Exclusive iHipHop Interview With Skyzoo: Brooklyn Go Hard

11 years ago view-show 860,211

There’s a saying about New York City: “If you can make here, then you can make it anywhere…”

That mentality has resonated with everyone who’s ever moved to the city that never sleeps in hopes of someday making it big.

But for lifelong residents of New York City such as Brooklyn MC, Skyzoo—he’s been making it since day one.

Born Gregory Skyler Taylor, the lyricist has been making his way through the crowded streets of Hip-Hop by creating his own lane with projects such as The Salvation and his collabo project with Illmind, Live From The Tape Deck.

As he continues his path, he now releases his official sophomore album, A Dream Deferred with the likes of Jill Scott, Talib Kweli, Freeway, Jahlil Beats, Black Milk, and many more assisting him on his newest journey.

We were able to grab a few minutes with one of the best new stars coming out of the famed borough to talk about his progression, the Nets vs. the Knicks, his days on 106 & Park’s Freestyle Friday, and a lot more.

 

 

iHipHop.com: You recently released your newest project,  A Dream Deferred… So for the people who haven’t picked it up yet, can you tell them what they’re missing out on?

Skyzoo: If you know me, my music, and my repertoire thus far, it’s a really layered project… I got really in depth, and I got into more storytelling… That always existed, but now I just magnified it, and brought it to another level…

iHipHop.com: A lot people usually talk about your content and lyricism flying over the heads of some… So with that being said, do you ever worry that people might not catch onto what you’re trying to convey?

Skyzoo: It doesn’t bother me, because I look at the music that we all grew up on… Anybody older can remember the mid-to-late 90’s and early 2000’s… I look at the music that we grew up on… The B.I.G.’s, the Jay’s, the and Nas’… We listened to that stuff when it came out, and we got it…

Now we listen to it later on, and we get it even more… You got back, and you’re still catching stuff… People still catch lines off Reasonable Doubt; they still catch lines off Ready To Die, and Illmatic… It has that impact, and I think that’s what music is supposed to do…

iHipHop: With you now being four projects in, did you approach this one any different than the previous three?

Skyzoo: To me, I feel as if this project is really just my second album… If you look at Live From The Tape Deck, that was an EP… If you look at Cloud 9, that was also an EP with me and 9th Wonder… When you’re doing an EP, it’s mutual…

It’s you and that one producer as far as how the project is weighed out… With those two projects, they were collabo projects… One with me and 9th Wonder, and the other one with me and Illmind

So I didn’t take a certain approach, or talk about some things, because it was a collective project, and we had to mutually decide what the project was going to represent…

When you look at The Salvation, which was my official debut, and you look at this project, [A Dream Deferred] which is my sophomore follow up to The Salvation; I kind of look at those as my two albums…

iHipHop.com: I remember when you were on Freestyle Fridays on 106 & Park battling Jin… How do you feel about your career up to this point? Do you feel as if it has come full circle?

Skyzoo: I feel like everything has gone the way it was has supposed to… If you look back on Freestyle Fridays, there were a lot of people on it that people don’t even remember… Hell Rell was on it, and Fred [The Godson] was on it…

There were a lot of people on it… But it was about the career not stopping there… Win, lose, or draw… But when you look at Hell Rell, Fred [The Godson], and me; we were able to continue to go… Everything has been great, and it’s still only the beginning…

iHipHop.com: Before we leave, I wanted to ask about how you got started writing for Slam Magazine’s online publication… Who did that first come about?

Skyzoo: My man, Tzvi [Twersky], he hooked that up… He’s one of the top writers over there, and he’s done a lot of cover stories… We’re real tight, so we have a lot of playful arguments about the Knicks and the Sixers—because he’s from Philly…

One day he was telling me how a lot people don’t know how well versed you are in basketball… So he was saying how I should write a blog for the magazine… So it just started from there, and we made it happen…

iHipHop.com: What’s going on now? You’re not switching over to all black, and going with the [Brooklyn] Nets? [Laughs]

Skyzoo: Nah, nah, nah… Not at all… It’s blue and orange everything… The funny thing is that I can walk to the Barclays Center in about 15 minutes tops… I walk by there everyday, and I’m good…