Skyzoo: Cinematic Music

Another Hot Transcribed article for AllHipHop.com of Skyzoo. Transcribed by: B.Needam Interviewer: Jake Crates



Skyzoo"Cinematic Music"
WHILE ALOT OF PEOPLE THOUGHT THAT BEING MAINSTREAM, MEANT COMPRIMISING YOURSELF, AN EMCEE COMES ALONG AND DREW THE MAINSTREAM WORLD INTO THE ESSENCE OF. SKYZOO BRINGS A NEW ELEMENT TO THE TERM OF "REAL HIP-HOP". NO WIKIPEDIA DEFINITION NEEDED.

AHH:What’s up Skyzoo?

Skyzoo:Everything’s good. I can’t call it. Just reaching out for this interview, nah mean.

AHH:Definitely. I’m just gonna ask you a few questions, and put together a feature news story for the All Hip Hop website. We also have a Top 5 Died or Alive section, where we ask you who is your top 5 died or alive on a topic related to hip hop. That’s always something that we can run a news story on.

Skyzoo:Oh, Okay!

AHH:So, getting into it, I seen that you had a new video out recently, right?. Tell us about that, the video and song concept.

Skyzoo: Yeah, it just came out two weeks ago. Easy to Fly. Well, with the video, like the majority of my videos, I come up with the concept myself. I always write the treatment pretty much myself. The directors that I worked with have been incredible, and they all have brought their opinions to the table, and just expanded on whatever I did. But, I’ll always have the idea, and I’ll go to the director, and I’ll be like, “ You I want to do this, or I wanna do that.” Like, I may have an Idea from Saved By The Bell, and I wanna do this for my video, and this is where I want to go. So, with Easy to Fly, it was no different . And, I wanted to make a video that reflected what the record was about, but could make people think, and bring people in that may not necessarily know me, or heard the record before. I wanted to do something that was familiar to them. So, instead of seeing a video where you see a girl get in bed, or you see me pull up in a Rolls Royce, or something crazy like that, I figure I’d do it centered around something that people are familiar with, like the movie Love Jones.





AHH:Right.

Skyzoo:You know, the movie Love Jones, to me, is one of the dopest movies of all times. One of my favorite movies of all times. The way they were able to take a story of love, particularly black love; without making it corny or cheesy. They still showed all the aspects of it, which I thought was great. I know overall, that it’s a movie that every black female on the planet loves. [Laughing] EVERY SINGLE ONE. So, I knew it would work. If we did it right, it would work. Because you can take a concept, and do it wrong, and people hate it. And so, I took the movie to my man Court Dunn, showed him the movie. I put him on to it, showed him the movie, and he was like, “ Nah, it’s sick. You can definitely pull this off.” And we pulled it off, and it came out great.

AHH:Yeah, man. It was classic, I thought. Just like the Popularity Joint. I live here in Dallas, TX. I even remember seeing you on ESPN.

Skyzoo: Yeah, I was on NBA Shoot Around.

AHH:How do you think that impacts your career? And how that ended up coming together?

Skyzoo: The first thing, the NBA Shoot Around deal came from Duck Down[Records]. Also with seeing me on Time Warner Cable and MTV U , came with being part of a label with Duck Down. Being a part of a label, all that stuff can happen. And all of that stuff is great. I think what it does is just put you in that light. When you’re a kid and your coming up, or even when you get older, when you want to do this full time, and this is what your life is about; you want this to be the end all, be all for you, that’s one of those signs. Being able to say , “ I’m on MTV or ESPN; I’m on demand and stuff like that, you know, is a sign of success. I don’t think that it changes you, but it does show you that your starting to make it, if you haven’t already made it already.

AHH:True. That’s what’s up, man. It definitely does great things for the artist. I seen that Kidz In The Hall had something on ESPN too, on Sports Center. So, that’s a good look. Duck Down is really doing their thing with that. Can you talk about what it’s been like working with Duck Down, and your experience with it all?

Skyzoo:Umm, Duck Down has been real dope! As a Hip-Hop Indie, they’re definitely the strongest indie label out, as far as hip-hop labels. Because they make moves like a major[Label], and there aren’t too many other indies that can get you those looks. Like you said, with ESPN and MT and BET; those things happen when you’re on Duck Down. It may not happen all the time, and it may not happen to every artist. But, the option is still there. It’s not far-fetched. It’s not like you can be on Duck Down and say, “ There’s no way imma get this mainstream look, or that mainstream look.” There’s a good chance that they can find a way and make something happen. So overall, you know, Duck Down has been a real good label to work with. They’re real supportive. I think that the best thing with them is the creative freedom that they give you. You know what I mean? They let you do what you wanna do musically. And do what u wanna do as far as your set up and your campaign. If you come to the table with a good idea, there not gonna shoot it down just because they didn’t think of it, or you didn’t go with what they[Duck Down] wanted to go with.
AHH:Right.

