Music Review: Skyzoo – A Dream Deferred Mark Harris Wednesday, October 24, 2012 The Studio 1 Comment Dreams tend to be the driving force for many people and their aspirations. For Skyzoo, it has been the driving force for his “Frisbee” type of lyricism. Yet, it is that same type of lyrical flow that hasn’t caught the many ears that need to be captivated. Regardless, Skyzoo has kept it so consistent that he is making it to many people’s present top emcee lists (arguably). A Dream Deferred, in all its glory, doesn’t let up off of his rep as being a rewind worthy wordsmith. From the title of the album, you gain an understanding that dreams, goals, and aspirations are the themes of this album. “Jansport Strings”, an ode to growing up, allows Skyzoo to get into a lyrical lashing about Chi Ali’s inspiration to the rhyme. “Pockets Full” is that cut made “…for the desire of everything they denying us.” “Glass Ceiling” makes reference to limited availability of progress by making sure we knew the ceiling was “high enough to let up, low enough to feel it”. Thus, the ambition for something better is the stimulation of Skyzoo’s declarations. All the motivation for upward movement continues as the album goes along. “Range Rover Rhythm” makes references to being driven and how to “95 Hardaway penetrate/ open up a lane if they don’t give a lane”. For the ladies, he gets to flex his poetics on “The Knowing” and “Drew and Derwin”. The ever visual “Spike Lee Was My Hero” lets us all know how Sheldon Lee influenced his desire for a better life, be it his personal intentions or the wearing of the Jordans. Apparently, Skyzoo stays consistent with his thematic conversation. Throughout all of this consistency comes a palette of production that is quite diverse. “Give It Up” brings in the newer sounds of dubstep with some boom bap added to the mix. Yet, tracks like “Realization” and the aforementioned “Drew and Derwin” come with colossal synths and smoothness reminiscent to R&B tracks. In fact, many of the tracks are very melodic, instrumental, and (surprisingly) lacking samples that needed immediate clearance. Musically, Skyzoo took a step in a new direction and came with positive results. Skyzoo leaves his fans wanting very little after this album. A Dream Deferred is just that: the deferment of one’s true desires. However, just because they become deferred doesn’t mean they have to stay that way. With that said, Skyzoo has reached back to regain the passion to keep getting his. Hopefully, listeners can gain that same drive from his music. Who knows, maybe all the JJ’s out there can reach that Theo status. Only time will tell and dreams will reveal. One Response