By Odeisel
It’s always funny to hear people talk of how Hip-Hop USED to be this and USED to be that. It’s no longer about the art, bla bla bla. It’s all about hoes and guns and whips. I laugh when I hear this, because it’s not even a point worth defending. It’s clear they aren’t real Hip-Hop fans, and even more clear that they haven’t heard of Skyzoo. The Planet has been riding with Sky since before his debut, The Salvation, imbibing line after line from the rapper over an assortment of boom bap. This time around he got even more ambitious, tackling one of the classic compositions on David Axelrod, “Holy Thursday,” for the towering manifesto “Definitive Prayer.”
This particular song has been sampled by tons of rappers in sections but none were forced to have to adjust to Axelrod’s immense range, from the simmering high hats and cymbal clashes to soaring strings, buoyant vibraphones and throbbing, rolling guitar licks. These elements combine to form an expansive sonic landscape that paints a beautiful picture all by itself.
Skyzoo approaches this journey from many fronts, at times floating atop the beat, at other instances treating it like background music and creating his own pace. He adjusts to electric guitar solos and slows the pace for drum sections. He steps up the verbal pressure during periods of minimalist instrumentation and takes his foot off the gas during heavily trafficked sections where the wind instruments find space among the rest of the movement.
Lyrically, Skyzoo is pristine, referring to both the track itself as well as his status as one of the shining lights of the present generation of Hip-Hoppers. He sets up a rolling repetitive flow that rhymes multiple parts of his phrases. To single anything out is to do injustice to the entire song. It’s perhaps the most lyrically dense song of this nature since “Dead Presidents 2.” No bullshit.
I’ve had this track for almost a week, taking it apart and listening, trying to let it wear off before I wrote about it. It’s still as scintillating as the first listen. The “Definitive Prayer” is an appropriate title for a track that “god” emcees no longer appear capable of executing. Amen.
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