Skyzoo: You know, perfect example, with the album, when I turned in the album, [The Salvation], it wasn’t a situation where they had to listen to it, pick songs, take stuff off; or pick what the single is. I set everything up. I was like, “ Beautiful Decay is coming first. Followed by Popularity, and then Easy to Fly”. Then, the next song, and the next song. Whatever it was, I set it all up. And then, when you look at the promo, from the Saving Our Grace joint that we did, and all those different things, I came up with those ideas. I put it together myself. I got all the people involved, and I shot them with a director that I found on my own. All of those things, and they were never opposed to any of it. They just supported it. Duck Down was like just give it to us, and we will push it out to the world.















AHH:Definitely put a lot of faith in your behalf, with trusting your vision and concept for your marketing campaign. Now, with that Saving Our Grace series was something that I wanted to ask you about. Because I was watching a few, and the one that hit me the most was the Doubt joint. What was your whole idea behind the Saving Our Grace and what you were trying to do with that?

Skyzoo: Well, with the Saving Our Grace, I wanted to do something that brought people into the world of the album. Because I felt that the album was more than just 16 song. You know, a lot of people put 15 or 16 songs together. But, this was a album! The Salvation is a serious album, and its cohesive, by telling stories, and it’s even emotional at times. It paints pictures, and it goes a lot of places. So, what I wanted to do is bring you in the world of it. I feel like the album was bigger than me. The album stands on its own. And I felt like, there’s so many concepts and stories that are on the album, that I wanted people to realize that, and what was to be expected. So, instead of going to the store and saying, “ Yo, I heard Beautiful Decay, and I love it! I wanna get this album.” I wanted people to say, “ I heard Beautiful Decay and I loved it. But also, I saw these videos, man, that conveyed all these emotions and stories. Man, I gotta get that album!” That’s what I wanted people to say. And all of the emotions and scenarios that are painted on Saving Our Grace series are touched on the album. Like, when you look at the Doubt, on the album, that’s a direct reflection for the song For What It’s Worth. When you look at the third video, The one with the college student; that’s a direct reflection of There’s Weather. You look at the one with the single mother, Episode Four, and that was a direct interpretation of Under Pressure.

AHH:Right.

Skyzoo:So, I wanted to depict and paint these pictures and tell these stories that were one the album so that you know what to expect. You know what you were going to be getting. You understood what you [the listener] could look forward to. And they wen’t over incredibly well. Like, everyone who saw them were just going completely crazy. Every time I put one out every week, people would really bug out one the comment sections and on the YouTube, And the blogs and things like that. I have literally seen people write blogs about certain episodes [ of Saving Our Grace]. My man Handsome Samuel of XXL Magazine wrote a blog about Episode 4. He wrote an entire blog about single mothers in the hood; this, that, and the third. And he posted the video and talked about how it inspired him. So, they really took on a life of there own, to the point where people started telling me, “ I hope you don’t stop. I hope you continue to keep making ‘em. “ But I couldn’t keep going, because the story that I wanted to tell, I told everything that I wanted to through it. I couldn’t just create something, just for the sake of saying that I created it because I think that’s when you lose the art of it. Long story short, it went over incredibly well, and it was dope that people saw the vision.




























AHH:I agree. That’s what’s up. One thing that I wanted to ask you is what’s up with the Barrel Brothers project with Torae. Is that an album that you guys are working on that’s going to be coming up?

Skyzoo: It’s crazy, cause I’ve been asked about that a lot lately! And, that’s a rumor. That’s a straight up rumor. I don’t know where the title came from; nothing. You know, I remember talking to Torae, because me and him are like family; we kick it almost every day; whether in person, e-mail, or phone, we are literally like family. And I remember kicking it with him, and I was like, “ Yo, have you been on Wikipedia lately?” And he was like’ “ Nah.” So, I was like, “ Yo, on Wikipedia, it says that we have a album coming out called The Barrel Brothers Compilation.” And we both just burst out laughing. (Laughing) Like, Yo, somebody actually sat, and took the time to come up with a title, and the whole deal, and ran with it. (Laughing). It’s kinda funny, but at the same time, I guess it’s a complement because somebody cared that much to actually go through the trouble to do that. Somebody said I’m gonna create a title and say that they have an album coming out. So I guess it meant that much to somebody for us to do an album. But, nah, there’s no album or anything in the works. Me and Tore[Torae] are like family, when you see us, we’re always hanging out together. We continue to support each other, whether it’s on records together or on shows, were always holding each other down. But, who knows, something may happen in the future; we may do something later on. But, as of right now, there’s no Barrel Brothers coined or anything like that.




AHH:The fans are calling for it clearly. Now, Can you talk about the local radio stations in New York and your opinions of them, and who plays your music? How do you feel about that situation?

