SKECH185 is an emcee originally from Chicago, but now based in Brooklyn. He made a splash in 2011 with the release of New Age Middle Finger, and album he made with producer Analog(ue) Tape Dispenser. They followed that up in 2016 with an album called Gunship Diplomacy, this time under the name War Church. Since that time, we haven’t gotten a proper full-length album from him, although he kept showing up with dope verses for projects for the likes of Uncommon Nasa, Shrapknel, Rich Jones, Armand Hammer, and Steel Tipped Dove, just to name a few. Now, he is back to drop his opus, He Left Nothing for the Swim Back.

The title of the album is of course a reference to the movie Gattaca, specifically to the idea that if one is going to beat someone who is genetically superior to you, you’ve got to give it your all – you can’t hold anything back or worry about what you’re going to do next time. The time is now, give it absolutely everything you’ve got. With that philosophy, SKECH185 starts this album out at a ten, and then just kicks it up to an eleven. Don’t worry, there are moments where you can catch your breath a little, but even on those tracks where the musical energy might slow things down and space things out, SKECH185 is still going as hard as he can with his lyricism and pushing you as a listener to consider angles to everyday life that you might not have otherwise thought about. To accomplish all of this, he’s pairing up with producer Jeff Markey, who you might know from his work on various Backwoodz Studioz releases, such as Armand Hammer, as well as working with A.M. Breakups and Reservoir Sounds. What this means in practical terms is that Markey is doing as much work to keep you on your toes and SKECH185 is, bouncing from the dark, dense, and discordant to the soulful and funky to the eerie and minimalist and back again, sometimes throwing it all in a blender. He manages to walk the line between being very challenging and accessible, giving you just enough familiarity with the music to draw you in, only to zig and zag and hit you with all sorts of unexpected elements along the way. SKECH185 is right there with him on the mic, bobbing and weaving but always coming at you with everything he’s got. He tackles a lot over the course of just nine songs, everything from the challenges of his upbringing in Chicago in the ‘90s to his other life as a bartender to philosophical queries, but whatever it is you can be sure he’s wrapped it up in some really beautiful and thought-provoking poetry that will having you hit pause and rewind as it dawns on you what he was really saying with that last line.

He Left Nothing for the Swim Back took a long time to get here, but the good news is that SKECH185 followed his own advice and left it all out on the field with this album. It’s intense, deeply personal, extremely inventive, and incredibly rewarding, with just layers and layers of abstract hip hop that you’ll have fun uncovering with each repeat listen.