Ski Mask The Slump God is poised for a big 2018. One of the pioneers of South Florida's SoundCloud rap wave, the Broward County, Fla. rapper has recently announced a partnership with alcoholic beverage brand, Luc Belaire, has been co-signed by some pretty legendary names and has a long-awaited project set to drop any day now.

Ski Mask has been hard at work on his mixtape Beware of the Book of Eli, teasing the project via snippets he's dropped on Instagram. The 21-year-old artist has announced Rich The Kid, Lil Yachty, Offset, Ronny J and Busta Rhymes as guests. Plus, legendary producer Timbaland has been chipping in beats, making the project one of 2018's more anticipated releases.

XXL caught up with the rapid-fire spitter last month to speak about his upcoming Beware of the Book of Eli tape and what it's like to record with his idols.

XXL: When are you planning to drop your long-awaited project, Beware the Book of Eli?

Ski Mask The Slump God: The tape should be coming out April, but it’s so worth the wait. Trust me! “Coolest Monkey in the Jungle” will be on there, “Nationwide,” “Run.” I mean, so much good shit. I know people will love this project. “Geekin’” will be there and there’s plenty more bangers on there.

What song do you expect your fans to gravitate to the most and why?

I think “Nationwide” should be one of the biggest songs off this project. I just think the sound of the record is out of this world and people are going to love what I'm saying on the record. Also, “Suicide Season” is a song no one has heard before, but I think people will definitely feel that one.

What's it like to work with a legendary producer like Timbaland?

Timbaland is actually a really genuine person—a real and normal person that I’ve looked up to for a very long time. You would think someone of his status or clout would be a different way, but he’s actually a really down-to-earth guy. He’s really inspiring and has influenced me for a very long time. He has something different and genuine that I feel connects with me in every level.

You've been working recently with another one of your idols, Busta Rhymes. What have you two been working on?

I got verse from Busta Rhymes for my song “Boy Meets World." [Ed Note: "SKIMeetsWorld" was released without a verse from Busta.] Super excited about it. The song is gonna be crazy and he killed his verse, so I can’t wait for y’all to hear it. Also, he’s hoping on other beats I have left over from Timbaland and then we gonna add him on those tracks, so it should be crazy. He’s going to be in the video for “Nationwide” as well because the video for that song is inspired by Busta Rhymes’ crazy videos from back in the days.

Have you gotten any advice from Busta on the rap industry?

You know what’s crazy? He told me how to deal with the industry shit. He said to me, “Yo, you should know the industry shit is some bullshit.” He was telling how much shit I should expect from this industry, and all the bullshit that comes with it because trust me there's a lot of bullshit with this.

Word has it that you're going to work with Lil Pump again. What should the fans expect from your next collab?

Me and Pump just agreed to work on the sequel to “Where’s the Blow.” We did the first "Where's the Blow" song maybe a-year-and-a-half ago and it's a remix of the Tokyo Drift songs. I think fans are really gonna be excited to hear us on a record together again.

What else should your fans expect from you in 2018?

Just expect way more music from me because we’re finalizing right now everything we want to drop this year. This year is going to be career-changing for me. Each song from this upcoming tape is gonna change my career in many ways. I'm excited for it.

See New Music Releases for April 2018

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