Skyzoo:Well, with radio in New York, it’s just like radio anywhere else. It definitely a hard game to get into because radio is real..[pauses]… It’s real corporate. No matter what genre of music you’re talking about; It’s corporate. Whether people know that or not. But, at the same time, it’s good that you have people like your DJ Enuf, like DJ Self, like DJ Quiz, and Peter Rosenburg who go the extra mile to try to break new records or get new artist on. But, they are willing to give people a shot, when they can. Now, that doesn’t mean that it happens every day, because it is still a game. The game is a game. It is corporate, and you do have your 20 records that you have to play all day, because it’s a part of the game. But, they do their job, but they also do the job of trying to break new records, and break new artist, and give people a chance. And, at the end of the day, that’s all you could really ask for. So, the people that have played my music, are the people that I’ve named. Enuf and Dj Self over at Power[105]. DJ Quiz and Peter Rosenburg. All those type of people that play records. But I think beyond the major stations like your Hot 97, and Power 105, you also have Sirius Satellite Radio, which is heard everywhere, all around the world. People like Dj Eclipse; People like Green Lantern, you know, all those people play new records and support all the time. Self has a radio show on there[Sirius XM Satellite] as well and he plays records all the time. It’s dope, cause you get a little bit of both.

AHH:Definitely. Okay, so changing lanes, can you comment about the XXL Freshman 2010 Lineup. I know you’ve worked with Wale from last year’s lineup, can you comment at all on The XXL? Do you feel that maybe you should have been in the mix of those 10 individuals somewhere?
Skyzoo: Well, I think anybody who is on the come-up and is on the rise, and on the verge of being all over the world; I think all of them, or all of us I should say; it’s easy for us to say, “ You should be on the cover.” And, it definitely would have been a great look if I was on the cover, but I understand what it is, and you know, it is what it is. Imma just keep working. As far as the artist that made the cover, I’m not mad at them at all. I think all of them bring their own thing to the table; I think all of them are dope and different in their own way. I’m more familiar with certain artist’s music than others. I’m real familiar with people like J. Cole and Nipsey Hussle; Jay Rock, whose a good friend of mine; Fashawn and Freddie Gibbs. I think Freddie Gibbs is Crazy! You know, those are the artist that were on the cover that I’m real familiar with their music. But, I’ve obviously heard all of them, and I think all of them do their own thing in their own way. So, I wasn’t mad at the cover at all. I wasn’t salty or anything like that. You know, congrats to them. I know some of them personally, and I think it was a dope cover. I’m not mad at it at all.
AHH: Getting back to you, I noticed that you selected a lot of heavy hitters as far as your production on this album. Who else have you thought to work with in the future, and who are you working with now as far as your beats are concerned?




Skyzoo:As far as the people that I worked with on The Salvation, they’re all people I’m cool with and I get a ton of love from, and I got a ton of love for. So, it’s nothing for me to work with them again. So, you will see me work with Black Milk continuously. And 9th Wonder obviously, because that’s family, and I’m aligned with them through Duck Down. Let’s see.. people like Elzhi and Just Blaze; you’ll see us continue to work. But as far as producers that I haven’t worked with yet, I would love to work with DJ Khalil, man! He’s definitely on my wish list for the second album. I’m dying to get with Khalil. Love to work with Kanye if possible. Love to work with Madlib if possible. There’s a ton of people. I have been blessed to work with so many people already, but there are people that I haven’t worked with that I would love to get in the lab with. I would love to work with Alchemist, given the chance. You know, me and him are real cool. With me and Alc[hemist] it’s just more about finding the time where we can get up when he is not tied up and I’m not tied up, where we can get it going. Just adding more people to the equation, you’ll see your Don Cannon’s; Your Hi-tek’s. But I am also a down south listener too. U. G.K., Pocket Full Of Stones; Jeezy. I’m a huge Jeezy fan. I would love to work with him too one day.



AHH:Right. Man, I remember we had you at the Breeding Ground a while back.

Skyzoo:Back in ’06.

AHH:Yeah, man, and I remember you performing at that. We definitely appreciate the music that you’ve made thus far, here at AllHipHop. So, anything new you want to send this way, we can always make that happen.

Skyzoo:Okay, definitely. Good Looking.

AHH:One last question: What’s your top 5 Dead or Alive, Skyzoo?

Skyzoo: Let me see… To pick 5 is so hard because there’s only 5. And you know you’re gonna get 3 off top[laughing]. Of top, you’re gonna get your Trinity, in no definite order.
Biggie, Jay-z, Nas. But I think if I had to round it off with two more, it would be to me, you add in Mos Def, and a tie if possible between Scarface and Eminem. But, that would be my 5 right there. And to me, with all 5 or 6 of them rather, they were all great story tellers. All amazing story tellers. And I’m big on that. I’m big on lyricism; big on storytelling as people can hear on records like Salvation, and Cloud 9, and The Power of Words, and Cornerstore Classics. All the different projects that I put out over the years and the course of my career. Lyrics, Storytelling, versatility as well. And all the artist that I name are extremely versatile with the way they put records together. And to me that’s what you call Hip-Hop Music. The whole deal. Real hip-hop is a term that is really blown out of the water, and I really don’t like saying it that much. Because it gets misconstrued so many ways. People think that if it’s not underground boom-bap, it’s not real hip-hop. And that’s not the case. Because there’s a lot of underground that’s dope, and then there’s a lot of underground that’s terrible. I think real hip-hop is whatever is real to the artist who created it and the audience that it serves.

AHH:Well Spoken, and Nuf Said.