Adam BernardNot a lot of artists have stories about waking up in blood soaked sheets,and influencing a Nickelodeon actress to get her first tattoo, but Sky Blu has always been unique.
Known for his teaming with Redfoo as the hit making duo LMFAO, Sky Blu recently released his first solo effort, “Pop Bottles,” and is hoping with the summer release of his solo album people will get to know a little more about him. He’s also hoping it earns him some hardware.
“I know I got Grammy material on there,” he says of the yet to be named album. “I really want to be one of the best that there’s ever been in music, and I know Foo does, as well, but it’s on us to be able to attain that goal.”
The other day RapReviews caught up with Sky Blu, and we popped a few questions about the album “Pop Bottles” will be off of. He also told us about influencing Nickelodeon actress Ariana Grande to get her first tattoo, what led to him waking up in blood soaked sheets, and what he did to rack up a $10,000 hotel bill. Believe it or not, it had nothing to do with the sheets.
Adam Bernard: First of all, I notice you’re sporting a more aerodynamic look. When someone cuts their hair it’s oftentimes symbolic of change in that person’s life. Did you cut your hair when you went solo, was it symbolic of something else, or were you just getting hot?
Sky Blu: {*laughs*} I think it’s a bunch of things, but one of the most significant things that happened was I was talking to somebody from the label, and they were like “don’t cut your hair. You can never cut your hair. People only know you for your hair.” I was just like damn, I don’t wanna be known as the guy with the hair. I don’t wanna be Milli Vanilli, or anybody like that, so I said OK, I’m gonna cut my hair and by the time I grow it back out people are gonna know me for me. That was really important to me, so I just did it. I was so excited to cut it, too.
AB: So it was basically an act of rebellion. You were saying how dare you say I’m only known for my hair.
SB: Exactly. Don’t tell me how I’m gonna exist on this earth, how people are gonna perceive me. That’s up to me.
AB: How difficult was it to make the decision to take a break from LMFAO, especially at the height of your popularity?
SB: I feel it was very easy. LMFAO happened so organically that if me and Foo, creatively, are in different places, we just won’t do an LMFAO album at that time. It’s important for the world to realize who we are as individuals. We’ll come back stronger than ever.
AB: Let’s talk about the project that your new single, “Pop Bottles,” is off of. What can people expect from it?
SB: People can expect some music that they’re gonna enjoy, and whatever the song is my goal is for somebody to feel the emotion that I felt when I was making it. If I do that, my job is done. I feel people are gonna get some of the stuff that they always know and love from me, and then also a bunch of new different things that they wouldn’t have expected.
AB: Tell me a little bit about that, and how you’re showing another side of yourself.
SB: I’m really putting myself out there because yeah, there’s a lot of humor in my music, and a lot of witty lines and things like that, but I feel the more music I release people are gonna see a deeper side of me. It’s all fun, it’s all happy, it’s all positive, but I still use music like a lot of artists do, as a therapy. My personal music is sometimes way different than LMFAO, but it all comes from the soul and I feel if it’s true and honest people are gonna dig it.
AB: Is this also a bit of a shot at the critics who say you, and LMFAO in general, are only about partying?
SB: Damn right it is! I’m taking all of em out! I have a song they will love, it will be a soundtrack to their life. That’s what I wanna make. I wanna make those songs that you’re like “aw man I remember where I was when I heard this song. It brings me back there.” That’s what we do as musicians, we want to encapsulate great memories and be able to have people listen to a song and get over something.
AB: Do you think people are going to consider this a pop album, a hip-hop album, or a combination of both?
SB: I think they’re gonna consider it art. It can’t really be classified by genre. It’s a bunch of emotions. I’m a person that loves all different types of music, and as a music creator I can put down my interpretation of what I love. You can get a little Elton John, to a little Tupac, a little Electric Light Orchestra, to John Lennon, Pavarotti, or DMX. I listen to all this music seriously. I love it.
SB: A mutual friend set it up. I was in the middle of writing a lot of music and I said you know what, I never do things like this, I never write for other artists, I just make music, or write with my Big Bad family, so I said let’s go try something new. The whole Big Bad crew went over there, met em, and wrote a cool song. It was really fun, and she’s really lovely. She’s awesome.
AB: She’s adorable. You just wanna wrap her in a blanket and make sure nobody hurts her, but she’s also a Nickelodeon girl, so was the network just like “sure, go work with the man in the festive Speedo?”
SB: You know what’s so funny is I am a bad influence. I’m over there hanging out, and I’m getting tattoos, because I be getting tattoos in the studio. What else are you gonna do other than write music? So she got her first tattoo there, just out of the blue. It was a heart on her toe.
AB: Wow! That’s crazy! How many tattoos have you gotten in the studio?
SB: I’ve gotten a few on radio. I think I’ve gotten two on radio. In the studio I’ve gotten seven.
AB: Wait, while you were on the air, on radio, someone was sticking a needle in you?
