New rappers are a dime penny a dozen nowadays, and most suck horse cajones. While there are a few talented artists tryna get noticed, even many of those are still struggling to not sound like pubescent High School Musical dropouts. I first heard Skeme in his scene-stealing verse from "Play On" on Dom Kennedy's Westside. The first thing that struck me about him was his poise on the track. It's a nuance that many a rapper spends years tryna grasp before they get it right (Dom Kennedy being a prime example). And that's just on top of the fact that dude can rap. Still, being the cynic that I am, I didn't bet the house that Skeme could deliver an album's worth of verses as enjoyable as that one verse, not cuz I didn't believe, but just because that would be foolish to assume.
Well, Skeme delivered. Pistols and Palm Trees is a bonafide banger. I never bought into the first wave of new artists coming outta Cali (Pac Div, U-N-I, etc.), but this tide of post-Dom folk has my ears itching in the goodest way possible. Scroll up there and download it. You won't be disappointed. Disfruta.
