Lewis was born June 2, 1974, in Detroit, Michigan and after spending his early childhood in Fayetteville, North Carolina, he then moved to Richmond, Virginia, at a young age. He credits Run DMC for getting him involved in hip hop as a child. He fell in love with the culture and immediately began to practice all four elements religiously.
Career
He first made a name for himself by finishing in second place in a national freestyle competition, which eventually resulted in a recording contract with Atlantic Records. At this time he went by the stage name Mad Skillz rather than just Skillz. Mad Skillz' Atlantic debut album, From Where???, and its single, "The Nod Factor", were released in 1996, but neither received much commercial or critical attention. The album's title was a reference to the regionalism in hip-hop, and at the time the state of Virginia did not have a large hip-hop scene. In the late-1990s more of a Virginia scene emerged, and he allied himself with fellow Virginia natives Missy Elliott, Timbaland and The Neptunes. He made appearances on Timbaland's albums Tim's Bio in 1998, and Indecent Proposal in 2001; Timbaland made plans to sign Skillz to the Blackhand label he was developing; however, this label failed to materialize. He along with Danja Mowf, Lonnie B and Kalonji The Immortal, members of Skillz' Supafriendz collective, also appeared on a remix of Aaliyah's hit single "Are You That Somebody" in 1998. In 2000 Skillz was known for his tell all single "Ghostwriter". Within this single, he names artists for which he has written hit singles. It has alluding lines such as 'I'm a ghostwriter, I'm the cat that you don't see/I write hits for rappers you like and charge 'em a fee'. Unedited versions of the track have not surfaced, but Skillz is known to do a live performance in which he includes the names. In one live performance he mentions P. Diddy, Foxy Brown, Mase, Will Smith and Jermaine Dupri. One artist who openly admits Skillz has written hits for him is P. Diddy. Skillz eventually got a deal with Rawkus, where he recorded his 2002 LP I Ain't Mad No More, the title of which commemorated the official change of his MC moniker from "Mad Skillz" to just "Skillz." The aforementioned LP was never officially released in the U.S., however, during the Sprite Liquid Mix Tour in 2003 he sold some bootleg versions of this CD. The CD was re-packaged without several tracks as "Confessions Of A Ghostwriter" in 2005. A Supafriends LP, Supavision and another solo LP. The Scritti PolittiCd Single for 'Boom Boom Bap' features a track written as a collaboration between Skillz and Scritti frontman Green Gartside entitled 'Hands Up' and credited to Skillz'n'Green. The single was released in the UK in 2006. Skillz's latest album was released Dec. 30th 2014 and was entitled Made In Virginia produced entirely by Bink Dog. He said he has no plans to return to rapping after releasing that project. He is also the founder of the supergroup, Supafriendz V.A. Playaz, with Timbaland, Magoo, N.E.R.D., Fam-Lay and Clipse. He has recently gone back to his original moniker Mad Skillz and has returned to producing and deejaying. In November 2017 it was announced that Skillz would be an artist-in-residence at the University of Richmond starting in January 2018, teaching a course on hip hop with Professor Erik Nielson. On February 13, 2019, Mayor Levar Stoney declared it to be "Mad Skillz Day" in Richmond, VA to commemorate the 23rd anniversary of Skillz's debut album From Where??? and to recognize his "positive influence on our city." Shaquan Lewis Net Worth - Shaquan Lewis's net worth has been growing significantly in 2019-2020. Shaquan Lewis is a Rapper, who has a net worth of $1 Million - $5 Million at the age of 45 years old. Shaquan Lewis’s income source is mostly from being a successful Rapper. He is from MI. He's net worth in 2020 is estimated to be between $1 Million - $5 Million.
