The story behind Skee-Lo’s ‘I Wish’
It can be an unfair characterisation, but, to many people, Skee-Lo is the dictionary definition of a one-hit wonder. After releasing a true hip-hop classic with his first ever single, ‘I Wish,’ he pretty much disappeared from public view again. The music business, such as it is, had chewed him up and spat him out again.
‘I Wish’ served as the lead single from Skee-Lo’s first album of the same name in 1995, and it proved to be a smash. While it only reached number 13 on the Billboard Hot 100, it did secure a Grammy nomination and has since been cemented as one of hip-hop’s great songs. You’d struggle to find a person who’s never heard it before.
The track was unusual for a successful rap song of the mid-’90s, in that it was the antithesis of the gangsta, braggadocious style that was dominant during the era. Not only was there no swearing, but Skee-Lo wasn’t bigging himself up and declaring himself to be the greatest man to ever live and rap. To the contrary, the whole song was a lament about his personal flaws.
Skee-Lo wished he was a little bit taller, “like six-foot-nine,” and that he was “a baller,” with a nice car, like a ’64 Impala, in place of his own vehicle that only boasted “an eight-track, and a spare tire in the backseat, but that’s flat.” If he had all the features and possessions that he coveted, then perhaps his struggling love life would improve?
The song bears the weight of an adolescent boy’s insecurities, and, as a matter of fact, Skee-Lo did actually write it while he was still a student. “I wanted to do anything but school,” he reflected to LA Weekly in 2012. “So I started listing wishes and wrote the whole record without music.”
The music duly came shortly afterwards. “Two days later,” he said, “I’m cleaning my room and in the middle of an ugly old record, I heard a beautiful horn section that made me feel like I was at a casino, on a beach or a boat. I threw my broom down, got on my MPC-60 and made the beat.”
The hook came to Skee-Lo after a freestyling session in a carpark one night, and, when he put all the different elements together, he had a hit on his hands. The song sold really well upon its release, but that actually brought up some big problems for the young rapper.
Even though ‘I Wish’ became a massive song, the record deal that Skee-Lo had signed meant he didn’t receive money from it. He’d made a Grammy-nominated hit that became popular around the world, but he barely got to bask in its success.
“I retired five months after it was released,” he told LA Weekly. “Not only did my label [Sunshine] take credit for producing ‘I Wish,’ they took all the profits. So I refused to shoot any more videos, promote or record music. I’m not their slave. I wasn’t working for free.”
The situation sent the rapper into bouts of depression, and, while he continued to release music from time to time, his career never reached the same height again. He eventually managed to win the publishing rights to the song after engaging in lengthy legal battles, but, even after that, he still found himself struggling with his mental health.
It was only after he rediscovered his faith in the Nation of Islam that Skee-Lo managed to find peace over the struggles he had experienced with his old label. With that, he was able to look positively upon his old hit song.
“I’ve had people from prison tell me how much that record helped them through the years they were locked down,” he said. “People treat me well wherever I go. How can you hate on Skee-Lo?”