Kimetrius Christopher Foose (born August 4, 1998), known by his stage name Lil Skies, is an American rapper and singer-songwriter from Waynesboro,

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

. He signed with

Atlantic Records Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over the course of its first two decades, starting from the release of its first recor ...

in 2017 to release the singles " I", " Nowadays", and " Red Roses." The songs peaked at numbers 39, 55, and 69 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, respectively. His eighth mixtape and major label debut, '' Life of a Dark Rose'' (2018), peaked at number ten on the ''Billboard'' 200 and received

platinum Platinum is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Pt and atomic number 78. It is a density, dense, malleable, ductility, ductile, highly unreactive, precious metal, precious, silverish-white transition metal. Its name origina ...

certification by the

Recording Industry Association of America The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...

(RIAA). His debut studio album, ''Shelby'' (2019), and its follow-up '' Unbothered'' (2021), peaked at numbers five and 50 on the chart, respectively.

Early life

Kimetrius Christopher Foose was born August 4, 1998, in

Chambersburg, Pennsylvania Chambersburg is a borough in and the county seat of Franklin County, Pennsylvania, Franklin County, in the South Central Pennsylvania, South Central region of Pennsylvania, United States. It is in the Cumberland Valley, which is part of the Gre ...

. He began freestyling at age three. He was introduced to music by his father, Michael Burton Jr., a hip hop artist formerly known as Dark Skies, now as BurntMan, and his mother Shelby Foose. Foose's stage name is a play on his father's. Foose and his family moved to Waynesboro, Pennsylvania when he was in third grade. When he was 11, his father was injured in a workplace chemical explosion at the Rust-Oleum plant near Williamsport, Maryland.

Career

2016–2018: Career beginnings and ''Life of a Dark Rose''

Skies claims he used to have to sell marijuana and work "little jobs" to pay for studio time and music videos. He also worked at a McDonald's and a Japanese restaurant in his hometown. In the meantime, he would spend the summer at a relative's house; it was at that point in time he worked in collaboration with his dad on his first project released on August 14, entitled, "Birth of Skies Vol. 1". Foose and his father would write an album the following year, ''Father-Son Talk'', discussing the recovery process. Foose graduated from Waynesboro Area Senior High School in 2016 and briefly attended

Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania (Ship or SU) is a public university in the Shippensburg, Pennsylvania area. It is part of the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education. Founded in 1871, it later became the first teachers' college ...

before dropping out to focus on his rap career. His musical inspirations are

Lil Wayne Dwayne Michael Carter Jr. (born September27, 1982), known professionally as Lil Wayne, is an American rapper. He is often regarded as one of the most influential hip hop artists of his generation, as well as one of the greatest rappers of all ...

Eminem Marshall Bruce Mathers III (born October 17, 1972), known professionally as Eminem, is an American rapper, songwriter, and record producer. Regarded as one of the greatest and most influential rappers of all time, he is credited with popula ...

Wiz Khalifa Cameron Jibril Thomaz (born September 8, 1987), better known by his stage name Wiz Khalifa, is an American rapper, singer-songwriter and actor. Raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, he signed with the local independent label Rostrum Records to re ...

The Offspring The Offspring is an American Rock music, rock band formed in Garden Grove, California, in 1984. Originally formed under the name Manic Subsidal, the band currently consists of lead vocalist and guitarist Dexter Holland, Bryan "Dexter" Holland, ...

, Punchline,

MxPx MxPx () is an American punk rock band from Bremerton, Washington, formed in 1992 as Magnified Plaid. As of 2016, current members include Mike Herrera (bass guitar, lead vocals), Yuri Ruley (drums, percussion), Tom Wisniewski (lead guitar, backi ...

Audiovent Audiovent is an American alternative rock band from Calabasas, California. Initially forming as "Vent" in the early 1990s, the band changed their name to Audiovent upon signing with Atlantic Records in 2001. The band released their one and only a ...

and

50 Cent Curtis James Jackson III (born July 6, 1975), known professionally as 50 Cent, is an American rapper, actor, and television producer. Born in Queens, a borough of New York City, Jackson began pursuing a musical career in 1996. In 1999–2000, ...

. In October 2016, Foose opened for Fetty Wap at Shippensburg University and later released his first mixtape, ''Alone'', in January 2017. In July 2017, he released two songs, "Red Roses" featuring Landon Cube and "Off The Goop" featuring Sprite Lee. He would later release other songs that year, including "Rude" and "Signs of Jealousy." Foose's repertoire of singles caught the attention of

who partnered with his own label, All We Got. He released his first major label mixtape, ''Life of a Dark Rose'', on January 10, 2018. The mixtape debuted at #23 on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'' 200 chart and went on to peak at #10. The songs "Nowadays" and "Red Roses" (both featuring Landon Cube) debuted on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 at #85 and #98 respectively and have since peaked at #55 and #69 (also respectively). He also toured nationally with Lil Uzi Vert in 2017 and began his "Life of a Dark Rose" tour in 2018, but had to end the tour early due to pneumonia. On May 4, 2018, the music video for "

Lust Lust is an intense desire for something. Lust can take any form such as the lust for sexuality (see libido), money, or power. It can take such mundane forms as the lust for food (see gluttony) as distinct from the need for food or lust for red ...

" was released; the song peaked at number 87 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and received platinum certification by the RIAA. On May 31, he released " I Know You", featuring Yung Pinch, which peaked at 79 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and received gold certification by the RIAA.

