MIKE TV usually isn't a fan of cut & paste legend joints, however, "Interview" is an exception. FLY GYPSY & company engineer a pretty perceptive song and the 'lost' 2PAC verse is the knockout blow. CLICK TITLE 2 LISTEN.
BIG FAT CRAZY RFM SHOUT OUT 2 MICHELLE & AUDIBLE TREATS!
Hello my RFM familia! With RFM's own 17 yr old Exotic Prodigy KHEMIST prepping for his historic performance @ HOWARD UNIVERSITY's YARDFEST 2009 - 10/23/09, it's been a busy 2 months to say the least. Mas updates are on the way (my email is jam packed, lol). Check out this 'BLACK DYNAMITE' deal sent to me by WaxPoetics. It's so soulful, lol. CLICK TITLE 2 peruse Waxpoetic.com.
Thx 2 Waxpoetics.com
"The score was written, composed, and performed entirely by the multi-talented Adrian Younge. Armed with an arsenal of vintage equipment and instruments, Younge recorded the album in his fully analog home studio by night, while spending his days editing the film. Inspired by the great Blaxploitation soundtracks of the 1970s, Younge has crafted a singular vision for his debut on Wax Poetics Records.
Black Dynamite, starring Michael Jai White, was released nationwide on October 16, 2009. Not one but two full albums — the Original Motion Picture Score and Motion Picture Soundtrack — were released this Tuesday on LP."
Today’s viral email blasts and blogged out culture encourage innovative hip hop artists to capitalize on the few thousand followers they do entertain; for example let’s take smoothly lyrical rapper, Brooklyn native, Skyzoo. Production vanguards 9th Wonder and Just Blaze stamp the kid as being ‘nice’ on the mic and his work (including ‘Present Cloud 9: The 3 Day High’ 2006 – an album he reportedly recorded with 9th Wonder in 24hrs) speaks volumes; dig up joints like ‘The Power of Words’ and you’ll realize Skyzoo’s quest to stand shoulder to shoulder with Nas, Jay-Z and The Notorious B.I.G. is no pipe dream.
Maybe, like Russell Simmons says, life is all about fulfillment through the journey. According to Skyzoo ‘major’ labels advise him to make “one of these records that [is] dumbed down or one of these records that came with a dance or had auto-tune.” A large amount of the jaded young rappers blinded by entitlement might let this talk deter their grind, but Skyzoo has a simple rebuttal: “My name is on that, so if it flops they’re not going down in history; it’ll be ‘Yo that was a wack Skyzoo record;’ I’ma do what I wanna do, so whether good or bad, whether, win or fail, it’s on me.” Skyzoo’s official debut album ‘The Salvation’ is in stores now. Yoraps.com correspondent Mike TV hit him up weeks before the release date to discuss his legacy, a hush-hush TV pilot he’s writing, and Just Blaze. (CLICK TITLE 2 PREVIEW SKYZOO's 'THE SALVATION' ALBUM).
Mike TV: Are you a Christian?
Skyzoo: Nah, not at all. I guess you’re asking because of the title of the album and the theme and everything like that. I just wanted to use that as a way to break the ice as far as the story and what the album talks about.
Mike TV: Is your goal to reach the status of a Jay, Nas, or Biggie?
Skyzoo: Absolutely. It’s definitely something I’m aiming for. It’s not like it’s all I think about cause it’s not. But it’s one of my goals. I think anything you do, as far as the arts – entertainment, sports, whatever it may be – you wanna be successful at it and you wanna be the best; when LeBron was coming up he watched Jordan like, ‘I wanna be mentioned in that same breath.’ And now he sort of is a little bit or he’s starting to be; you see that that’s where his career is gonna go. I think we all do that. You’re supposed to. If you don’t then what are you really here for besides a check?
Mike TV: Have you had A&R’s or people from labels tell you you’d be better off dumbing down your lyrics?
Skyzoo: Absolutely. I’ve had offers from all types of those situations and I’ve had people sitting at those same desks saying, ‘Listen, you’re sick; if you just made one of these records that was dumbed down or one of these records that was more about this or came with a dance or had a auto-tune;’ I’ve been told all that stuff, but I never let it do anything to me because it’s about the art at the end of the day. My name is on that, so if somebody else is telling me what to do, if it flops they’re not going down in history; it’ll be ‘Yo that was a wack Skyzoo record.’ So I’m never gonna do that; I’ma do what I wanna do, so whether good or bad, whether, win or fail, it’s on me.
Mike TV: Why should the casual hip hop fan take a chance on copping ‘The Salvation’ on Sept. 29?
Skyzoo: There’s nothing out like it right now, in all honesty. When you heard it, the first you ask is ‘what am I?’ There’s nothing else out that’s gon make you do that; there’s nothing else out, as far as storytelling, that goes where the album goes lyrically. And musically too – the album is full of hard drums and kicks and snares, but then the whole album starts up with a grand piano. And then you got records where there’s trumpet solos and saxophone solos that bring it out. And there’s strings on the hooks. Everything is live; it wasn’t samples. Even if it was a record we sampled, everything on top of it was played; there’s a saxophone sample and then I got a saxophone player to come play on top of it and just get behind it and support it.
Mike TV: Have you considered writing other stuff like novels, screenplays or lyrics for other artists?
