Edward

Biography

Edward King Bass IV, known professionally as Edward Skeletrix or simply Edward, is an American experimental rapper, producer, clothing designer, and visual artist whose work sits at the intersection of cloud rap, underground hip hop, and surreal AI‑driven visuals.[4][3][1] Born in 1998 in Florida and raised in Albany, Georgia, he began making music around 2013 as a teenage producer under aliases such as Cight, Syckli, shieldLess, and Im A Monster, quickly integrating himself into the online underground by crafting dark, atmospheric beats for emerging artists on SoundCloud, including Night Lovell and XXXTentacion.[4][3][1] Alongside his production work, Bass helped found underground production collectives such as 0% boys and Mizustation and, by late 2018, expanded into fashion with his streetwear brand Syckli, signaling his ambition to build a broader multimedia universe around his art.[4][3]

Around mid‑2019 Bass adopted the Edward Skeletrix persona and gradually shifted from being a behind‑the‑scenes producer to a front‑facing rapper and visual artist, initially focusing more on unsettling AI‑generated imagery and world‑building than on traditional music releases.[4][3][1] His TikTok presence—built on purposefully strange, disturbing AI videos paired with rage‑inflected soundscapes that later became snippets of his own songs—earned him a cult following and significant viral momentum in 2023–2024 before his account was ultimately deleted or banned.[3][1] Working for a period at a psychiatric hospital in Baltimore, an experience he has described as triggering a prolonged psychotic episode, Bass folded themes of mental instability, media overload, and cultural decay into his Skeletrix narrative.[4] In December 2023 he released his debut project Skeletrix Language, followed by a steady run of experimental singles and collaborations with underground contemporaries such as Brennan Jones that culminated in the ambitious double album Museum Music / I’m A Monster, released in early 2025 as a sprawling, 30‑track critique of spectacle, consumerism, and exploitation in modern hip hop.[1][4]

Musically, Edward’s work fuses cloud rap, dark trap and rage aesthetics with heavily Auto‑Tuned vocals and abrasive, synthetic textures, extending the “Holy Trap” sound he helped shape on earlier projects like the EP ＡＲＣＨＩＴＥＣＴＵＲＥ into a more conceptual, self‑reflective framework.[3][1][4] His visual art leans into the uncanny aspects of AI imagery—faces and bodies warped just beyond recognition—used in videos, cover art, and promotional photography that often vanish from platforms or are replaced by stark, minimal motifs such as the dark plum artwork unifying Skeletrix Language and the I’m A Monster edition of Museum Music.[4][1] Within the underground, he is regarded as a boundary‑pushing figure who uses meme culture, horror‑tinged internet aesthetics, and self‑mythology not simply for shock value but to question how audiences consume art in an attention‑economy age, positioning his work as both a product of and commentary on the contemporary experimental hip‑hop landscape.[1][4][3]

Fun Facts

• Before releasing any full‑length project as Edward Skeletrix, Bass first gained traction by posting intentionally disturbing, AI‑generated videos on TikTok that functioned as standalone art pieces and later as teasers for his own music, building a cult following even before a formal album rollout.[1][3]
• Edward founded the streetwear brand Syckli in late 2018 and has treated it as an integral part of his artistic universe, blurring the line between merch, fashion label, and narrative world‑building around his Skeletrix persona.[4][3]
• He has described a period working at a psychiatric hospital in Baltimore as triggering a year‑long psychotic episode, an experience that deeply informed the psychological and surreal themes present in his music and visuals.[4]
• The album Museum Music was conceived as a double project (paired with I’m A Monster) released as a 30‑track debut statement that explicitly interrogates how hip hop has, in his view, drifted toward spectacle, materialism, and passive consumption, inviting listeners to question their own role in that process.[1][4]

Musical Connections

Mentors/Influences

• Night Lovell - Early creative catalyst and major collaborator whose dark, atmospheric trap style shaped Edward’s foundational production approach during the SoundCloud “Holy Trap” era. (Production and features on the EP “ＡＲＣＩＴＥＣＴＵＲＥ” and other early tracks credited under aliases like Cight within the Holy Trap scene.[3]) [c. 2013–2017]
• XXXTENTACION - Influential early collaborator whose interest in Edward’s euphoric, dark‑trap sound during the SoundCloud boom validated his experimental direction and expanded his reach. (Collaboration and production work under the alias Cight, including being noticed and worked with by XXXTentacion on the track “elegant.”[1][4][3]) [mid‑2010s (SoundCloud era)]

Key Collaborators

• KLNV (Night Lovell), greg, EPVR (Benjamin), Falco, 0% boys - Core collaborators in the Holy Trap community, appearing as featured artists and fellow producers on Edward’s early breakout EP. (EP “ＡＲＣＩＴＥＣＴＵＲＥ,” which features KLNV (Night Lovell), greg, EPVR (Benjamin), Falco, and members of 0% boys.[3]) [c. 2014–2016]
• Mizustation and 0% boys (producer collectives) - Underground production groups where Edward, under aliases like Cight and Syckli, honed his distinct dark‑trap and cloud‑rap production style with like‑minded producers. (Numerous Holy Trap‑adjacent releases and online collaborations credited to Cight/Syckli within the MIZUSTATION and 0% boys ecosystems.[3][4]) [mid‑2010s]
• Misogi, Lil Netzero, Fifty Grand - Notable underground producers who worked with Edward during his early producer years, contributing to the cross‑pollination of internet‑born experimental trap. (Collaborative tracks and production work in the Holy Trap / cloud‑rap underground credited across SoundCloud releases.[3]) [mid‑2010s]
• Brennan Jones - Fellow up‑and‑coming experimental artist who collaborated with Edward during the rollout of his Edward Skeletrix material, helping build momentum toward his double album. (Collaborative singles and content in 2024 leading up to the release of the double album “Museum Music” / “I’m A Monster.”[1]) [2024]

Artists Influenced

• Holy Trap / AI‑driven experimental hip‑hop underground (various emerging artists) - Edward’s early Holy Trap production and later viral AI‑aided visual storytelling have been cited within scene documentation as shaping the aesthetics and strategies of newer experimental cloud‑rap artists, particularly in their use of surreal AI imagery and TikTok‑native world‑building. (EP “ＡＲＣＩＴＥＣＴＵＲＥ,” the Syckli brand ecosystem, and the albums “Skeletrix Language” and “Museum Music,” which are referenced in scene write‑ups as touchstones for experimental, concept‑driven cloud rap.[3][1][4]) [late 2010s–mid 2020s]

Discography

Albums

Top Tracks

1. Drug Dealer Injects His Fentanyl (Psychosis) (Museum Music)
2. Fun (Fun)
3. Blurry Picture (Psychosis) (Museum Music)
4. Typical Rap Song 12 (Museum Music)
5. zo6 GET OUt ! (zo6 GET OUt !)
6. Love U (Love U)
7. Plastic Body (Museum Music)
8. Meg Thee Stallion (Meg Thee Stallion)
9. Yo Bro Will Kill You For A Band (Museum Music)
10. Congratulations (Museum Music)

External Links

• Spotify
• Wikipedia