Milestones, the latest EP from Skyzoo, is an expansion of themes introduced on 2018’s In Celebration of Us. Closing note, Honor Amongst Thieves features an autobiographic tale of Sky and the role his father played in his growth and development, juxtaposed against the journey of Trey and Furious Styles in Boyz N The Hood. Milestones furthers that notion with a full examination of what fatherly presence means to a growing Black child.
Clips of Boyz n the Hood are spliced throughout, cementing the connection and furthering the narrative. The hand-off of 10-year-old Tre to Furious. The tender, yet contentious discussion of a mother who realizes she has taken her son as far as she could. A father explaining responsibility, warning his son of the unforgiving world. How his friends without a father to teach them responsibility would end up. Skyzoo finds a way to weave this into his narrative and segue to raising his own son. Miles.
The production is at times somber and melancholic, with horns and moody atmospherics throughout. There are shades of Dilla on Duffle Bag Weekends, an ode to the weekend transfers back to mom’s crib. An intricate Tre Styles sample powers At Least I Got One, which speaks to the pride of having a father in a daddy desert, and the occasional jealousy that brings. Sky opens up with:
My man used to sling to his mother/took a couple dollars off so she don’t think he don’t love her
I said, “Damn son, your pops don’t care?” He said I don’t know/ my pops been in and out of Rikers since I was 9 years old
In two lines Skyzoo encapsulate both the horror and the warm camaraderie that leads boys for the faux normalcy of street life.
Some jazzy keys pace the very boom-bap dusty drum of Turning 10. Sky exhorts those split families to turn their sons over to their fathers as they enter that most pivotal pre-teen years. For those with disappeared dads, Sky advises moms to stay on them but reinforce their sense of self.
Milestones is a timely work given the imperiled Black boys whose bodies pile higher, whether from police bullets, poverty driven crime, or despair driven drug addiction and suicide. The presence of a father in the household is not panacea. But it reduces the risks above significantly. We have heard dear mamas but it is time to not only stand up and be counted but to praise those that are in motion. I heard it. I bought it. And gifted it to a couple of my friends. Black fathers are involved. In the words of Skyzoo it’s time to be celebrated rather than tolerated. Check it out. Be encouraged.
