Last time we checked in with Toronto rapper SkeviousTIPS, he was strolling around Venice Beach and puffing on cure-for-cancer grade ganja not far from the set of TeamBackPack’s Mission Underground in Los Angeles. Since then, Skevious has returned to TBP’s annual gathering, most recently held in Brooklyn, politicked with underground heroes like EMoney and Wax, and dominated the competition at Survival of the Illest, Ontario’s premier rap tournament. Facing off against the province’s top competitive MCs in the province in October, he’ll be judged on everything from on-the-mic prowess to off-stage professionalism and stands to win killer prizes including a professional video shoot, a stateside tour, beats from coveted producers and the ultimate hallmark of rap legitimacy: a chain.
TIPS recently dropped the third music video in a seven-part series called “Yonge and Poor”, a fairly ironic reference to Yonge and Bloor, one of Toronto’s wealthiest intersections and the title of his forthcoming album. He describes the first two installments as “a warm up”, while this one marks the beginning of a more concrete narrative. Entitled “Addiction”, the track explores a heavy subject that rings tragically personal for many and tells the tale of an archetypical young user’s introduction to casual drug use and subsequent escalation. I hesitate to make this comparison because it sounds like such a cop-out for a writer describing any white rapper but the bespectacled spitter’s flow truly does evoke the great Slim Shady in terms of content, rhyme schemes and cadence. It’s no secret why TIPS is emerging as one of the Dot’s finest with ultra-precise delivery, a tight mix, and a clean, quality video that starts simple and ends with our protagonist losing a drunken altercation. Check it out below: