Is skaiwater gay
Skaiwater Talks Online Ignorance, Lil Nas X & Making Their Soulful, Danceable New Album
For most of rap music’s history, homophobic language – whether in lyrics or interviews, coming from artists or executives – was completely acceptable. (On more than one occasion in the ‘90s, I left a sitdown with a major rapper feeling an implied f-slur in my direction). Of course, it wasn’t only rap – offhand queerphobia was ubiquitous in mainstream tradition.
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Major progress has been made since then, yet (as with culture at large) recent years have seen a palpable backslide in the discourse, even as we’ve enjoyed increase visibility for trans and gender-nonconforming persons. High-profile people engage in nonchalant trans erasure, misuse pronouns, promote stereotypes and freely drop the f- and t-slurs – and defend their right to do so.
So for an artist previously seen as male to announce they identify as nonbinary, and begin presenting in a genderfluid way, it’s
Meet Skaiwater, the Rapper and Producer Who Caught Lil Nas X’s Attention
Last week, Skaiwater released the single and music video for “light!,” featuring none other than Lil Nas X. The rising 23-year-old rapper-producer says securing a feature with one of the biggest artists in the world was a “surreal moment.” Naturally, the two met online. “I was in a lot of music communities, so it’s just like you cross paths with a lot of people, but I think we just stayed in tune,” Skaiwater explains. “I guess we have a similar comprehending of things. We consider in similar ways.”
Indeed, “light!” is precisely the kind of song you’d expect Lil Nas X to appear on: an ode to self-love and not letting a toxic ex into your headspace. “I just had a lightbulb,” Skaiwater croons on the song’s chorus. “I’m tryna break the cycle/Yeah, go ahead with that groupie shit/Yeah, I’m sure that bitch a agreeable dude.” Produced by 9lives, the track is one of only a handful of Skaiwater tracks that wasn’t self-produced. “We built it in the room, so I gave him a reference for what I want
skaiwater is nonbinary and uses he, she, and they pronouns; this interview uses the singular they for consistency.
skaiwater “hates asking for help,” they admit halfway through our call, but that might be because the L.A.-based, Nottingham-born designer knows how to execute it all. “I’ve been in the engineer chair, the producer chair, and the artist chair,” skaiwater explains. “I’ve been the cameraman, I’ve been the audio person, I’ve edited the video, I’ve edited the audio, I’ve mastered other people’s shit, so I think it’s helped me understand how to communicate what I demand from anybody I’m operational with.”
You could chalk this self-sufficient streak up to their luminary sign (they’re a Virgo; “I have Libra in my shit though”) or birth order (skai is the oldest of four siblings) or upbringing (their family moved around Britain “every two or three years on average”). But it’s perhaps best understood as the natural product of an auteur’s tunnel vision, honed through years of producing, recording, and mixing music, first for their dad and brother, then for themself.
skaiwater’s self-knowledge only boosts their carefully curated colla
Lyrics of light! (with Lil Nas X & 9lives) by Skaiwater, 9lives, Lil Nas X
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