Skillibeng Gets A Taste Of Home Before Hitting Studio With DJ Khaled

khaled-skillibeng
DJ Khaled, Skillibeng

American producer DJ Khaled has teamed up with Dancehall star Skillibeng, ‘another one’ of Jamaica’s entertainers, for a track on his upcoming album, which will be executively produced by his firstborn, Asahd Khaled.

Khaled began sharing teasers about his thirteenth studio project earlier this month, revealing that 21 Savage and Future may appear on the set.  On Wednesday, he added Skillibeng to the list of guest artists expected to make an appearance on the album.

In an Instagram post, Khaled, Skillibeng and others were spotted enjoying Jamaican cuisine before getting to work at what appeared to be Khaled’s home/studio in Miami.  Khaled’s chef declared that she wanted to give Skillibeng “a taste of home” when she presented the spread that included escovitch snapper, patties, jerked chicken, oxtail, and curried goat.

In another video clip, Khaled is heard expressing that the Crocodile Teeth deejay has always believed in his vision.  “It breaks my heart. They ain’t believe in us…Skilli Did!” he said as the cameraman shifted focus on the deejay who was sitting at the table.

He captioned the post, “SKILLI DID!!!!!! @badevryday 🇯🇲🇯🇲🇯🇲🇯🇲🇯🇲🇯🇲🇯🇲🇯🇲🇯🇲🇯🇲🇯🇲 Album mode, it’s special!”

“SKILLI GOING CRAZY IN HERE! 🤯 🔥 🆙 🇯🇲🇯🇲🇯🇲🇯🇲” he added in another.

By all indications, things seemed to be going exceptionally well. “Pull up the boooomboclaaarttrtt PON dem bombooooclaaat 🤯🔥🆙 SKILLIBENG @badevryday,” Khaled captioned another post.

“The executive producer @asahdkhaled Wit the Great SKILLIBENG 🇯🇲🆙,” he wrote in another share.

By now, Khaled has become like a distant cousin to Jamaicans, as he has, on several occasions, teamed up with some of the Reggae and Dancehall greats. He even adopted the catchphrase, “yaad man ting”

His 12th studio album, Khaled Khaled with the Reggae banger Where You Come From, had featured Buju Banton, Capleton, and Bounty Killer.

Khaled had also confirmed that he collaborated with Bounty Killer on his long-overdue album King of Kingston, and that he was ‘excited’ about the track.

Skillibeng’s debut LP Crocodile Teeth was released last October. However, the 12-track-set played like an extension of his Prodigy mixtape efforts rather than a definitive debut.   The album had failed to debut on the Billboard Reggae Albums chart in its first week when it moved just 627 units from sales and streaming in the US.  That included 123 copies in pure album sales, according to MRC Data (now Luminate).

In October 2021, DancehallMag first reported Skillibeng had signed to RCA Records, in partnership with his home label, EastSyde Records.  It was later confirmed in March 2022, that RCA had added the St. Thomas native to its roster.

Under RCA, Skilli followed up with his five-track Mr. Universe EP, which was released earlier this month.   It included the new single, Whap Whap featuring F.S.

A remix of that single, featuring Fivo Foreign and French Montana, will be released on June 3.

Skillibeng is also set to release his sophomore album sometime in June, which will consist of “big features,” according to senior vice-president of A&R at RCA Records, Richard ‘Skane Dolla’ Ford.