As a rap artist, Ski Mask the Slump God (Stokeley Goulbourne) uses some of the weirdest flow patterns and trap beats I’ve ever heard. His new mixtape “BEWARE THE BOOK OF ELI” was released earlier this month and although this mixtape consists of 10 tracks, its only about 22 minutes long. This tape also features other artists such as Rich the Kid, Ronny J, SahBabii, and Danny Towers.
Ski Mask has previously released the album “You Will Regret (Reloaded)” in 2017, however, I find that “BEWARE THE BOOK OF ELI” is far superior. This is because “BEWARE THE BOOK OF ELI” encompasses better flow patterns, trap beats, and personality than “You Will Regret (Reloaded).” The cover art to this mixtape shows what appears to look like a children’s book. On the cover of the book is a cartoon version of Ski Mask, while he steps on a cartoon skull and holds a sword.
The first track on this album “LOST SOULS” features Rich the Kid, and in this song, Ski Mask the Slump God raps about how he is going to drown someone in the river of lost souls. This is contradictory and slightly humorous because the act of drowning someone in a river of the lost souls of dead people sounds counteractive, yet the idea of doing it is comical. I wasn’t a big fan of Rich the Kid’s verse in this track, but this song features a lot of funny adlibs from Ski Mask and a fat 808 trap beat.
The next track “RUN” is one of my favorite tracks on this mixtape because Ski Mask raps incredibly fast and his flow is on point. This quick song is also great to work out to due to its fast tempo and chorus “run motherf***er, run mothef***er, run.”
Track three “THROWAWAY” features Ronny J and this song is another favorite of mine. Again Ski Mask shows that his flow is on point, and he does something weird throughout this song that sounds like “throw it aw-AYE.” I loved this song because it sounds so different than the rest of the mixtape, and I really enjoyed how little Ronny J was in it. Not to say that Ronny J is a bad rapper, just that I would prefer to hear Ski Mask alone rather than with other guest features.
“COOLEST MONKEY IN THE JUNGLE” features SahBabii and is one of the most popular tracks on this album. This song’s beat sounds like a violin being played backward, along with a jungle-like xylophone. There are a lot of good lines in this track such as, “She said my n*ts taste like honey, no Cheerio. It be no biggie, though f*** European ho. How does she greet you though? She be like Cheerio!” After that line, Ski Mask raps even faster until the track ends. SahBabii’s feature is probably the best on this album because his slow style of rapping is a great contrast to Ski Mask’s fast-paced style.
I always skip over track 5 “SUICIDE SEASON” and track 7 “GEEKIN” because I feel like Ski Mask could have added more to each song in order to make them both interesting. In the chorus of “SUICIDE SEASON,” Ski Mask raps “Throw that p*ssy at me baby” over and over, which I found to be redundant. “GEEKIN” sounds like Ski Mask has marshmallow fluff in his mouth while he’s rapping about how hard he’s laughing.
Track 6 “DoIHaveTheSause” is awesome because of Ski Mask’s quick flow patterns, and background beat. Additionally, he drops some dope lines in this track such as “Michael Myers, I’m trying to kill that p*ssy. Sesame Street I’m a monster for that cookie.”
Track 8 “CHILD’S PLAY,” track 9 “DAPPER DAN,” and track 10 “BUKKAKE” are some of the best tracks on this mixtape due to the trap beat that Ski Mask uses, and his awesome flow pattern. My favorite track on this tape is “CHILD’S PLAY” because of the references he uses, and how quick his verses are. “Slide straight to your crib, just like Chucky, b*tch come out and play,” and “Kingdom heart is what I are, my key blade swing like arm.”
This mixtape blew me away because it was nothing I had anticipated for Ski Mask the Slump God. I thought that a few things on this mixtape could have been tweaked or changed (like featuring Rich the Kid on the first and last track), but overall this mixtape was excellent. I look forward to listening to “BEWARE THE BOOK OF ELI” on vinyl once it gets pressed, and this mixtape received a rating of a hard 8 out of 10.
