First Class – “Peace To The Gods”

First Class is thinking outside the box in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Although there are a lot of positive things happening with Hip Hop in the city now, The Mil is still afflicted with many serious issues. In the midst of the chaos, Skyy Phreshh has gathered a tight-knit team around his blood relatives to go full “Anarchy” on those keeping his team and the scene back. First Class uses poverty and inner city challenges to fuel their Wisco cold wordplay, catchy hooks, sinister beats and melodies. They’re working deep into “Late AM” to further their family’s future. First Class gets our blessing for their debut Peace To The Gods tape.

We chopped it up with Skyy Phreshh recently – founder of the collective and lead performer. “It’s not what people think,” he says. “It’s really a mixture of hype, trap type of sounds, with lyrical.” First Class wants to lace bangers, but they don’t want to do it like the trend-hopping rappers do. They’re looking to tell their serious story and make it exciting to listen to. “People are so into two categories – ‘I’ma be either lyrical or I’ma be a gangster rapper,'” says the leader.

Family is motivation for this band of brothers. Skyy and the other lead performer Scottie Phresh, along with their manager Juice – are all blood bros. Dionte Gray and PTTG executive producer New Kid Beats are cousins. “It was just growing up, you’d just watch your mom go through so much for these kids, and you just see so much happening around you, that you can’t do nothing about it, at that age, without selling drugs, without being a basketball player,” says Skyy. “I tried the school route. I can’t get back into school now because I owe money. I keep trying to get back into school, I keep trying these little jobs, and… I can’t feel accomplished.”

First Class dropped a couple clean visuals and a promo video this past winter. Many have taken notice, including The Illixer and Shepherd Express. They’re all working for it, and Skyy is leading by example. “I went to school for 2 years for business and marketing at Central State in Ohio,” says Skyy. The founding father is working on a clothing line called Forever Fresh and a movie script called 50 Nights. “We’ve got about 5 projects in the works,” he says. “It’s like a 3-headed dragon, we just know.”

For more, see the PREMIERE.

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