Do you know who Skyzoo is? No he doesn’t have regular air-play on 106 & Park and no he does not have a major record deal, but Skyzoo could easily be a role model to aspiring rappers. Not because of the fact that his talent puts him among the most respected MC’s, but because he has achieved huge success as an underground artist. He has released 2 successful albums with Duck Down/Jamala records, and even before he was signed, he was already making music with hip hop juggernauts like Jay Z, Grammy winning producer 9th Wonder, and DJ Premier. It is also important to note that although Duck Down Records is a known record label in hip hop, it is still considered an independent label. If you are still not convinced that success can be achieved as an independent artist, how about adding that several of his tracks were used on an ESPN TV show or that Guinness used one of his tracks for an advertisement? Skyzoo’s career is a true example of how being an independent artist has its rewards.
- Born Gregory Skyler Taylor in 1982 in Crown Heights, Brooklyn in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood.
- His parents nicknamed him Skyzoo after the Skyy disco song.
- He never went to school in the neighborhood he lived, he went to school in Manhattan neighborhoods where advanced classes were offered because his parents wanted him to have a better education.
- Skyzoo started rapping at the age of 9.
- He lived a block away from Biggie when he was about 12 years old.
- Skyzoo said that what made him want to start rhyming was when he heard Chi Ali from the Native Tongues movement.
- His musical influences are an eclectic mix of Hip Hop, Rock, and Jazz, such as Big Daddy Kane, NWA, G-Rap, Nirvana, John Coltrane, and Miles Davis.
- Skyzoo only raps about reality whether it was something that happened to him or those around him.
- Skyzoo started performing locally at showcases hosted by Hot 97.
- In 2004, he met producer J Dilla/Jay Dee at BB Kings in New York and waited outside for him to come out until the show was over because he couldn’t get in.
- Although Skyzoo and J Dilla never actually worked together, he credits J Dilla as his biggest inspiration and favorite producer.
- Sometime before 2005, he released his first 2 mixtapes with DJ Nyce called I’m for the People and Back for the First Time.
- He lost a BET 106 & Park freestyle contest to a Chinese rapper from Hong Kong named Jin.
- Some of his tracks were used on ESPN for Whiplash TV and on the Guinness soundtrack for an advertisement.
- First time he met Jay Z, Jay asked him to spit a verse and afterwards Jay Z immediately wanted to work with him.
- In 2005, he met 9th Wonder through his long association with Chaundon and The Justice League.
- He released 3 mixtapes in 2005. The Greatest Flow on Earth, Ghetto Celebrity: The Mixtape, and The City’s Favorite: The Mixtape.
- In 2006, he released his 6th mixtape called The Way You Get Down.
- Skyzoo released an album called Cloud 9: The 3 Day High with 9th Wonder in 2006.
- He paid a tribute to Jay Dee after his death in 2006 by releasing the song ‘Sky’s Last Donut’
- He was featured on three tracks on the Hall of Justus album ‘Soldiers of Fortune’
- In 2007, The Corner Store Classic mixtape was released and in 2008, The Corner Store Classic (The Remixes) was released.
- He won Best Lyricist at the 2008 Underground Music Awards.
- He was #7 on Hot 97’s Top 10 Emcees Alive (as the only unsigned artist on the list).
- In 2009, Skyzoo was signed to 9th Wonder’s label Jamla Records and Duck Down Records (founded by Dru-Ha and Buckshot) via a joint venture.
- After being signed in 2009, he released The Power of Words mixtape with DJ Drama and Statik Selektah and the EP The Strung Out Remixes.
- His first studio album was released in 2009 with Jamla and Duck Down Records called The Salvation.
- His mixtape Corner Store Classic and his album The Salvation both received an XL rating in XXL magazine.
- In June 2011, He released his 10th mixtape called The Great Debater.
- His second studio album called A Dream Deferred is set to be released sometime in 2011.
- Over the course of his career, Skyzoo has had mentions in publications such as XXL, Scratch, Vibe, The Source, and Spin.
In an interview with Ruby Hornet, here is what Skyzoo said about his decision to go with an Indie label versus a major label: We had offers from indies, we had offers from majors. We had a lot of people on the table. What helped me make my decision was a lot of majors wanted a lot of the creative control. That pretty much was the deal breaker. Everything was good with the money and all. At the end of the day this is the music business, but the creative control wasn’t there the way I wanted it to be. I didn’t want to be in a situation where I turned in songs every two weeks or every month and the label was putting my album together and the label was telling me who I can work with and who I couldn’t work with and telling me what the singles had to be and how to do it. I wanted to be a thousand percent hands on, and I knew going indie would give me that. I tried to go to the majors and they wouldn’t do it, and they all wanted me and they all wanted to control me, and I didn’t want that. I wanted to be able to set up my career the way I wanted to. This is my first one, my Reasonable Doubt. I want to set myself up to have a career like that, and I felt like I needed to be able to do this the way I wanted to on the first album in order to do that.
Post by: Rosie J – music marketer
@StudioDiva
