Live from the 718

What up XXL Mag, checking in live from the 718, this your man Skyzoo, and for the next 5 days I'll be blogging for the site. So for the first blog entry in my week long stint as a guest blogger, I guess I'll use it to intro the upcoming months of what's about to occur with me. As you may or may not know, my debut album "The Salvation" is coming out September 29th on Jamla Records/Duck Down. The album is what I've talked about on previous mixtapes as "what it's all leading up to". They say you take your whole life to make first album, so this is 26 years in the making.

With this album, it's easily the most personal and thought provoking work I've done to date. I've always believed that your job as a true emcee is to dumb out on the mixtapes but know that when it comes time to make an album, you're supposed to go to work. A perfect example of that is B.I.G. When Biggie first came out, he was on the Ron G and Tony Touch mixtapes blacking out. His goal was to prove he was nice and body anyone at any given. When it was time for his debut though, he knew (or maybe it was Puff, or the 2 together?) that he had to paint a picture. He knew just "rapping about rapping" wouldn't stand up through history. It'd strictly be immediate gratifaction; fast food at best. He made sure that 5, 10, 15 years later we'd still wave the flag for what he scribed. Thus 15 years later, the flag is still up high. Soul food in it's truest sense.

I say all of that to say, if you're looking for mixtape tracks, you may have to look elsewhere. But if you're looking for music that tells a story (possibly yours), music that is the most honest of it's kind, music that makes sense when you play it, then this is where your $15 belongs on September 29th. The album is everything I've ever wanted to say.

Sonically, the album is thick drums and samples tied in with full orchestration. As opposed to just loops and two tracks, the majority of the album IS that feel, along with live instrumentation. Trumpets, violins, tenor saxaphones, grand pianos, string sections, the works. It's all on there. I wanted to really make the music as visable as possible, and I felt using real instruments on top of the beats was the best way to do.

Lyrically, everything is double and triple stacked. Everything being said has 2-3 meanings, definitely not a "one time listen and get it" album. The more you hear it, the more you'll get from it. From the subject matter to the way it's told to the honesty within it, it's all more than I've ever done, and what I believe is more than what's out there now.

As far as guest features, there are none. At least rap wise there aren't. My one lone feature is from the amazingly talented Carlitta Durand, who sung a hook for me. Initialy I did aim to have one or two collabo tracks, but scheduling conflicts with the artists I was suppossed to get verses from slowed things down, and ultimately I decided to not wait any longer on bringing this album to y'all. I feel like this album is my story, and unless you're family or grew up with me, you can't help me tell my story. So on this one, no features. 16 stories of me alone. The best thing about that is, at the end of the day, I can say that I wrote every single word on this album. Obviously I always pen all of my own stuff, but being that there's no features, I can say every single word on my debut was my story and mine only. It's a feeling that I don't think too many artists can say they've had on their debut.

The production line up consists of 9th Wonder (who's executive producing the album as well), Just Blaze (real talk, no typo), Nottz, Needlz, Black Milk, Illmind, Best Kept Secret, Eric G., and Cyrus Tha Great. I feel like through all of the searching I did beat wise, I got everything I needed to bring y'all into my world and then some. As an indie artist, I did all I could to assemble a line up of producers that would make the album as exciting for you all as possible. I'm 100% confident that I succeeded with that.

In conclusion, this album is my first born. I put my best foot forward (thus leaping instead of walking), and on September 29th you'll see what I mean. Jamla Records, Duck Down, "The Salvation", it's everything that you've ever heard from me was leading up to. Lyrics will never be the same.

Signing off, I'll see yall here tomorrow in day 2 of my guest blogging.