8.5/10

Skyzoo’s route to the release of his debut album has been a long and arduous one. Now that he finally gets the chance to tell his own story, he takes us down the path to Salvation over beats that are as smooth as his flow.

Right off the bat the gospel music jumping from the street corner on The Opener shows you that Salvation isn’t always found where you expect.

Just Blaze goes in on Return of the Realness with his head nod-inducing beat that takes you directly to the place where fans of the Brooklyn emcee are expecting. Once Skyzoo has you right where he wants you, a melodious sample carries in “The Beautiful Decay” and he begins talking about how much beauty there is the city of New York over a hypnotizing 9th Wonder beat.

In an industry dripping with braggadocio, Sky’s view of the world is a very humble one that is expressed in lines like…

Riding on the wings of a dollar bill/ or better yet, the anticipation of how it feels.

But don’t let his humility fool you. He is one of the most well known artists in the hip-hop blogosphere and he tells you about it on Popularity. Nottz provides a simple-but-bouncy beat that somehow fits perfectly with Skyzoo’s slow and precise flow. This is my least favorite track but it must have been popular in the listening rooms because it’s the second single on the album.

Like a Marathon is the outbreak of repetitive and annoying hooks that plague this album. But if you’re a normal listener (and not like me, getting hung up on things like quality of choruses) then you’ll be so enthralled with his lyricism that repeating the same thing 4 times in a row won’t bother you.

The Shooter’s Soundtrack summons the spirit of “Extreme Measures” from his previous EP, “Cloud 9: The 3 Day High.” Sky hits you in the ribs with the opening statement when he puts the listener in the shoes of a young man that is in a jam and believes the gun in his hand is the only way out. You’ll need no extra motivation to stick around and find out what happens (teaser: just like “Extreme Measures, this song ends with an abrupt gunshot).

The haunting track on Penmanship, provided by Black Milk, allows Skyzoo to give you a small peek into why he is so much different than your average rapper. Unfortunately, this is one of the many songs that have a terribly annoying hook. I just wish he would write his choruses, “a little different” (quoted from the song).

Hip-hop is going through an unfortunate trend of rappers boasting about not writing down their lyrics. Joe Budden captured it when he said, “the more n!gga’s said that they ain’t write down lyrics, the more it started to sound like they didn’t.”

Fortunately, Skyzoo goes in the opposite direction on this album and specifically on, Dear Whoever, where he spills his guts to someone that has been a lifelong friend to him. But at the end you find out that his letter is to his notebook. He even pays tribute to said friend on the album cover.

The Necessary Evils has the album’s hottest beat with a succubus-sounding woman crooning in the background, likely tempting Skyzoo to all of the material possessions that a person in his Nike shoes might be drawn to:

Fast cars, fast broads, fast money, it really ain’t that hard./ But every dollar you make comes with a set of eyes, and a set of loose lips if ever you ever hide.//
And everything that SHOULD is residing that far./ And everything that COULD is right in your backyard.//

The beat, lyricism and story combine to make this song my favorite of the album.

Songs like, Easy to Fly and Under Pressure introduce a lighter side of Skyzoo, but in the context of the sonically lush album they run the risk of sounding like fillers. Luckily, his ever-soothing voice helps string them all together.

The choruses don’t hold their weight on the album making you appreciate 50 Cent’s knack for writing catchy hooks. However, when your debut album has no featured artists, maybe there isn’t much time to be spent on the refrain.

Salvation is one of the best albums to drop this year. It might cut into the playing time that “Krizz Kaliko – Genius” gets in the iPod.

In The Opener, Skyzoo said, “if I end up getting any of this right there shouldn’t be anything left to write, right?” As fans of good music we should hope that he didn’t get it all right and has something left for a sophomore effort.

Have Fun.
13.