Waynesboro, Pennsylvania is not an obvious place for a rap star to rise, but that’s where Lil Skies got his start. Born Kimetrius Foose in 1998, he recorded alongside his father, hip-hop artist Dark Skies, as a 4-year-old, then started writing and recording his own tracks before his teens. A straight-A student in school coming up in the SoundCloud rap era—he titled his 2015 mixtape Good Grades Bad Habits in honour of his academics—Lil Skies enrolled in Shippensburg University, where he got a big break opening for Fetty Wap at a campus event. He soon left college to pursue music full time, pairing his easy flow and relatable lyrics about homesickness and heartbreak with distorted 808 beats and addictive rhythms. After a string of buzzy singles, including the bass-driven “Red Roses” and the skittering trap beater “Nowadays”, Atlantic Records signed the young rapper in 2017, and his first mixtape for the label, Life of a Dark Rose, became a hit later the following year, propelled by the emo-leaning track “Signs of Jealousy”. His proper debut album, Shelby, which he named after his mother, arrived in early 2019, peaking at No. 5 with help from guests Gucci Mane, Gunna and longtime friend Landon Cube. A smalltown boy with a worldly take on life, love and hip-hop—not to mention a keen ear for melody—there’s truly no limit for Lil Skies.