2019: ''Shelby''

On March 1, 2019, Lil Skies released his album ''Shelby'', named after his mother, while simultaneously debuting the music video for lead single " I". He made a short documentary for the album on his YouTube channel by interviewing her and surprising her during it by telling her he was going to name it after her. On May 21, 2019, Lil Skies released a video for "Breathe", a song from his album, ''Shelby''.

2020–2022: ''Unbothered'' and standalone singles

On March 4, 2020, Skies released the song " Havin My Way", which features close friend

Lil Durk Durk Derrick Banks (born October 19, 1992), known professionally as Lil Durk, is an American rapper. Regarded as a pioneering artist in the Chicago-based hip-hop subgenre drill music, he is often considered the subgenre's most commercially suc ...

and serves as the lead single from his second studio album, '' Unbothered'' (2021). It was followed by the second single, "Riot", which was released on May 14, 2020. "On Sight", the third single, was released on November 6, 2020. "Ok", the fourth and final single, was released December 16, 2020. Skies released " My Baby" with American Singer Zhavia Ward, the lead single to the ''Unbothered'' Deluxe, on April 29, 2021. Skies released multiple standalone singles during his ''Unbothered'' singles rollout. "Fidget" was released April 20, 2020. On July 10, 2020, he released the track "Red & Yellow" from the '' Road to Fast 9'' mixtape. "Lightbeam", featuring American Rapper NoCap, was released July 23, 2020. After ''Unbothered'' released, Skies released "Play This At My Funeral", featuring Landon Cube, on March 25, 2022, and "Rage!", released November 27, 2022.

2023–present: Independence and ''Out Ur Body Music''

On February 21, 2023, Skies released "Make A Toast", his final release under Atlantic Records. Skies announced he had left the label via Instagram Live, and subsequently released several singles as an independent artist for the first time since 2017. Skies is featured on

Lyrical Lemonade Cole Bennett (born May 14, 1996) is an American music video director and record executive. He is the founder of Lyrical Lemonade. He has most notably collaborated with Juice Wrld on music videos such as " All Girls Are the Same", " Lucid Dreams" ...

's debut album '' All Is Yellow'', on the song "This My Life" alongside Lil Tecca and

The Kid Laroi Charlton Kenneth Jeffrey Howard (born 17 August 2003), known professionally as the Kid Laroi (stylized as The Kid LAROI), is an Australian rapper, singer and songwriter. He was first discovered by Triple J Unearthed in 2016 at the age of 13. As ...

. The song charted Number 19 on the

Bubbling Under Hot 100 Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles (also known as Bubbling Under the Hot 100) is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. The chart lists the top songs that have not yet charted on the main ''Billboard'' Hot 100. Chart ...

, 49 on

Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs The Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart ranks the most popular R&B and hip hop songs in the United States and is published weekly by '' Billboard''. Rankings are based on a measure of radio airplay, sales data, and streaming activity. The chart had 100 ...

and number 20 on the

Official New Zealand Music Chart The Official Aotearoa Music Charts, formerly the Official New Zealand Music Chart (), is the weekly New Zealand top 40 singles and albums charts, issued weekly by Recorded Music NZ (formerly Recording Industry Association of New Zealand). The M ...

. Skies released the single "Thousands" on February 9, 2024, marking his first solo release of the year. "Thousands" acted as the lead single to his mixtape '' Out Ur Body Music''. "Death", the second single, dropped on March 8. The eight-track mixtape was released on March 29 and was the first full-length project from Skies since ''Unbothered'' (2021). Since the release of ''Out Ur Body Music'' Skies released singles "Runnin Through The Fire" on July 2, "Pain" on July 5 and ended 2024 with "Pull The Trigger" alongside Masked Wolf on November 6. Skies also featured on singles "Givenchy" and "Counter-Strike" with Apel8. Skies released "High Maintenance" on January 10, 2025, marking his first solo release of the year and in 6 months.

Personal life

Foose still resides in Waynesboro, Pennsylvania. In July 2019, Foose and his longtime girlfriend, Jacey Fugate, had a son, also named Kimetrius. Foose and Fugate got engaged in April 2025. Foose cites his own song " Red Roses" as his personal favorite song, referring to the musical combination with him and Landon Cube as "epic". He cites

as his biggest music inspiration. Foose now tries to avoid drugs as much as possible after seeing it negatively impact the lives of his old friends. In an interview, Skies claims if he was not rapping, he would like to do some "

Bear Grylls Edward Michael "Bear" Grylls (; born 7 June 1974) is a British adventurer, writer, television presenter and former Special Air Service, SAS trooper who is also a survival expert. He first drew attention after embarking on a number of notable ...

type, outdoor stuff" and that his favorite hobby is fishing.

Legal issue

Foose was arrested on May 20, 2024, for an alleged

hit and run In traffic laws, a hit and run or a hit-and-run is the criminal act of causing a traffic collision and not stopping afterwards. It is considered a supplemental crime in most jurisdictions. Additional obligation In many jurisdictions, there ma ...

on another vehicle. Foose allegedly sped off after the accident and did not exchange insurance information with the other driver. The inmate records at Franklin County Jail reveal Foose has since been released but the status of his bail and the potential case have yet to be commented on by Foose or the Police Department.

Discography

* '' Shelby'' (2019) * '' Unbothered'' (2021)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Skies, Lil 1998 births Living people 21st-century African-American male singers 21st-century American male singers 21st-century American rappers 21st-century American singer-songwriters African-American male rappers 21st-century American male rappers African-American male singer-songwriters American male singer-songwriters Atlantic Records artists American hip-hop singers East Coast hip-hop musicians Emo rappers People from Chambersburg, Pennsylvania Pop rappers Rappers from Pennsylvania Roc Nation artists Singer-songwriters from Pennsylvania American trap musicians