BEFORE Ski Mask the Slump God dropped tracks
like Take A Step Back, Life Is Short, Baby Wipe, and Catch Me Outside Before getting cosigns from the likes of Missy
Elliot and Desiigner, and collaborating with artists like Lil Pump, Lil Peep, Lil Tracy,
Lil Uzi Vert and of course, XXXtentacion Before Ski Mask would feud with Rob Stone,
leading to angry tweets, stabbings, and Ski Mask getting jumped on stage Ski Mask the Slump God was raised in South
Florida, and was encouraged to work on his pen from a young age by his father, who was
a rapper himself. Music was always a big part of his life, but
his come up was rough, and he wouldn't take his first serious steps into the rap game
until he met his musical soul mate in juvenile detention. From there, he'd start his first musical collective,
Very Rare, and even get the name inked on his face. From there, he'd move on to form Members Only,
but considering the tat, I gotta hope Very Rare is still some how active. Anyway, through his come up, he'd develop
unique sound, rock influenced rap, paired with mic skills that he describes like this... My name's Michael McCrudden, documenting the
life and career of Ski Mask The Slump God prior to fame here for you on Before They
Were Famous. I've covered his buddy xxxtenatcion in a previous
before they were famous video. I've also done a top five video on Ski Mask. I'm also planning on interviewing the guy. We've exchanged numbers, but I'm still waiting
to hear back from him... man, it's been a while. Anyway, let me know who you want me to document
next and let's jump into this bio! Ski Mask The
Slump God was born Stokely Clevon Goulbourne on April 18th, 1996. He's of Jamaican ancestry, and grew up with
four siblings in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, bouncing between his mother and father's houses. Life wasn't always easy, with both parents
struggling with their own issues. Music was always big part of his childhood. When he was living with his mother, and visiting
grandma, they'd always be bumping Jamaican music. On top of that, Ski Mask's dad was a rapper,
and wanted his son to follow in his foot steps. So, he pushed him to write rhymes from an
early age. Sure enough, Ski Mask realized early on that
rap could offer him a future, and recently told XXL, “It was either make this shit work or die
trying,” But despite his father's early encouragement,
Ski Mask would not be spitting fire for some time. While music was in his blood, he claims he
was no prodigy when he first got started. While his career would really take off after
meeting his most frequent collaborator, Xxxtentacion, Ski Mask first developed his talents prior
to that meeting. He's stated that he continued to write raps,
but never spit then. And according to XXL, he would also be free
styling with neighbourhood friends. Ski Mask would also develop his unique sound
as a result of his diverse musical influences. He grew up listening to Busta Rhymes, Missy
Elliot, Nelly, the Wu Tang Clan, Ludacris and Lil Wayne. He also listened to Fabolous, Method Man,
Red Man, Camron, Jim Jones, and Hurricane Chris. He's often cited J Cole and Kendrick Lamar
as artists who he likes a lot, even though they are very different than himself. He's also named Timbaland as his favourite
producer. But Ski Mask has never limited his listening
to Hip Hop. To this day, he listens to a wide variety
of musical styles and genres, like heavy metal, indie, grunge, ska and pop. And he's got a lot of favourites from outside
the world of rap. I think he means System of a Down. Ski Mask's career would ironically begin to
crystallize after his life hit a serious bump in the road. In 2014, he was sent to Broward Juvenile Detention
Center for possession of marijuana, after getting caught with just ten dollars worth
of weed. It's pretty messed up to get arrested for
such a small amount of weed, but on top of that, Ski Mask said he was arrested while
he was high on shrooms, and even fell asleep while they were booking him. But once in prison, he would eventually met
Jahseh Dwayne Onfroy, better known by his stage name, XXXtentacion, who was in on a
gun and robbery charge. On Ski Mask's birthday, X gave him an extra
cookie. The two became fast friends and passed their
time together rapping. According to Ski Mask, both artists learned
from each other. X taught Ski Mask to be more aggressive and
confident in his rapping. And Ski taught X to have a smoother, more
natural flow. The two made plans to get together after they
both got out, but at first it wasn't to start putting music together. Thankfully, when they finally got together
on the outside, they kept each other focused on music, rather than crime. Ski Mask formed the Very Rare collective with
X, and he began to bubble with his first official song, Catch Me, dropped on Sound Cloud in
2015. The same year he formed a new collective with
X, this time called Members Only, and they released their first two mix tapes, Members
Only, Volumes One and Two. (A third volume of Members Only would drop
two years later, in 2017). In the meantime, he released also his solo
mix tape, Drown In Designer in 2016, which featured songs like his Lil Pump collab, Wheres
The Blow, and his massively popular, Take a Step Back. With his music bubbling and his sound cloud
catching fire, other artists were taking notice. He recieved numerous cosigns, and Desiigner
even invited Ski Mask onto his Outlet Tour in 2017. While a promising opportunity, the tour would
also lead to his on going beef with Rob Stone. According to Rob Stone, the problems started
on day one of the tour, when Ski Mask started shaking hand with fans in the middle of Rob's
song. Then during Stone's hometown stop in Sand
Diego, Ski Mask arrived very late and refused to get off the stage when it was time for
Rob to perform. This lead to some twitter beef between Rob
Stone and Ski Mask, as well as, X. So, then, when Ski Mask was performing on
April 10th at the Fonda, in LA, Rob Stone's goons jumped Ski Mask and beat him from stage
to the street. It got pretty rough, and according to Ski,
a member of his crew was stabbed in the mouth. Soon after, both Rob stone And Ski Mask would
be off the Outlet Tour. And, needless to say, future tours would be
careful to avoid putting both Ski Mask and Rob Stone on the same line up. While this would allow the heat between Ski
and Rob to cool off a bit, Ski Mask would also continue to have a bit of trouble with
the law. On August 2nd, 2016, he was arrested in Fort
Lauderdale for driving with a suspended licence, and in connection to a robbery, but was later
released on bail, which cost him a whopping 10, 600 dollars. But despite the set backs, at some point along
the way, Ski Mask would also meet his manager, Solomon Sounds, who I have to assume put him
in touch with some major labels, because in 2016, Ski Mask put out his debut commercial
project, his mixtape, You Will Regret in 2017, with Universal Music Group. Ski Mask would go on to ink a deal with Republic
Records in May, 2017, and his debut studio album with the label is expected to drop with
that label in 2018. As for the rest of the story, well, we'll
have to wait and see...this is before they were famous. My name's Michael McCrudden. Thanks for watching this video. I got two more suggestions for you down there,
but let me know who's next in the comments down below.
