Scene

On the surface, Top Dawg Entertainment is a West Coast rap label that is responsible for providing us with Kendrick Lamar and Schoolboy Q. They are the two most notable artists on the TDE roster, but dig a little deeper and you'll find a varied roster which covers all the bases in terms of musical style. Lance Skiiiwalker is probably the least known TDE artist thanks to him being the most recent signee and in general terms, Skiiiwalker is probably the closest thing to Frank Ocean that exists on this planet right now.

It's been a big year for TDE with Kendrick Lamar, Schoolboy Q, Isaiah Rashad all dropping albums prior to Skiiiwalker's debut album 'Introverted Intuition'. Ab-Soul's album is about to drop as well which leaves us with a nice window to enjoy Skiiiwalker's unique production and deep crooning, taking American listeners into their winter while us kiwis can enjoy some mellow vibes ahead of summer via Skiiiwalker.

Songs

Forbidden Fruit - Poetic drool, typical Skiiiwalker as it switches soon enough.
((Ni)) Radio - All the hits, no tricks.
Could It Be - Floating on a head-nod, flipping into some mellow vibes.
Speed - Get hyped, drum-machine-singing deity.
Stockholm ft. Michael Anthony - Hear it blossom.
Sound - Sunny with some guitar.
All Stops - Sounds like a cluttered mind.
Skit / Her Song - That mid-song switch up again.
Attraction - Frank Ocean-ish.
Toaster ft. Schoolboy Q - Electric.
Advantage - Speechless, Skiiiwalker flexing all over this.
Lover's Lane - Drama and suspense from a violin, that drifts away.
Reality - If you don't like Skiiiwalker's crooning, then I dunno.

Vibe

As with all the best music going around at the moment, Skiiiwalker follows no typical formula that plagues radio and there's an immense vibe of freedom in his music. This is best evident in how songs hit the halfway mark and then take a turn - not for better or worse and following the same general path - but the tempo and music changes, bordering on introducing a new song.

That freedom obviously finds its way into the actual music as Skiiiwalker blends electronic sounds, physcadelic noises, drum patterns and all sorts of instrumentation together. This offers a canvas for Skiiiwalker to lay his deep vocals all over and while there are up tempo jams that get your toes tappin', the album comes together as offering an insight into a closed mind.

From the variety of music and the way it changes, to Skiiiwalker's song writing, you dive through layers of Skiiiwalker's mind and while I've really come to appreciate how many rappers transport you to their 'hood, this doesn't apply here.

Instead, you're transported to a different world best described by the word 'floating' where there's no creative boundaries.

Music

After spending time in a band called 'The Rocketeers' Skiiiwalker is well traveled in terms of musical production and under the credited name 'Rocket', he is credited for producing seven tracks. Given that Skiiiwalker is responsible for the majority of the vocals and is obviously in charge of writing the songs, we've got a fairly talented cat on our hands here.

What is also interesting is that Skiiiwalker uses pretty much the entire roster of TDE's in-house producers/collaborators with Sounwave, DJ Dahi, Tae Beast and J. LBS all featuring in some capacity in terms of production. Dave Free, who is Kendrick Lamar's manager and scouted Lance Skiiiwalker to the TDE roster is also low key credited on two songs, both in writing and production.

Frank Dukes is credited as well, out of Canada and he's previously worked with Schoolboy Q, Mac Miller, Rihanna, Drake, Kanye West and Ghostface Killah. Another notable credit goes to THEMpeople who - like Skiiiwalker - are from Chicago and are known for their work with Chicago's youngins' Chance The Rapper, Vic Mensa and Mick Jenkins.

Finale

You might catch a few strange looks if you chucked on 'Introverted Intuition' on at a social gathering, but even the title of Skiiiwalker's debut album suggests as such. The beauty in this piece of art from Skiiiwalker is that he brings together blatant musical talent - whether with his voice or in production - with personal experience and story-telling.

There's a very mellow vibe to 'Introverted Intuition' that makes it perfectly suited to a lazy Sunday and while some songs are introspective, a tad gloomy, there are many bright spots that leave you constantly tapping your toes. I guess that's where I settle on this album as you're not noddin' your head to it, you're tapping your toes. In terms of how Lance Skiiiwalker's debut album fits into the TDE roster, it maintains a super high standard of releases from TDE but most notably, it re-affirms that every TDE artists exists in their own lane.

Lance Skiiiwalker is his own lane.