You don’t need to be Tony Hawk to know that when you fall down while skateboarding, the only way you’ll get any better is to pick yourself up and get back on that board. While the chances of SK8 taking home an X-Games medal this year are zero (especially they, like most everything, have been postponed in the wake of COVID-19), the Omaha native captures that spirit of “not letting anything hold you down” in his brand new track, “How It Be.” With a melody that’s 100% fortified euphoria, SK8 delivers a party track that’s about enjoying the moment the best way that you can.
“Going in to making ‘How It Be,’ I knew I wanted to create a song that makes people feel like they’re on top of the world,” SK8 tells HollywoodLife, “especially with everything going on right now. When I heard the final mix, it was exactly the feel-good, accomplish-anything record that I’d imagined.”
SK8’s journey is definitely a unique one. Born in Omaha, Nebraska, to a Lebanese father who loved Bob Marley, SK8 grew up listening to classic reggae, attending Greek Orthodox Church services, and playing basketball with his friends. It’s no surprise that he would find his way to hip-hip, citing Wiz Khalifa’s 2011 Baken tour as an eye-opening. “”Watching my idol showed me this was something I wanted to do,” he says in his biography. “Everybody in there was high and having a blast. I realized you could be on stage and change lives.”
Adopting the nickname his mother gave him when he was a child, SK8 started rapping over beats on YouTube, building a devout following online and in the hip-hop community. Always hustling, SK8 opened for everyone from Rae Sremmurd to 2 Chainz to T. Mills to Lil Wayne. After completing a successful headlining tour – dubbed the Skaterade Tour – SK8 put Omaha in his rearview and relocated to LA in 2015. A series of buzzworthy singles – “I’m In Love (Ft. Jack and Jack),” “Legend,” “Bambino” – caught the attention of the majors, and he signed a joint deal with his own label Alignment Records, and Art@War/Atlantic RecRecords. The following year, he released several videos for tracks that would appear on his 2020 ep, sk8sounds, including “Omme” – which happened to feature none other than the man who inspired him down this path, Wiz Khalifa.
“How It Be” is out now.