part of the architecture 00:15:37.629 --> 00:15:39.710 of his music. He absolutely did. And then we 00:15:39.710 --> 00:15:42.090 see some massive business moves that completely 00:15:42.090 --> 00:15:44.509 shift his trajectory. Like what? Well, early 00:15:44.509 --> 00:15:47.190 in 2025, he signs a new deal with Empire Distribution. 00:15:47.629 --> 00:15:50.309 On July 4th, 2025, he drops a sequel to one of 00:15:50.309 --> 00:15:52.470 his biggest breakout hits, Catch Me Outside 2, 00:15:52.950 --> 00:15:54.690 complete with a music video directed by his old 00:15:54.690 --> 00:15:56.970 friend, Cole Bennett. It's a beautiful full circle 00:15:56.970 --> 00:15:59.370 moment, bringing back the original team. Right. 00:15:59.600 --> 00:16:02.519 But then, later that same month, on July 30, 00:16:02.740 --> 00:16:06.039 2025, he drops a compilation album called The 00:16:06.039 --> 00:16:08.720 Lost Files. This is released under his own new 00:16:08.720 --> 00:16:11.679 label, Very Rare & Co., in partnership with Empire. 00:16:12.100 --> 00:16:14.480 And the sources note that this album is comprised 00:16:14.480 --> 00:16:17.159 of his older SoundCloud tracks that were previously 00:16:17.159 --> 00:16:20.200 completely unavailable on major streaming services. 00:16:20.580 --> 00:16:24.100 It even includes three early tracks with XXXTentation, 00:16:24.519 --> 00:16:28.080 Fatality, Barolee, and I watched him drown. And 00:16:28.080 --> 00:16:30.429 that detail right there. is the crucial turning 00:16:30.429 --> 00:16:32.509 point of his modern career. So what does this 00:16:32.509 --> 00:16:35.429 all mean? Why is an artist in 2025 releasing 00:16:35.429 --> 00:16:39.389 a sequel to a 2017 song and spending time uploading 00:16:39.389 --> 00:16:41.950 old, buried SoundCloud files instead of just 00:16:41.950 --> 00:16:44.149 focusing entirely on the future? Because he is 00:16:44.149 --> 00:16:46.809 no longer just a rapper. He has actively taken 00:16:46.809 --> 00:16:49.210 on the role of a cultural archivist. An archivist, 00:16:49.289 --> 00:16:50.789 okay. Think about your own experience with the 00:16:50.789 --> 00:16:52.370 internet for a second. Think about a YouTube 00:16:52.370 --> 00:16:54.730 video, a MySpace track, or a SoundCloud makes 00:16:54.730 --> 00:16:57.309 you absolutely love 10 years ago. Oh man, yeah. 00:16:57.529 --> 00:16:59.850 Half of them are gone. Exactly. If you try to 00:16:59.850 --> 00:17:02.009 find it today, it's probably gone. The link is 00:17:02.009 --> 00:17:04.569 dead. The account was deleted. The file is corroded. 00:17:04.750 --> 00:17:06.809 We treat the internet like it's permanent, but 00:17:06.809 --> 00:17:09.329 it's actually incredibly fragile. It really is. 00:17:09.589 --> 00:17:12.730 That early meme rap era was born in a digital 00:17:12.730 --> 00:17:15.609 Wild West full of uncleared samples and messy 00:17:15.609 --> 00:17:18.869 uploads. Right. The digital evaporation of history. 00:17:19.210 --> 00:17:21.930 Exactly. And Ski Mask is fighting against that 00:17:21.930 --> 00:17:25.400 evaporation for his entire generation. By taking 00:17:25.400 --> 00:17:28.680 those raw, nostalgic tracks, formally clearing 00:17:28.680 --> 00:17:31.319 the samples, and officially putting them on major 00:17:31.319 --> 00:17:34.319 streaming platforms through his own label, he 00:17:34.319 --> 00:17:36.640 is essentially creating a digital seed vault. 00:17:36.799 --> 00:17:39.380 Wow, a digital seed vault. I like that. He is 00:17:39.380 --> 00:17:42.599 preserving the raw DNA of the SoundCloud era 00:17:42.599 --> 00:17:45.640 against the inevitable link rot of the internet. 