Who's Ill Skillin with us in this final week of 2010

Its the final lap of Ill Skillin this week for the year 2010. It has been a monumental year and we've reached milestones we've always dreamed about, and we'd like to show gratitude and dedicate these last showcases of this year to you.
First up, tonight of 28 December, catch us live at Chevelle for the Head Honcho 2nd B'day Party along with AKA and Khuli Chana.



Then to wrap it up, we shut it down with our Ill Skillz Exclusives at Zula Bar on the 30 Dec, along with our DJ ID as well as DJ Raiko.



Lastly i'd like to wish everybody a Happy Festive Season, it was a pleasure sharing our experiences with ya'll and we guarantee to deliver more dope music and prestigious performances.

Live Progressively

Me and Jinxx joined our boy Zo and took a boat cruise from the V&A Waterfront along the coast with a couple of peeps, Stacy's Birthday. Too much fun!!!!!!!!

Tommy Jinxx sporting the the Head Honcho denim shirt, steering the boat (Stay Fresh)

Here we're rockin at Teba's Birthday Bash in Guguletu. A blessed day, truly blessed.

Garlic Brown, Isaac Newton and myself join Public Enemy with Flavor Flav on the drums. Epic! Mr Chuck & Flav rocked for 2 and a half hours straight! At their age, shit was live. You had to be there.

Jinxx and I rockin District Six Cafe

Sphum' eGugz: Driemanskap feat. Macho & Kanyi

When I moved to Guguletu, The Native Yard, Guguletoire, or simply Gugz in 2002 I became friends with Dlambulo who introduced me to Ma B, Elnino and I eventually met Macho, Planet Earth, Hyphen, T.O.P, Otus, Uno (Tommy jinxx) and a gang of other cats rapping in the scene at the time. I lived two streets away from Planet Earth in Tembisa Ave. We call him Dre, some people in the hood called him Dragon...he was the only cat making hip hop beats and we all would hang out at the Planetarium at his crib and drink quarts of beer, get high, talk shit and freestyle...and then talk some more shit. we called ourselves "Diggin Deep" you could go to his spot and find cats hanging out at any given time of day, without fail. There was no recording set up, just a computer with software and some speakers. We weren't really recording then, but cats were chasing parkjams from Gugs, Langa to Mandalay, jumping the metrorail (no ticket, at times). We looked out for each other, food, alcohol whatever. House parties in the hood were our favourite, but for the most part we hung out at shebeens (township liquor holes), and would talk shit and rap some more. T.O.P wouldn't stop rapping no matter where or what the situation was. Dude just spits, written or freestyle. Hip hop wasn't as cool as it is now. We were misfits in our community. They'd call us iNigga (Niggers); Kwaito was big. We didn't really get down with kwaito, now everybody and their mama is a rapper. That's cool. Hip hop Wins! I started Ill-Literate-Skill with Uno (Tommy Jinxx) and Macho (The Firebreather) in 2005. We dropped Another day-Another Rhyme and then Battle Of Guguletu a mixtape with Driemanskap in 2006. Planet Earth was on the Beats. Getting it in stores was a dream that was never realised. We (Ill Skillz & Driemanskap) travelled to Grahamstown that same year, if not in 07, for the Arts Festival on a shoestring budget and no gigs. We were gonna jump on whatever stage was open. Stayed in a house in Vergenoeg (Yip it was far enough), we made a name for ourselves, had fun and came back inspired to put in more work. Anyway, last year Ill Skillz released Off The Radar and got this video "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5I1w2jqxkA"> on Channel O. Driemanskap dropped Igqabukil' Inyongo and got this "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yeIYi89vRyQ&feature=related"> on. Gugs was on the map. Now this new video for a track off their acclaimed album Igqabukil'Inyongo aptly titled Sphum' eGugz (we're from Gugz) features Macho (former Ill Skillz member) and the incredibly talented Kanyi (trust me she's dope). This joint's for Guguletu, and I know Gugz is gonna be proud of them for this one. Big up to Driemanskap and Pioneer Unit!

Blu... what's the first thing that comes to mind when it comes to this dude? ...uhmmm. Undoubtedly and definitely a helluva dope MC, a breath-of-fresh-air on the hip-hop scene ever since rap has been dumbing down over the past few years, as we've constantly seen on TV and heard on the radio.

We, the Ill Skillionaires are fans of lyriciscm and we reckon he's one of the best youngest/newest rap artists to ever restore back the faith of showcasing some splendid and exciting lyricism in this current game. This is mastered and proven through his previous releases such as the 'Below The Heavens' album, in which he collaborated with a dope producer by the name of Exile residing in LA, as well as other releases such as the 'Her Favorite Color' his solo-effort, the 'Johnson&Johnson' album along with Mainframe, and also the C.R.A.C. Knuckles 'The Piece Talks' cuts collaborated along with Ta'Raach.

And don't say we're blowing the horn, but we were fortunate enough to meet and open-up for the dude while he was on his SA Tour with Exile during September 2010, courtesy of our fam holding down dope events, Kool Out Live.

Well, we've got the latest scoop that he'll be dropping his new album aptly-titled 'No! York' soon.

As indicated by Shamz of Okayplayer.com for this video's topic- LA Stereo TV recently got up with none other than Blu to discuss a few topics. Blu talks about the spiritual reason he feels The Roots brought him on board for How I Got Over, his upcoming first label release, NoYork! (which will have contributions from Samiyam, Flying Lotus, Exile, Sa-Ra, U-God & more), and why he chooses to be part of the electronic hip-hop genre.

New Press: Interviews with Hype Mag and Cosmopolitan

It is no doubt that Ill-Literate-Skill has put in mad lots of work in 2010, and not only did we expand enough to gain a wider fan-base, but that we've also attracted a adequate media attention.

Recently Hype Magazine conducted an interview with us for their December issue, basically covering our making of the 'Skillz That Pay Da Billz'- 24 Hour Project and we were also discovered by Cosmopolitan Magazine for their Cosmo Rocks Feature, as the one of the main artists to look out for.

I've herewith enclosed scans for both articles.

Get familiar with us and enjoy reading.

Hype Mag Interview


Cosmopolitan Mag

A new style has been found, OMG! Its the 'Casualties Of Raw' by Groundworks

It was back in 2003, when Hyphen, the nigga who put me on this rap shit introduced me to Groundworks, consisting of the likes of Ben Sharpa, Breeze aka Frank Talks, Snazz tha Dictator, Krooked Tha Warmonger, Hueman RIP and Gemini. One of the earliest crews to ever do it in South Africa along with Prophets Of The City and 5th Floor.

Matter-of-fact this is the time when I saw the light that I could be a MC one day, because I had learnt that there are local cats recording, performing and putting out albums. It felt quite sensational back at that time.

So cut-to-chase, please allow me to put you on one of Ill-Literate-Skill's early influences. It is a track by Groundworks called 'Casualties Of Raw'.