Since I moved to the West Coast about a year and a half ago, I have come to three conclusions. 1) No matter what type of weather you grew up in when the winter comes, you will inevitably turn into a huge weather vag. ( I used to run around upstate NY in shorts when it hit 50 and yesterday I was in a long sleeve, coat, and jeans bc it was " cold like 55 or so" and I was "underdressed" ) 2) Everyone out here thinks the East coast starts in Chicago and consists of a few states that they can't really place in order but they know where NYC is. and 3) if it isn't hyphie or old skool, West Coast, its gettin about Zero radio play. ( I saw this first hand at the Wu's First show as a clan since the loss of ODB) when the radio stations prefered to hype home town hero Snoop and more marketable Kanye West and Sean Paul, so it was no shock to me that I had to resort to the internet to get my yearly fix of Skillz.

I first came across (Mad) Skillz, the Virginia based ghostwriter and rapper, in Boston in 2000 when he and his hype man opened for Xzibit at Avalon. Skillz, the highlight of that show came out to a small crowd and ripped it before the X to the Z came out to a capacity house and slowly emptied it out. Skillz stole the show with "Ghostwriter" a song in which he called out all of the mainstream acts for using his rhyme and , from Lil' Kim to Mase, Skillz claim to write for em all, and only get paid by some. Then before leaving the stage he and his hype man did a ping-pong back and forth freestyle using only classic lines from classic rhymes.

After that show I searched every bootleg outlet for (Mad) Skillz songs but only found one thing, a little franchise that Skillz had been puttin together since before the y2k. Skillz yearly Wrap Up. A once a year treat where Skillz jacks the years most recognizable beats and then dissects the previous year in hip hop the way only he can. Other biters tried to jump on this back in 03, so Skillz quit the franchise, but Southern and East Coast Dj's and fans wouldn't let it rest and resurrected it. Skillz ripped it in 03, '04, '05, and here's '06.

download Skillz "'05 Wrap Up" [Breakdown FM Odeo Blog]

download Skillz "06 Wrap Up" [zshare]