Skiifall is the puppeteer of a unique blend of influences, and since releasing the underground anthem ‘Ting Tun Up’, he has only been on the rise. He blends tropical dancehall with UK drill and jazz, making a fresh and explorative addition to Montreal’s music scene. Skiifall’s unique sonic palette has lead to co-sign after co-sign, The Fader naming ‘Ting Tun Up’ the second best song of last year, plus a thrilling Colors performance to top things off - Skiifall is only getting started.
Skiifall features in the latest issue of Tenner Magazine, the
'Voices of the Next Generation' issue.
It makes sense why his music is such a blend of influences. According to Skiifall, growing up in Saint Vincent was crazy, dope, wild and amazing. He lived on the Caribbean island until he was eight. “I grew up so fast living there as I had to do a lot of things that adults do, I didn’t quite get to live the life of a toddler or whatever. Straight up at five years old I’m ironing my own clothes, you know… it’s crazy.” Now, his home is a definite contrast with the 20-year-old rapper residing in Montreal. He started making music when he was twelve, a couple of years after moving to Canada - the first school he went to was a music school, so he thinks it was destined to be.
“In school, they would teach classical music as usual, but when I started high school it wasn’t classical music anymore, my teacher was younger, she was into Kendrick Lamar”, that’s where he learnt how to write his first song. He began going to youth centres in Montreal, where they offer free studio sessions. He tells me he spent a countless amount of hours making music there. He shifted to another youth centre after his last engineer went away, meeting a new engineer who he knew when he was growing up - showing him all the music he had been working on in the last four to five years. Skiifall had spent that time experimenting and delving into a range of influences and styles of music trying to find his true sound “When I started off on my own I was making pop music, like you’d be surprised. I was like Woah, super crazy. I was still making rap music as well, but just experimenting with different sounds.”
Skiifall tells me that if he wasn't going to school, he would go to the studio, admitting he would skip school after lunch to go and make music. He would get there at 2, and stay till 8 if no one else came for other sessions. “In the wintertime, people don’t want to show up to their studio session. But I still went even when the snow was up to my knees and shit because I just loved making music.” he says passionately, “I knew that something would happen, it was just a matter of time and hard work.”
In 2020 he released a song called ‘Heartbeat’, it got a bit of traction but Skiifall decided to take a break “I thought this shit wasn't working…” he admits to me, “It was that moment when the career and dream you want isn't working out, I thought fuck this shit I need to find something else, plan B.” He took the summer off to enjoy himself. After summer, he headed back into the studio and quickly ended up making his breakout hit ‘Ting Tun Up’, quickly sliding Skiifall into the spotlight. “We shot the video for it a couple of days after, I didn’t even know the lyrics properly” he laughs “Everyone was super stoked, from the day I put it out every day was something new, I was like what the hell, this shit is about to really blow! I manifested this shit, it’s about to happen.” Skiifall tells me his favourites Drake and Ye started exactly where he started, “...so why not just go at it? You can see in the hard work they put into their craft, that’s why they’re at where they’re at now because they sacrificed so much. I knew I didn’t need school, I wanted to make music, and if I put in the work then I will definitely get to where I wanna be.”
He has blown through boundaries with every release, from his gritty mixtape ‘WOIIYOIE TAPES’, the slick ‘Bentayga Dust’ and the grooving sun-kissed ‘Break of Dawn’ with acclaimed Canadian band BADBADNOTGOOD. He was excited to share with me that this year he will definitely be putting new music out, he just has to crack down on a solid plan. “This year is the time to give as much music as I can. People are always wanting more music which is really cool to hear as I keep going. It’s dope to feel that the world wants something that you have. It's a dope feeling to have, but also dangerous.” he continues, “I will be giving more than enough music this year compared to last year. I'm gonna do my best to give the best products, no dollar store products, just expensive designer products.”
Skiifall features in the latest issue of Tenner Magazine, the
'Voices of the Next Generation' issue.
Photography by Oli Spencer
Words by Oli Spencer
We've picked a few of our favourite Skiifalll tracks for you to hear below: