For those looking to supercharge their week, check out the fast-paced rap lyrics and beats on Na-Kel Smith‘s new tape SKULLFACE BONEHEAD. All songs were written, produced and arranged by racecar stuntman, which savvy listeners may recognize as Na-Kel’s latest alias on Bandcamp.
The cover for SKULLFACE BONEHEAD has an abstract graphic where glitchy, neon colors blur together and reflect the genre-bending style of its songs. On each track, Na-Kel’s voice is sped up or slowed to the point of distortion, but there’s a clear sense of intention, or even creative enlightenment, for the skater-slash-rapper. When compared to his 2021 album A DREAM NO LONGER DEFERRED, this release feels more loose, comfortable and confident.
“PRAYER” has a minimal beat that Na-Kel takes his time with as he spits each lyric. It has a similar pace to the cadence of Kanye’s flow on “Black Skinhead” and a clever flip on Ye’s original reference to the movie 300. Later in the tape, “HEAVENV3” has poetic, high-pitched adlibs like “Turn me up so they can hear me in heaven!” over a trippy, head-bopping beat. Throughout SKULLFACE BONEHEAD, Na-Kel balances between high and low inspirations that may be found through life in Los Angeles while allowing his fast-paced mind to drive the tape’s momentum.
“The thing I am most proud of about this project is that I did it all on my own. By myself. Shout out to Liam and Westside Ty and Zeroh and everybody else that made this possible,” shares Na-Kel. Starting today, SKULLFACE BONEHEAD is available for streaming on Spotify and Apple Music.
For more music to add to your weekly radar, check out the recently announced tracklist for $NOT’s new Ethereal album.
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