Sakata Kareem Oatis, better known as Lil Sko, is a BMI award-winning, underground Memphis Rap artist who was born and raised in Memphis Tennessee. Lil Sko released the cult-hit album "U Know Tha Sko" in 1999 with songs like "Miss White Cocaine" which is featured in the video game Grand Theft Auto V. In addition, Lil Sko's part in "Drink A Yak Part 2" was sampled in Drakes - "Nonstop", which has garnered his way into growing strong connections within the music industry and success in winning a BMI Songwriters Award.

 

Early Life & Career

       In his earlier years, Lil Sko was very close with Mr Nigga of Allied Productions and The Chargepartnaz. Both Sko and Mr Nigga started originally as B-Boys and through break dancing - Sko and Mr Nigga get into DJing, producing and rapping. Lil Sko would end up featuring on a lot of underground Memphis tapes.

     Around his early high school years, Lil Sko meets many people through his rapping, one of these people being Kingpin Skinny Pimp. Lil Sko and Skinny Pimp had gone to the same high school together, they had found each others rapping abilities and befriended each other. With Sko, Skinny Pimp and Lil Gin hitting the studio often together, they ended up recording a song, and that song came out to be "Killa", one of Skinny Pimps earliest productions. Killa had ended up being released on Skinny Pimp's - "Vol. 1" in 1993. 

 

     Lil Sko had also met DJ Squeeky around this time. Lil Sko had met DJ Squeeky through Mr Nigga, who met Squeeky through DJ Zirk. Mr Nigga had to stash his music equipment somewhere in fear that cops would seize it, so Zirk said he could use Squeeky's house. DJ Zirk & DJ Squeeky at this time were just DJs and only did mixes and scratching, but with one of the pieces of equipment Mr Nigga had left at Squeeky's house, the legendary Boss DR-660, DJ Squeeky had picked the machine up and taught himself how to produce, creating "Smoke A Sack", which featured on DJ Squeeky's Volume 5 & 7, with 2 different versions.  Lil Sko and Mr Nigga are the first two verses on the track.

 

     In this time of Lil Sko's career, him and Allied Productions had released 3 different tapes of their own underground material. These tapes also include rappers like Indo G and Psycho and have some really dope, gangsta walkin type bass productions on them. One of the tapes surfaced on the internet over a decade ago under the title "DJ Skimask & Mr Nigga - Down & Out Records". Lil Sko, Mr Nigga, & Emp Da Pimp are the three official members of Allied Productions.

 

Tha Sko Been Known (1998-2016)

     In 1999 Lil Sko would release his album "U Know Tha Sko" under Tommy Wright III's 'Street Smart Records', which was a record label native to Memphis. Like most other underground rap tapes, this album only sold locally on cassette tapes in Memphis and the surrounding areas. This album features the hit song "Miss White Cocaine", which features the rappers Tenn Mississippi, K Rock, and C Rock. The Majority of this legendary album is produced by the legendary Mr Maceo. The year before in 1998, Sko would work on "Psycho and The Chargepartnaz" with Psycho, Mr Nigga, and Emp Da Pimp. He would feature on Tommy Wright III's album "Feel Me Before They Kill Me" in 1998 as well. In 2001 he would feature on tracks for "Behind Closed Doors", which was a soundtrack for Tommy Wright III's movie and even had a few of his own solo songs on the album.

     In the latter half of the 2000s, around 5 years after "U Know Tha Sko" had been released, Lil Sko had made his ventures out to Las Vegas. He had gotten a record deal with a local Vegas label named "Game Locked Entertainment". There, he had started to record a lot of music, creating an album called "U Don't Know Tha Sko!". Unfortunately, half way through recording this album, problems with the record label's management had unfolded. Sko had returned to Memphis after the label had disbanded. He was never able to release the album to the public and very few songs of this album made it onto the internet. Most of them being on the "lilsko" YouTube channel.

     With Sko back in Memphis, he puts out his second solo project "Now Or Never" in 2010 under Mr Maceo's label 'Frontline Muzik'. This album features a good mix of solo tracks and features from the other rappers who worked with Street Smart Records in the past. This album continued to show Sko has been consistent with his style even after a decade. In 2011 he works on Manson Family's second album "Blood On The Wall", which features: Lord Infamous, Kingpin Skinny Pimp, Indo G, and a lot more. Lil Sko heavily contributes to this album, writing and performing a lot of the hooks.

 

Going International (2017-Present)

     In 2017, Lil Sko's album "U Know Tha Sko" had blown up on the internet from tape rips posted from almost a decade prior. This tape had gained attention to many people, gaining fans quickly. Even big names like Freddie Gibbs and Frank Ocean ended up talking about it on social media. From all this attention on the internet, Lil Sko gets interviews, brand deals, and even music placement in the video game "Grand Theft Auto V", with his song Miss White Cocaine.

     In 2018, Lil Sko's part in 'DJ Squeeky's' "Drink A Yak Pt. 2" was sampled in Drakes "Nonstop" on his 'Scorpion' album. This song blows up and becomes a global trend all over the world on social media platforms like TikTok, gaining hundreds of millions of streams. Through this, Lil Sko has gotten a BMI 'Album Of The Year' Award, and has gained many good connections in the music business.

     As of the present (2023), Lil Sko still spends time with his childhood friends and works on music with them. Lil Sko is currently working on an EP of his own with a very unique underground Memphis rap style that fans have been wanting to hear for a long time.

 

Written by SorenP, with the help of Lil Sko and Mr Nigga

Lil Sko Publishing ©