Skyzoo: Absolutely. [It’s] my next move – you can’t rap forever; I don’t wanna be a fifty year old rapper; I don’t wanna be that guy. I do plan on making music for as long as I can, but beyond that I am already writing other things; I’m actually in the process of writing a TV show that I’ll be pitching soon. I’ve always been a writer first – before I started rapping; I started rapping at nine, but before that I was writing in school. My best grades always came in English class.
Mike TV: Do you have a premise or working title?
Skyzoo: I have it all laid out – what it’s called, what it’s gonna be about, but I can’t let it go -
Mike TV: Arrrrgh!
Skyzoo: Yeah, I can’t let it go – only because I know it’s something that when people hear it they’re either gonna not be able to wait to see it or somebody’s gonna snatch it. It’s something that needs to be said. All I can really say is that it’s something that everyone is gonna be able to relate to and everyone is gonna be able to appreciate and be a part of and it’s gonna keep you on the edge of your seat.
Mike TV: Do you do any ghostwriting, Sky?
Skyzoo: I got my hand in that a lil bit. I actually got a couple more clients that just hopped on board, so I’ma be a little busier with that than I was before, but I’ve definitely done some here and there in the past.
Mike TV: Do you converse with Buckshot (Co-CEO of DuckDown Records) at all?
Skyzoo: Yeah, somewhat – not that much, only because he working a project at the same time; he working on something right now just as well as I am, so not that much but we have. He was the person who actually came to me like ‘Yo, we definitely doing the deal;’ they came to us and we started talking and once it was on them to make the final decision of what they wanted to do he personally came up to me and was like ‘Yo, we’re definitely doing the deal. It’s a done deal. As long as you wanna do it, we’re doing it.’ And I was like ‘Aight, let’s hash it out.’ We hashed it out and 9th [Wonder] was a part of it and it took off.
Mike TV: If you get a chance, I advise you to speak with Buck about the times he spent with 2Pac. I’ve interviewed Buck three times and in ’07 we spoke about Pac and their times together – the whole One Nation movement Pac was trying to do before he died. I’m just throwing that your way; you never know what you can learn from Buck.
Mike TV: You’ve always reminded me of a more lyrically intricate version of Fab. We know he has successfully capitalized off the R&B features. “For What It’s Worth,” (pun intended) why didn’t choose to let the female vocalist sing the chorus on her own [in that song]?
Skyzoo: Originally I always knew I wanted to do that hook myself because I wanted the story to…it’s me telling one of my stories, so I wanted to carry that all the way out. But then musically I just wanted it to mean more. Everybody spits two or three verses and then the hook and that’s it. Musically I wanted certain songs to do that and I wanted certain things to do other things as well and that was one of the songs where I wanted it to do other things; I wanted to really pull out the emotion of the record, so I think a female singer going behind me – not really harmonizing and blowing through the roof, but just supporting it – may bring that emotion out. [It] makes you feel the record more than just what I’m saying, ya know?
Mike TV: So it wasn’t done to cater to your hardcore hip hop fans?
Skyzoo: Nah not at all, it’s bigger than that; it’s about the art.
Mike TV: I can dig it. As far as production, you have one Just Blaze beat on ‘The Salvation’ right? Was that a direct connect?
Skyzoo: Yeah. Just is big on keeping it in the street and the Internet – he lives on the computer; he know what’s going on. He’s somebody who I would always see in the circuit and he’s one of the few people who I say ‘I gotta work with him.’ Knowing him through 9th and Guru…I forgot where I saw him…I was like ‘Yo man I’m bout to start my album; I would love to get with you somehow.’ And I honestly didn’t know if it was gonna happen cause I’m like ‘I’m not signed; I don’t know if it’s gonna be major or indie or whatever, but I’m making this album and this is my baby and if you say no I get it because you’re a big producer and your budget is probably crazy; I’m not expecting…I’m not here to disrespect you on some “why won’t you work with me;” I get it if you can’t do it.’ He was like ‘Yo just come through.’ I came through to Baseline [Studios] and we started kicking it. I didn’t even have the album yet, I just had beats I had picked out; I played some of the beats that I had for the album and he’s like ‘These is crazy. Let me hear what you do with them as far as the album - where you going as far as the direction - so if we work together I know what to do.’ I came back a couple weeks later and played him some stuff and he’s like ‘Yeah I will definitely be on this album.’ That’s how it happened. We did the record.
Mike TV: Anything you want to say to the Yorap.com faithful before we get out of here?
Skyzoo: Just, thanks for the support from everybody and just know: ‘The Salvation’ is in stores. Lyrics will never be the same. I purposely went into it with no features. There was a few people that I wanted – maybe one or two; it wasn’t like I wanted ten people and everybody fronted; it was like one or two and it was scheduling things – people being on tour and things like that. I still wound up with some time to get em done and I consciously made the decision like ‘You know what? I’ma leave it and just save that for the next album because I really want this album to be about me.’ That’s what I did. The only one feature on there is …and she’s singing a hook. Every single word on this album, I wrote. It’s not like I got a Wayne verse or I got a Jeezy or whoever it is – [it’s not like I got I got] this collab and that collab; I can say [on] my debut album I wrote every single word on it.
I'm MIKE TV & I don't just post anything @ RFM. This is about exposure for dope artists, hard working PR folks, and some of the SUPER TALENTED SOULS in my ORBIT. I'm a writer, journalist, film maker, song writer, and burgeoning actor. I go HARD. Come with me.
