Silkk the Shocker’s rap career spans a long time with a lot of accolades.

The New Orleans rapper and No Limit Records representer dropped his debut album, The Shocker in 1996 and successfully released two consecutive platinum albums and a gold one. The 90s and 200s were his friend.

It Ain’t My Fault, Movin’ On, Ghetto Tears, Mama Always Told Me, Thug ‘n’ Me were all classics.

After moving so fast with No Limit Records, he got burned out. As a result, Silkk took a 10 year break to enjoy his life and make business moves.

But why?

“To me, it’s extremely important,” Silkk told me on a recent episode of Scoop B Radio. “I did it for a reason, I did it because you got to balance the two: when you do music in order to be successful, you can’t have much down time.”

Check Out Silkk The Shocker and Scoop B On Scoop B Radio

In the world of hip hop, to be on top, it takes a constant grind; something Silkk admires and respects. “If I take a Yo Gotti in the height of his career, he works hard,” said Silkk The Shocker.

“I heard he don’t sleep much. He works – he busts his tail, but he got away though. That’s with Drake and Meek Mill, you can’t afford to take time off unless you feel like you are really comfortable with yourself. Drake is constantly more music, more music, more music…he can take off because I’m sure he accumulated enough to where he can. I don’t think you can take a big significant amount like I took off, but at the same time, when you do it as long as I have – it’s almost like you do get a little frustrated and burnt-out because you’re like “okay, all my time is for everybody else. I’m always performing, I’m rehearsing.” Life is about living. You can get all the accolades, if you don’t enjoy them – you don’t have the hunger to do it anymore. You are going to get burnt-out. So, you aren’t supposed to take off as long as I took off, I feel comfortable being out-of-sight, out-of-mind. I don’t think that’s a good thing unless you are comfortable in your own skin; I was most comfortable because I knew I could fall back on actual business stuff. I like knowing business stuff that’s behind the scenes. So, to me, you do have to balance, I would say take time off to enjoy, to regroup, and refresh yourself and then come back out, But only certain people can do that though.”

So what exactly did he do during that time off?

“Whew! I literally took off … I didn’t want to do anything music based for 5 years. The next 2 – 3 years, I still did it but minimum. I would still do soundtracks, like WWE and stuff like that. Just stuff that I really didn’t have to do much in. I could just stay at my house, work, go to the office, work … yea, I would say 5-6 years I took off, I didn’t want to do nothing but, just enjoying and understanding and learning the business.”

Traveling all over the world, making money and being successful, Silkk believes that a light came on that told him to slow down! “When you are gone for 11 months out the year, and you come back, you’ll be like ‘oh hold up, I just brought a brand-new car – only got a hundred miles on it,” he said. “Oh, that’s crazy!”

“So, when I come back, everything looks different – That’s the part that got me. That’s the part that made me rethink – also you try to realize who really care about you as a person and more than as a brand. Like “why are my friends around me at the moment? Is it because I can buy them a couple of Rolexes, chains or whatever? Or why is this girl – does she really care about me or is it because I’m still for whatever?” To me, you want to take a step away from that, then you can see who really care. You just got to appreciate life. If you always in the moment, if you on stage and everybody’s screaming for you, that’s a good thing – but to me, I feel like I got to be able to enjoy it though.”

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The post Silkk The Shocker: “In order to be successful, you can’t have much down time” appeared first on RESPECT. | The Photo Journal of Hip-Hop Culture.

He’s got two consecutive platinum albums and a gold one. His catalogue boasts hits like: It Aint My Fault, Movin’ On, Ghetto Tears, Mama Always Told Me, Thug ‘n’ Me, which folks grew to learn and love in the 90s and the early 2000s.

But here’s the kicker: Silkk the Shocker has a very unorthodox rap flow! It is offbeat to some.

Case in point Horse & Carriage Remix with Cam’ron and Charli Baltimore 

Now I ain’t the C-E-O, but I ain’t far from it
So if I ain’t far from C-E-O
That mean I ain’t far from havin’ C-E-O money
Can’t discuss what I’m worth, but I’m worth this much
Like Mantigo, fall back like snatchin’ purses for bust
So many styles – drop a beat, I’mma drop a hit
Rap game stop for the dope game – and cop a brick
No Limit Soldier baby, so watch the talk
Get lost like ohhhhhhh, It Ain’t My Fault!

 

How the heck did you fit all of that in one feature Silkk?

When asked about his flow in an interview with VLAD TV in 2015, Silkk actually agreed with that offbeat notion. 

“I think I was offbeat,” he said. “I think what’s funny is nowadays they want me to be offbeat again…I think I had my own style, which I don’t think was right or wrong…At the time I didn’t really care about it. I was just doing my thing.”

Most greats are different. Charles Barkley was a 6’5 power forward that could shoot three pointers and post his opponent up just short of the 3-point line. Rocky Balboa was a southpaw boxer that would get the tar kicked out of him before he started gathering momentum to knock out his opponent. Hey even a crafty Sally Struthers transitioned from starring as a skinny fox named Gloria, in All In The Family to becaming a hefty spokesperson for Save The Children’s infomericals.

Who ever thought that one up for Struthers was a genius, by the way. But I digress.

As Hip Hop Wired’s Trent Clark  wrote in an article back in November 2015: The point of the matter is this unorthodox style never caught on with newer listeners.

I picked up the phone and called Silkk The Shocker.  Silkk is your style offbeat? 

Remember Silkk The Shocker and Mya’s Movin’ On? 

“When I go back and listen to it, I say that was really good, ” Silkk the Shocker told me by phone from his Los Angeles area home. “And I don’t know, I give all the glory to the man up above. It’s like he made me who I was and I’m glad that I did the counterclockwise flow. ”

Silkk thinks that his influence is deeper than just a flow, however. “Whatever it was, ultimately, this is how I look at life: ‘I’m still living, right?’ Before it’s all over, piece by piece, I changed society, changed culture, changed certain peoples views on things. When I put my first album out I sold a half of million records. This was back in a time where, you wasn’t doing that. It wasn’t all for hype. It was like, people were really messin’ with whatever I was saying. And you can go back and listen to music and you gotta just take it for what it is. And so if you take it for what it is, you appreciate that I made songs like, Freeloaders and I Represent.”

Silk said that he appeared in one of his first records at 14 years old alongside his Brother, Master P in a track called The Ghetto’s Trying To Kill Me. He says he got love from his peers. That made him appreciative for his flow AND voice, literally! “I sounded like a little girl,” laughed Silkk.

“E-40 and everybody called me and said: ‘yo you killed this song and I need to get you on my album.’ Even Tupac he saluted me on it. I don’t know what it is, I just know that I was meant to do it. I was meant to sell the records I sold, I was meant to help No Limit Records get to the point I got it to and then I’m also meant to have been in 2016 and do a song with Dej Loaf. I get people like Migos shouting me out and Young Jeezy shouting me out.”

Check Out Dej Loaf and Silkk The Shocker

He’s been around a lot of big names, Tupac, E-40, Cam’ron, Wyclef and he’s transcended to the next era rocking out with folks like Migos and Dej Loaf. Silkk doesn’t seem to mind the criticism of his unorthodox flow.

He’s just about that action boss! “As long as I continue to just do me, then you gotta respect it,” he said.

“Because whatever I’m gonna do and wherever I’m gonna go, I’m just saying: I’m a trensetter and watch this here!”

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The post Silkk The Shocker On His Offbeat Rap Flow: “Respect It” appeared first on RESPECT. | The Photo Journal of Hip-Hop Culture.