Chyskillz

Chyskillz
Chyskillz in North Carolina 2012
Background information
Birth name Chylow Parker
Also known as Chylow M. Parker, Chy-Skills, Chy-Skillz, CHY Skillz, Chyskills, Mr. Slam
Born (1969-07-19)July 19, 1969
Manhattan, New York City, New York, US
Died February 13, 2018(2018-02-13) (aged 48)
Genres Hip hop, New jack swing, Jazz rap, Hardcore hip hop, Gangsta rap, East Coast hip hop
Occupation(s) Breakdancer, Graffiti, BMX bike, DJ, producer, musician, MC
Instruments Turntable, sampler, Drum kit, Electric guitar, Keyboards
Years active 1991–2018
Labels Chyskillz Entertainment Inc., JMJ Records, Def Jam, Wasteland Records, 719 Music Inc.
Associated acts Large Professor, Fam-Lee, Public Enemy, BO$$, Onyx, Rumpletilskinz, Run-D.M.C., Queen, Ice Cube, Sister Machine Gun, Shaquille O'Neal, LL Cool J, Mic Geronimo, Royal Flush, Fredro Starr, Sauce Money, Noreaga, Sticky Fingaz, Busta Rhymes, De La Soul

Chylow Parker (July 19, 1969 – February 13, 2018),[1] known by the stage name Chyskillz, was a hip-hop producer from Queens, New York. He worked with well-known artists such as Large Professor, Onyx, Run-D.M.C., Ice Cube, LL Cool J and Public Enemy.

Early life

Chylow Parker was born in Manhattan, New York City, New York. At the age of 4 he and his family moved to Jamaica, Queens, New York. At the age of 10, Chyskillz and his family moved to Flushing, Queens. That's where he met Large Professor, Neek The Exotic and Mic Geronimo. Royal Flush used to live on the other side of the building he grew up in. 10-years-old, Chyskillz touched a pair of Technique turntables for the first time. At that moment he knew what he wanted to do with his life.[2]

In the 80's Chyskillz and Large Professor were a members of b-boy crew "Stay Fresh Crew". Chylow could do "Flare (acrobatic move)", "Airflare" and "Headspin". Chylow was a good graffiti writer, bombing the "I.S. 237" (Rachel Carson Intermediate School 237) roofs, you could see his tags "CHY" on Main Street (Flushing, Queens). Chylow also was a good BMX biker, rocking "Miami hoppers" before anyone else on Colden Playground (Flushing, Queens)

Career

Jam Master Jay

Chyskillz started his music career deejaying for Large Professor, the founding member of Main Source. Chyskillz working on a recording studio as an engineer and producer on Neek The Exotic's project. One day he met Fredro Starr, who saw him playing deejaying. Fredro liked his beats, so he gave him his phone number. Onyx's manager, Jeff Harris, called him and invited him to Jam Master Jay's studio. When Chyskillz got with Jam Master Jay his first professional credit was the remix he did for Fam-Lee – "Runs in the Fam-Lee".

Onyx

Queens, New York City M.C. Neek The Exotic introduced DJ Chyskillz to the group Onyx in 1991. In Brian Coleman's book Check the Technique Fredro described how Onyx met their new producer:[3]

"...We met Chyskillz on Jamaica Avenue one day. We was buying weed at the weed spot and Chy was chasing my truck down the street, yelling, 'I got beats!' His stuff back then was jazzy, on some Tribe Called Quest shit, but it was hot. I knew he could put beats together right away. We brought him into our zone and made him do some grimy shit."

When Chyskillz met Fredro and Sticky they were already signed to Def Jam. The group was called Onyx and consisted of Fredro Starr, Sticky Fingaz, Suave (a.k.a. Sonny Seeza) and Big DS. When Chyskillz first got with Onyx, they already have another producer, but their stuff was a little bit more commercial and friendly. Chyskillz let Fredro hear some beats and it started from there. Chyskillz began making beats for Onyx and the collaboration just worked. The first song that Chyskillz ever did for Onyx was "Nigga Bridges". He did one song for them and Russell Simmons heard it and give Onyx an EP deal for 6 songs. But they did 10 songs on a budget of 6 songs, so Russell Simmons give them an album deal.