00:17:45.740 --> 00:17:47.460 And we have to talk about the business mechanics 00:17:47.460 --> 00:17:50.380 of that move, too, because forming your own label, 00:17:50.559 --> 00:17:53.140 very rare in Co., to release these tracks in 00:17:53.140 --> 00:17:55.269 partnership with empire distribution, that isn't 00:17:55.269 --> 00:17:57.509 just nostalgia. No, it's a statement. That is 00:17:57.509 --> 00:18:00.170 a massive power move. It represents an artist 00:18:00.170 --> 00:18:02.829 taking back ownership of their master recordings 00:18:02.829 --> 00:18:05.950 from that digital Wild West. He's not just an 00:18:05.950 --> 00:18:08.690 employee of a major label anymore. He's an executive 00:18:08.690 --> 00:18:11.069 ensuring that the foundation he and his friends 00:18:11.069 --> 00:18:14.250 built doesn't just evaporate. He is formalizing 00:18:14.250 --> 00:18:16.410 the history of a subculture that the mainstream 00:18:16.410 --> 00:18:19.190 industry initially dismissed as just kids making 00:18:19.190 --> 00:18:21.829 noise in their bedrooms. He's ensuring future 00:18:21.829 --> 00:18:24.509 generations can still access the original source 00:18:24.509 --> 00:18:26.990 code of the genre. And for you as the listener, 00:18:27.230 --> 00:18:29.109 that is really the ultimate takeaway from the 00:18:29.109 --> 00:18:31.890 story of Ski Mask, the slump god. It is an absolute 00:18:31.890 --> 00:18:34.529 master class in human resilience. It truly is. 00:18:34.650 --> 00:18:37.210 We so often look at internet culture as this 00:18:37.210 --> 00:18:40.369 disposable machine that just churns out fleeting 00:18:40.369 --> 00:18:42.529 memes, something to laugh at for 10 seconds, 00:18:42.789 --> 00:18:44.890 swipe up, and then forget forever. Just endless 00:18:44.890 --> 00:18:47.410 scrolling. Right. But Ski Mask's journey shows 00:18:47.410 --> 00:18:50.230 how that exact same internet can also document 00:18:50.230 --> 00:18:54.089 enduring deeply human perseverance. He survived 00:18:54.089 --> 00:18:56.609 the juvenile justice system, he survived a terrifying 00:18:56.609 --> 00:19:00.009 heart surgery at 22, and he survived the unimaginable 00:19:00.009 --> 00:19:02.529 grief of losing his closest brothers while the 00:19:02.529 --> 00:19:05.309 entire world was watching. It really leaves us 00:19:05.309 --> 00:19:07.829 with a lingering, provocative question to ponder. 00:19:08.029 --> 00:19:11.269 What's that? Well, we just analyze his vital 00:19:11.269 --> 00:19:14.529 work as an archivist with the lost files. But 00:19:14.529 --> 00:19:17.089 when the pioneers of a digital subculture are 00:19:17.089 --> 00:19:19.829 tragically lost so young before they have the 00:19:19.829 --> 00:19:22.730 chance to fully cement their own legacies, does 00:19:22.730 --> 00:19:25.210 the responsibility of keeping that subculture's 00:19:25.210 --> 00:19:28.069 history alive fall entirely on the shoulders 00:19:28.069 --> 00:19:30.690 of the survivors? That is such a heavy burden. 00:19:30.789 --> 00:19:33.109 It's an incredibly heavy burden to carry the 00:19:33.109 --> 00:19:35.910 memory of an entire movement, ensuring that the 00:19:35.910 --> 00:19:38.210 world remembers the brilliance of what you all 00:19:38.210 --> 00:19:41.029 built together. It's a massive, almost unfair 00:19:41.029 --> 00:19:43.829 burden. You start out as that cartoon character, 00:19:44.109 --> 00:19:46.970 totally invincible, running on pure chaotic energy, 00:19:47.289 --> 00:19:49.269 thinking you can hang in the air forever. But 00:19:49.269 --> 00:19:51.529 eventually, the cartoon has to stop. The gravity 00:19:51.529 --> 00:19:54.170 of the real world kicks in, and Stokely Goldberg 00:19:54.170 --> 00:19:55.910 proved that when you finally hit the ground, 00:19:56.049 --> 00:19:58.269 you can either let the crater swallow you entirely, 00:19:58.589 --> 00:20:01.250 or you can climb out, dust off the multicolored 00:20:01.250 --> 00:20:04.269 durag, and make absolutely sure the world never 00:20:04.269 --> 00:20:07.089 forgets the artists who fell alongside you. Well 00:20:07.089 --> 00:20:09.720 said. Thank you for joining us on this deep dive. 00:20:10.259 --> 00:20:12.960 Next time you hear the chaotic, brilliant evolution 00:20:12.960 --> 00:20:15.980 of ski mask sound, we hope you listen with these 00:20:15.980 --> 00:20:16.880 new insights in mind.