FLY ANAKIN & FOISEY ‘SKINEMAXXX SIDE B’ IS A POTENT COURSE CORRECTION

It’s challenging to build on a breakthrough. Fly Anakin, a rapper from Richmond, revealed that his next effort will be the loosely conceptual Skinemaxxx, a collaboration with fellow Mutant Academy member foisey, following the success of Frank, his expertly crafted first album. Since each EP was supposed to tell a different chapter of the same tale, the team opted to divide the project into two distinct EPs. In March, Side A was made available. Although it offered yet another illustration of Anakin’s lyrical prowess, it lacked cohesiveness and sometimes killed its own momentum with skits and odd sequencing. Side B, which highlights Anakin and Fousey’s evident chemistry, is a significant course correction.

The standout tracks on Side A, particularly “Blicky Bop” and “Outsidigan’s Anthem,” showed Anakin expanding into new directions. He appeared to want to move beyond the contemplative stoner lane he had adopted, but he may not have known how to achieve so. Although well-crafted, a large portion of Side A fell back on dingy loops and mesmerizing voice patterns.

Only seldom did the music live up to the filthy expectations of the album title and cover, but for the most part, it resembled a haphazard compilation of excellent Mutant Academy tracks. The two artists discover the sound they were looking for on Side B, as Anakin spits some of his most lewd rhymes to date while foisey really embraces the somber silent storm approach he spoke to.

They are clearly on much firmer ground from the first seconds of “Taxicab Confessions,” the album’s first track. The song favorably sways and has a come-hither groove similar to Ginuwine’s early music. In response, Anakin uses ridiculous pick-up lines like “put that pussy in a bottle/I’ma drink it while you model;” His come-ons are ridiculous, yet he delivers them with such assurance that it’s difficult to believe they don’t work.

More explicit language is used by Anakin over “Intrepid’s” jarring g-funk. “Famously my backstroke solid, I make the bitch shout,” he boasts. He reiterates his assertion of his sexual prowess later in the song: “He don’t flex enough? I’ll take care of it for you, popping you like a boil. With “Lacy Duvalle,” the pair wraps off Side B with a sensuous sex song constructed around a vocal sample that coos, “Put your tongue in my mouth, make me wet.”

Anakin and foisey don’t lose steam while deviating from the album’s smoldering horniness, in contrast to Side A. The fictional character GoQuan, who appears in the one skit on Side B called “Outro,” felt put on and underdeveloped. GoQuan is the silent star of the skits that appear throughout the first EP. By incorporating elements of his origin narrative with the EP’s overt raunchiness, Anakin here digs into his own history. In tracks like “Animal Planet” and “Blockstory,” there is a little coming-of-age story that adds some nice colour and expands on Frank’s autobiographical themes. Where Side A attempted to cram itself into a notion that felt ill-fitting, Side B took a step back and came off as much more confident.

In a 2022 Bandcamp interview, Anakin highlighted his affinity for “busy beats,” stating that making music with densely layered samples allows him to lose himself in his own thoughts. On foisey’s more restrained palette, Side B upends that story since Anakin sounds just as agile—possibly even more so—than usual. The EP clocks in at a quick 22 minutes yet seems substantial, demonstrating how effectively these two complement one another.

Both sides of Skinemaxxx seem unconnected when heard continually, but when considered as a part of Anakin’s whole record, it’s fascinating to witness an artist experimenting with various genres to find what works. Anakin might have easily continued, embracing the copious output for which he is renowned. However, taking the time to refocus and figure out how to efficiently cut the fat pays off in the long run; these are the kinds of actions that help an artist establish a legacy as opposed to a discography.