SB: Yeah, and the host got tattoos, as well. The first tattoo he’d ever gotten was with me. I got a lotta firsts with people. I kinda bring it out of em.
AB: Do you have a tattoo that’s especially meaningful to you?
SB: I have a lot. I don’t really get those tattoos that aren’t kinda deep. I look at them as my inspiration and my strength to move forward. We’ve all been through our battles and these are definitely my little strength pieces. My first one is “Mind Over Matter BTR.” BTR are the initials of my grandfather, who I got a lot of me from. He passed away when I was younger, but I was with him like every day, and we would always talk. He always told me “mind over matter, no matter what happens. If you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter.” I took that to heart, and that’s what I live by.
AB: So none of em are like “I got drunk one day and walked into a tattoo parlor.”
SB: Oh yeah there are. There are two (like that). I got a Yoshi (from Super Mario World) on my left wrist above the Mind Over Matter. I’m gonna make him smoking a j a little later. I got it on tour. I was really really drunk and I met these two guys who became really close friends of mine. They told me about this drum tech named Yoshi that would hide things for his friends. So let’s say you’re out of beers and you’re like “damn man, I don’t want to go to the store.” He’d be like “we could go to the store OR we could drink this six pack that I put in this cooler back here behind the door.” Everybody would be like “ooooh!” That’s Yoshi, being surprised by a gift that you didn’t expect. I put that on there so I could always remind myself to be good to my friends. But my drunkest tat is definitely the “Party Rock” that spans across my entire back.
AB: Wait a minute, that’s way too big to have been drunk the entire time it was being done.
SB: Listen to the story. You’re gonna trip. It was after a show. The show ended at one in the morning, two in the morning. We’re all drunk and everybody’s trying to get their girls, and this dude is like “yo, my boy’s really sick at tattooing.” This is in Modesto, CA, by the way. “My boy’s really dope at tattooing. He can open the shop right now if you wanna get a tat.” I’m like “hell yeah!” I’m really drunk. I try to have one of my friends come with me from the Party Rock group, and he’s like “nah man, I’m gonna get this girl.” So I go in this dude’s car by myself and we roll into this crazy house with babies crying at three in the morning. It’s dirty. I’m like damn, I’m really drunk, I don’t know what I’m doing, I’m not getting tattooed here. I don’t know where I’m at. We leave there. He picked something up, I don’t know what it was, and we go to this tattoo shop that looked decent. It was really nice, and the dude was cool, so I said alright, put “Party Rock” on my back. I’m drunk. I’m still drinking. I’m still going in. I get the tattoo. It’s filmed. That’s how I remember all this stuff, cuz I filmed it on my phone. I woke up in my hotel room and my sheets were bloody. Everything was bloody. I was trippin out. I didn’t know what happened at all. I’m like oh my God, I’m checking my body. It was such a Dude Where’s My Car moment cuz I was like “what the hell is going on?” I felt my back was sore. I turned around in the mirror and I saw what had happened last night, I said “oh my God, what the hell am I doing!?” {*laughs*}
AB: Thank God you got it on your back!
SB: That was before “Party Rock Anthem,” or even the second album.
AB: Was housekeeping terrified when they walked in and saw you had a blood soaked bed?
SB: They usually are (terrified) when they come to my room. It’s usually something, either broken tables, glass everywhere, blood, whatever.
AB: But they didn’t call the cops on you?
SB: I don’t know cuz we had to leave early in the morning. That was another sucky thing, I had to wake up early and catch a flight, and you’re hung over and you leave half of your shit in the room because it’s under the blanket or something. That’s just the life.
AB: Shout out to that hotel staff that came into your room after you were gone, saw blood soaked sheets and said “eh, let it slide.”
SB: Yeah. {*laughs*} The biggest bill I’ve ever gotten from a hotel is $10,000. I broke the In Case of Emergency glass, and it wasn’t an emergency. I took the fire extinguisher, I stole Foo’s key card to his room, he was trying to get down with this girl he brought back to his room, so I opened up his room and I sprayed them both with the fire extinguisher. The room became so smokey that the fire alarm went off. Everyone had to come out of the Mondrian, this was in Arizona, and the police came. I fled straight to the airport. That was a $10,000 bill because it destroyed all the stuff in the room.
AB: It was quite the epic cock block, as well.
SB: EPIC cock block.
AB: Have you calmed down at all in life?
SB: I still have fun. I don’t wanna damage people’s property and disrespect anybody, but if I get drunk stuff happens. We live life to the fullest over here. I’m definitely wiser.
AB: Finally, there’s no way I can let you go without talking about The Last Dragon. What’s the word on the remake?
SB: I know they’re making it for sure. I said put me as Bruce Leroy. I’ve been doing martial arts since I was three! I heard some really good things about it, and some of the people they’re casting. I can’t speak too much about it, but it’s gonna be sick, man.