Album Review- Skyzoo- Music For My Friends

Skyzoo is an MC who has a solid following and is one of the few guys who can be considered as legitimately holding down the NY scene and sound. He is not going to ever have the world wide fame of a lot of other guys but he is known for having a certain caliber of records. He also has paired up with other NY emcees for projects. His latest release is called "Music For My Friends".

The album starts up with "All Day, All Ways" and gives the perfect feel for the entire album. The flows are solid, slightly aggressive but the backing production is throwback simple in some ways yet it has a somewhat complex jazzy instrumental sound to it. It definitely reminds you of playing records in the basement and Timberland boots. For me that's just the imagery that comes to mind as it plays. I like "The Moments That Matter" which features Kay Cola.  The beat has some energy, the hook matches whats going on and the flow is there. "Women Who Can Cook" is a simple yet creative track where he talks to the ladies letting them know men just want the simple things. This is actually one of the joints where he gets a little bit more in depth with his imagery and metaphors that are different and a bit more vivid.

Here is the thing, most of the songs are decent, they fall neatly within the same pocket but few of them excel above the others or fall far short. "Luxury" with Westside Gunn is one of what I would call the better ones but I like the clarity of the production. "Asking Bodie For a Package" featuring Skarr Akbar is somewhat of a story about the hustler's struggle but then again just about all of Skyzoo's verses are pretty much the same style. Skarr spits an alright verse but he didn't go all in like he is capable of.

Now most of the time I go way in deep on like every song but there isn't much for me to explain. Skyzoo is very bread and butter, the production is in a certain lane and doesn't deviate from the formula. The bars are all decent to above average on every song but there are few joints that are just one superbly tight theme that can't fit on another song. For his fans you will be satisfied but for me, my ear was never really drawn to any one thing to hold on to and really be drawn into the album. This is the same thing I heard on some of his other material, it's really good, but not great product that is definitely the sound I grew up on but it's missing the panache that elevates some artists over others.


Rating: 3/5