Hip-hop albums with a conceptual theme are nothing new. Execution determines whether the record is simply expressing an idea or has a distinct and present-day narrative. The rapper(s) has (have) done their job if the listener can follow along through both hearing and visualization.
The concept albums I’m used to listening to typically have a narrative that runs the entire length of the album, such as an original screenplay created entirely by the rappers’ imagination (Prince Paul’s “A Prince Among Thieves” is both this and prototypical hip-hop concept album), or even an adapted screenplay (like Danger Doom’s “The Mouse & The Mask,” which was about the Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim programs). Skyzoo, a Brooklyn emcee, chose a different path on his own.
His most recent album, “The Mind of a Saint,” puts him in the perspective of Franklin Saint, the star of the popular FX television series “Snowfall,” even if some of his tracks are autobiographical.
For those who don’t know, “Snowfall” is a period piece about the spread of crack cocaine in South Central Los Angeles in 1984 and was created by the late John Singleton. Young Black teen Franklin Saint (played by Damson Idris) is a very clever person who gets involved in the drug trade and obtains money, power, and the aggravation of his worst characteristics over the course of the series. Skyzoo, which is currently in its sixth and final season, raps from Franklin’s perspective throughout ten tracks that include Mr. Saint’s innermost thoughts on some of the series’ most important turning points.
They cover a wide range of sounds, from jazz rap to boom-bap, and include significant vocal samples from the program. They were totally produced by Mighty Joe and Isaiah, a production team from Washington, DC, best known as “The Other Guys.” To make this less scary, listening to this album doesn’t require familiarity with the series. Yet listeners will undoubtedly include both Skyzoo and series enthusiasts.
Skyzoo also calls this record a soliloquy, and in two ways, that’s accurate. On the one hand, he is rapping these rhymes by himself in a recording booth. On the other hand, every track sounds like a passage from Franklin Saint’s private journal. Regardless, Skyzoo transforms into Franklin and demonstrates the glitz and the darkest aspects of the drug trade. Skyzoo also connects with the character’s paranoia because he is a Black man in America. Even the title of the first song, “Eminent Realm,” alludes to the such concept. With its jazz-influenced sounds and rhyme “My intentions were to obtain a million off my insomnia / The sweeter your dreams,” it is apparent that Skyzoo is giving a brief lyrical retrospective on Franklin’s change.
Sky compares Franklin and his foray into a largely White drug trade in “Views from the Valley” to Franklin, the only Black character in the Peanuts comic strip. In “Panther & Powder,” Skydives into Franklin’s paternal upbringing, sampling a number of Black Panther Party speeches as the raps describe Franklin’s transformation as a kind of rite of passage from a Black Panther-filled boyhood through his father to becoming a violent drug lord.
Even with its Beastie Boys vocal sample, “Straight Drop” is atmospheric and marks a turning point in the series—the point at which this listener/viewer thought FX should have changed the show’s name to “Hailstorm”: When Franklin learned how to create crack cocaine and realized how much money could be made, he did so. It’s cunning of Sky to make a reference to L.A. Lakers player Norm Nixon in the song given that the latter’s son plays a major antagonist in “Snowfall.” Together with jazzy horns and classic piano samples, “Bodies!” also features a familiar thudding drum sample.
Sky makes clear how sorry Franklin is for every victim he has ever personally killed. The previous phrase is “100 to One.” About six minutes long, with boom-bap percussion on a jazzy background, it is a more in-depth song about Franklin’s inspiration and life outside of the series. It’s a poetic review of the first five seasons and is actually fairly mellow:
On “The Balancing Act,” The Other Guys switch from jazz to R&B samples as Skyzoo displays Franklin’s inflated ego with boastful rhymes from his point of view that make reference to numerous series characters and historical events that occurred in Los Angeles at that time. Sky justifies Franklin’s business decisions, even those that endanger life, in the opening line of “Brick by Brick”: “Never rain in SoCal, but I got all this +snow+ to +fall+ / Counting all this money while making this shit the smokers’ fault.”
Franklin experiences guilt in addition to regrets, as I mentioned previously. For instance, in the song “Apologies in Order,” Skyzoo raps about Melody, Franklin’s childhood sweetheart, and how he unintentionally damaged her life. The last song, “Purity,” uses a coda that is composed of a vocal sample collage to send a message against drugs.
I’ve only really appreciated one full-length hip-hop release so far in 2023, and I paid money for it. I was honestly over halfway through the album when I noticed what Skyzoo was doing as I had no prior knowledge of the record before listening to it. He has an eye for detail and employs a fictional character and his visual surroundings to comment on a hip-hop subgenre that is frequently praised: Coke raps. Urban and hip-hop audiences are fascinated by drug storylines, particularly their benefits. Sky effectively delivered that message—through the eyes of a Saint—that the adverse effects are never taken into account.