Chyskillz and Jam Master Jay co-produced the hip-hop group Onyx's multi-platinum selling debut album called Bacdafucup.[4] The album is described as having a "tense, wired edge that amplifies the vividness of the threatening lyrics. Sonically, it has a hardcore East Coast/New York City cast, full of throbbing bass and screeching siren-like effects".[5]

Chyskillz drew notice for his work on hit songs like "Throw Ya Gunz" and "Slam" by Jam Master Jay of Run-DMC.[4] Onyx's hit song Slam, which Chyskillz co-produced with Jam Master Jay, was included in music writer Bruce Pollock's Rock Song Index: The 7500 Most Important Songs for the Rock and Roll Era.[6] It also made the Billboard Hot 100.[7]

Chyskillz left Onyx in the summer of 1993 cause they don't need him like a producer record. So Chyskillz signed with Wasteland Records.[8]

Other production

Since 1991, Chyskillz has worked with artists like Fam-Lee, Public Enemy, BO$$, Onyx, Rumpletilskinz, Naughty By Nature, Biggie Smalls, 3rd Eye (a.k.a. Jesse West), Run-D.M.C., Queen, Ice Cube, Sister Machine Gun, Shaquille O'Neal, LL Cool J, Mic Geronimo, Royal Flush, Fredro Starr, Sauce Money, Noreaga, Sticky Fingaz, Busta Rhymes, De La Soul and a whole list of artist. Many songs Chyskillz produced were re-mixed, re-master and re-released after 1997.[9]

Chyskillz also co-produced LL Cool J's multi-platinum album Mr. Smith on Def Jam records with fellow co-producers Trackmasters, Easy Mo Bee, and Rashad Smith.[10]

In May 2003 Chyskillz founded his own label "719 Music Inc.".[11]

Musical style

In an interview with NPR, hip hop artist and record producer Large Professor described working with Chyskillz on one of his first demos:[12]

"...that's the style of production that we were doing at that time, where he would cut up "Synthetic Substitution" breakbeat on one tape. And you had the two and three tape decks, and he would put the tape in there. And then he would play that tape and overdub some bass lines."

Last Year

In the last year of his life, Chyskillz actively traveled by plane, now and then visiting the cities of Dallas (Texas), Atlanta (Georgia), New York and Miramar (Florida). In all the cities he had friends and there he found new clients – rap artists, for whom he produced music. On the Facebook he uploaded videos he shot at the airport, marked "Where in the world is Chyskillz now" so that his friends would try to guess the city in which the producer is located, leaving comments under the post. And in the video he used to say: "It's about catch a flight, I'll might be in your city"

Death

On July 5, 2017, Chyskillz was involved in a car accident and had surgery in October on his shoulder and was scheduled to possibly have back surgery soon. He was in a lot of pain and not working so much. He was in Queens, New York. On February 10, 2018 he was suffering a bad cold for two weeks and went to the hospital and they informed him that he had the flu, should never have gone to the studio and should have been resting. On February 12, Fredro and Sticky flew to New York. Fredro picked him up in Queens to go to the studio to do some remixing for the shows. Chyskillz was so pleased with this, he certainly agreed. After the session he came home late that evening around 2am. The next morning his family discovered him. Doctors say he suffered a heart attack. Next week he had to go to Miami, and then to Dallas for work. He just finished work on the project with De La Soul.[1]

Discography

Albums

With Onyx
Solo albums
  • 2014–2017: LP (unreleased)

