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If you watched the above video then I should have your full attention, because I think its impossible to deny the skill displayed by Locksmith in this song. This is going to be a longer than normal read and it will be told from me (the owner of the website) personally in my own words so please forgive any punctuation errors and my opinions expressed.

Back in 2002 a friend had sent me two CDs online called “The Frontline Bootleg Vol 1″ and “The Frontline Bootleg Vol 2″. He told me to check them out more specifically some freestyle battles that were on the CDs because he knew i loved a good freestyle battle. When i heard Locksmith just destroy the people he faced (one of them was Mistah F.A.B. long before his 5 minutes of fame) The lines he spit were just crazy. “Ill snatch your lungs out and throw them back at you so you can catch your breathe”

After i heard those i was a die hard fan. For those of you not familiar The Frontline is made up of members Locksmith and Left. I was a die hard fan and i couldn’t wait to hear some more music. In the following years we saw a few albums from the duo. The first was “Who R You” released in 2004. The next “Now U Know” in 2005. The last “Lock And Left” in 2007. All of these albums were decent albums unfortunately they didn’t really contain tracks that displayed the awesome lyricism of Locksmith. He still murdered verses but they didn’t really fit the song or maybe I should say the song didn’t fit him. I don’t know the thinking behind the crafting of the albums but my best guess says they were trying to create a product that MIGHT get picked up by main stream. At the end of the day you can’t hate an artist for trying that. Since 2007 Locksmith has been pretty quiet he made a few appearances on tracks from a common collaborator known as “Balance”. Some of those tracks were great tracks.

So that takes us to present time. Last year he released some solo tracks with his longtime producer EA Ski. They began heavy promotion of IMGMI their new label. He released a track “Rare Form” and this showcased his amazing lyricism and attracted some main stream attention because of slight Jabs at Kanye West and Lil Wayne. The song was what I had been waiting for, for many years. This track was going to appear on an upcoming album but ended up on a digital EP released on Itunes. Which also had a song that featured Slaughterhouse member Crooked I.  At first after i purchased the EP I was a little worried that now Locksmith was packing it up and I wouldn’t hear any new music from him for a long time.

Which bring us to this past week. It turns out Locksmith made one of the greatest career decisions that I can think of in Rap history. He recognized that being from the Bay area in California was an obstacle in itself. He packed it up and took a trip to New York. He linked up with Ski Beatz and from the above video the chemistry is obvious. Ill be honest I had no idea who Ski Beatz was and after doing my research I am very embarrassed that i did not know who he was. Regardless after releasing the above single i am a fan of Ski Beatz and an even bigger fan of Locksmith. To add even more good news Dj Kayslay invited both Locksmith and Ski Beatz to come on his Shade 45 radio show. After a quick few questions and playing the new single twice Dj Kayslay had Locksmith freestyle something Dj Kayslay does with most guests. After Locksmith killed 2 freestyles it can be said that Kayslay was blown away and had Locksmith continue and freestyle a third time which does not happen often. After Locksmith finished the 3rd freestyle Kayslay reached out and said he wanted Locksmith to appear on his upcoming album as well as his upcoming mixtape. With Dj Kayslay’s popularity this will help Locksmith drastically become more well known in the Rap Game. I am very excited to see what comes next for Locksmith all the fame and success is well deserved.

I will end this with my opinion on what steps I think Locksmith should consider taking to help his career, I can only hope he reads this article and at least gives this advice a read. The first thing i think is crucial to Locksmith’s success is to collaborate with some high profile rappers. Ski Beatz has worked with Jay-Z, Ras Kass, Joell Ortiz, and many more so he should have the contacts to make some of this happen. He should definately get on remixes from any artist possible. Even if the artist is mainstream that doesn’t fit his profile. An example would be like if Soulja Boy or some southern rapper had a remix I would highly recommend he jump on the remix and just rip it so that millions more people could hear the talent he has.

One group of people I think really need to hear Locksmith rap as well as collaborate with is rap group Slaughterhouse. If there was ever room in the Slaughterhouse group for a new member I dont think there is a rapper out there more qualified for such a lyrical group then Locksmith is. He fits their chemistry perfectly and I think Eminem needs to hear some of his rhymes. Based on Eminem’s love for rap i dont think he could deny the talent Locksmith has and would probably reach out to sign him if he was ever made aware.

Finally I end this with one last request. Locksmith please get the solo album out that you are collaborating with Ski Beatz. Please get some sort of body of work out there for the people of some full length. Its long overdue and I am very happy that you realized your lyrical skill is your selling point and not any sort of gimmick. Congratulations on your successes now and the future success you will have. I am going to do my best to get the word out and try to get some more fans for this amazing rapper.