Born in Chicago (IL) on March 5, 1973, Skee-Lo was raised in Poughkeepsie (NY), then moved to Riverside (CA) when he was nine. He graduated from high school in Moreno Valley before moving to Los Angeles in 1990 and attending El Camino College. He converted to Islam around this time and joined the Nation of Islam. He first started rapping that year. Skee-Lo's debut album "I Wish" was released in 1995, which he first started working on in 1993. The album was a huge success. One of the singles, "Top of the Stairs", was featured in the ending credits as well as the soundtrack to the 1995 film Money Train. He quietly "retired" from rapping five months after the album's release because of a dispute with label Sunshine Records. Skee-Lo claims Sunshine Records took all the credit from the album's success, and he did not make a single cent from it. This was first revealed in a 2012 interview with L.A. Weekly, and he further said "So I refused to shoot any more videos, promote or record music. I’m not their slave. I wasn’t working for free." After many years he eventually won the rights against the label in court.
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