Production

  • 1991: Fam-Lee – "Runs in the Fam-Lee (It's The Fam-Lee Remix)" (from "Runs in the Fam-Lee (Vinyl Single)") – Remixed by Jam Master Jay & Chy-Skills
  • 1992: Fam-Lee – "You're The One For Me (Hip-Hop Mix)" (from "You're The One For Me (Vinyl Single)") – X-Tra Flavor by Chy Skills
  • 1992: Public Enemy – "Louder Than A Bomb (JMJ Telephone Tap Groove)" (from compilation album "Greatest Misses") – Remixing[13]
  • 1992: Bo$$ – "Livin' Loc'd" (from "Born Gangstaz") – Producer[14]
  • 1992: Onyx – "United States Ghetto (The U.S.G.)" – Producer
  • 1992: Onyx – "Wake Up Dead, Nigga" (Throw Ya Gunz) (feat. Tek-9) – Version 1 (with different chorus at the beginning) – Producer
  • 1992: Onyx – "Wake Up Dead, Nigga" (Throw Ya Gunz) (feat. Tek-9) – Version 2 – Producer
  • 1993: Onyx – "Bacdafucup", "Bichasniguz", "Throw Ya Gunz", "Here 'N' Now", "Bus Dat Ass", "Da Mad Face Invasion", "Blac Vagina Finda", "Da Bounca Nigga", "Nigga Bridges" (co-producer), "Onyx Is Here", "Slam", "Stik 'N' Muve" (co-producer), "Bichasbootleguz", "Shifftee", "Phat ('N' All Dat)", "Getdafucout" (from "Bacdafucup") – Instrumentation, musician, producer
  • 1993: Run-D.M.C. – "Three Little Indians", "Get Open" (from "Down with the King") – Producer
  • 1993: Biohazard & Onyx – "Judgment Night" (from "Judgment Night (soundtrack)") – Producer
  • 1993: Rumpletilskinz – "Mad M.F.'s" (from "What Is a Rumpletilskin?") – Mixing, producer
  • 1993: Class A Felony – "I'm Not The Herb You're Lookin' 4 (CHY Skillz Remix)" (from "I'm Not The Herb You're Lookin' 4 (Vinyl Single)") – Remixing
  • 1994: Kwazz E. Modoe – "Live The Life" (from Kwazz E. Modoe's demo tape) – Producer
  • 1994: Queen – "Another One Bites The Dust" (Chyskillz Remix) (feat. Ice Cube, Hi-C (rapper) & Chyskillz) (from compilation album "BASIC Queen Bootlegs") – Remixing
  • 1994: Shaquille O'Neal – "(So U Wanna Be) Hardcore", "Freaky Flow" (from "Shaq-Fu: Da Return") – Producer
  • 1994: Sister Machine Gun – "Nothing (Chyskillz Re-Mix)" (from "Nothing (CD Single)") – Remixing
  • 1995: Mic Geronimo – "Man of My Own" (from "The Natural") – Producer
  • 1995: LL Cool J – "Mr. Smith" (from "Mr. Smith") – Producer
  • 1996: Royal Flush – "Iced Down Medallions" (feat. Noreaga) (Chyskillz Remix) (from Various Artists – "Heartbeat" – Chill Factor Remixes) – Producer
  • 1997: Royal Flush – "International Currency" (from "Ghetto Millionaire") – Producer
  • 1997: Royal Flush – "Shines" (from "Ghetto Millionaire") – Mixing
  • 1997: Royal Flush – "Family Problems" (from "Ghetto Millionaire") – Mixing
  • 1997 – 2014: Producing of various hip-hop artists not subscribed to the top labels
  • 2009: Skotadistes – "100 Mad Gang (Slam Again)" (feat. Fredro Starr) – Producer
  • 2014: Sticky Fingaz – "I Don't Give A Shit" / "Ebenezer Scrooge" (feat. N.O.R.E.) – Producer

References

  1. 1 2 "New York Producer Chylow "Chyskillz" Parker Dead From Reported Heart Attack (by Mikey Fresh) (February 13, 2018)". Vibe (magazine). Retrieved 22 February 2017.
  2. ↑ "The Elite Men's Magazine of Hip-hop Culture. Issue#3 feat. Kurupt, Sly Boogy, NME (Brandon Davis) & ChySkillz (by Charles Purnell) (May 19, 2015)". magcloud.com. Retrieved 20 February 2017.
  3. ↑ "Check the Technique: Liner Notes for Hip-Hop Junkies (by Brian Coleman) - page 305". books.google.ru. Retrieved 2018-08-01.
  4. 1 2 Sanchez, The Lesson w/ DJ (February 27, 2018). "Hip-Hop Legends Onyx Bac Up With New Album "Black Rock"". The Source. Retrieved 24 April 2018.
  5. ↑ Woodstra, Chris; Bush, John; Erlewine, Stephen Thomas (2008). Old School Rap and Hip-hop. Hal Leonard Corporation. ISBN 978-0-87930-916-9.
  6. ↑ Pollock, Bruce (March 18, 2014). Rock Song Index: The 7500 Most Important Songs for the Rock and Roll Era. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-135-46296-3.
  7. ↑ Inc, Nielsen Business Media (June 12, 1993). Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc.
  8. ↑ "4th and Long – Interview with Chyskillz on Blog Talk Radio (by Jermaine Hymes) (January 15, 2016)". blogtalkradio.com. Retrieved 22 February 2017.
  9. ↑ "The Elite Men's Magazine of Hip-hop Culture. Issue#3 feat. Kurupt, Sly Boogy, NME (Brandon Davis) & ChySkillz (by Charles Purnell) (May 19, 2015)". magcloud.com. Retrieved 20 February 2017.
  10. ↑ D, Chuck (October 10, 2017). Chuck D Presents This Day in Rap and Hip-Hop History. Running Press. ISBN 978-0-316-43098-2.
  11. ↑ "The Elite Men's Magazine of Hip-hop Culture. Issue#3 feat. Kurupt, Sly Boogy, NME (Brandon Davis) & ChySkillz (by Charles Purnell) (May 19, 2015)". magcloud.com. Retrieved 20 February 2017.
  12. ↑ "Large Professor, Part 1: 'We're Living in the World of Hip-Hop'". NPR. Retrieved 24 April 2018.
  13. ↑ "Chyskillz Discography at Discogs". discogs. Retrieved 22 February 2017.
  14. ↑ "Chyskillz Biography at Allmusic.com". AllMusic. Retrieved 22 February 2017.
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