About Skyzoo
Gregory Skyler Taylor , known professionally as Skyzoo, is an American rapper and songwriter. He has released a number of notable solo and collaborative albums, including Cloud 9: The 3 Day High with 9th Wonder in 2006, The Salvation in 2009, A Dream Deferred in 2012, Music For My Friends in 2015, and his most recent solo album All the Brilliant Things. Skyzoo has also released a plethora of non-commercial mixtapes including Corner Store Classic and The Great Debater throughout his career, and has worked with artists such as Jill Scott, Wale, Lloyd Banks, Tyrese, Dr. Dre, Raheem Devaughn, Black Thought, Jadakiss, Talib Kweli, Spike Lee, John Legend, and others. Skyzoo has headlined or co-headlined often-yearly tours throughout Europe, the United Kingdom, Africa, Australia, and Asia, and he owns and operates the independent record label First Generation Rich.
Skyzoo was born Gregory Skyler Taylor on December 24, 1982, in the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn, New York City. He was nicknamed Skyzoo by his parents after the Skyy disco song of the same name . Skyzoo moved to the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn in his youth. Skyzoo grew up listening to hip hop artists such as Big Daddy Kane, N.W.A, Kid 'n Play, EPMD, Eric B. & Rakim and A Tribe Called Quest, but it was the music video for Chi-Ali's '"Age Ain't Nuthin' But a Number" that inspired him to begin writing raps and focusing on the music business. He was nine years old at the time. He was raised one block away from rapper Notorious B.I.G., and has often cited B.I.G.'s success as an influence on his writing. He also cites Jay-Z as an important inspiration, and names his favorites emcees as Jay-Z and Mos Def. During Skyzoo's teenage years his father moved to South Jamaica, Queens, and Skyzoo began spending much of his time there as well as in Brooklyn. He frequently references both boroughs in his music, and has two younger brothers. Instead of going to school in his own neighborhood as he got older, Skyzoo's parents enrolled him in a high school in Manhattan to take advanced classes. Skyzoo also attended college, but didn't finish, at SUNY Farmingdale in Long Island. In 2006, he was employed at Morgan Stanley at the age of 23. However, he was terminated for coming back from lunch late, which led him to pursue a music career full-time.
In 2002 Skyzoo began releasing his own mixtapes throughout New York, and he soon encountered the North Carolina rap crew the Justus League, collaborating on several projects. Skyzoo has won two Underground Music Awards, in the categories of "Best Male Rapper" in 2002 and "Best Lyricist" in 2008. An encounter with Justus League rapper Chaundon led to Skyzoo meeting producer 9th Wonder in 2005, and the two started a long-term collaboration. The pair would go on to record the collaborative EP Cloud 9: The 3 Day High, which reportedly took a total of three days to complete from start to finish. Released on September 12, 2006, the album was entirely produced by 9th Wonder, and included the singles "Way To Go" and "The Bodega." The release led to Skyzoo's first national feature, when he was placed in the "Show & Prove" section of XXL Magazine in October 2006. The project also lead to the 2007 vinyl release of the DJ Premier produced singles "Get It Done" b/w "Click", both featuring fellow Brooklyn rapper and frequent collaborator Torae. The EP led to media write ups in outlets such as XXL, The Source, Vibe, AllHipHop.com, HipHopDX.com, HipHopGame.com and others.
Skyzoo's mixtape Corner Store Classic was released for free on July 20, 2007. It had production from 9th Wonder, DJ Premier, and others. Skyzoo contributed most vocals, though guest vocalists such as Sean Price, Guilty Simpson, and Torae. The album was generally well-received, and XXL gave it a positive rating of XL. In 2007, he stated that he had a sophomore studio album ready, called The Salvation, but was waiting for a major record deal before releasing it. In the spring of 2009, Skyzoo jointly signed to independent label Duck Down Records and to 9th Wonder's Jamla Records imprint. Skyzoo then went on to release the mixtape The Power of Words. Hosted by DJ Drama and Statik Selektah, the project included guest vocals from frequent collaborator Wale, Maino, Talib Kweli, Reks, Young Chris and others.
Through Duck Down Records, his debut LP The Salvation was released on September 29, 2009 with the singles "The Beautiful Decay", "Popularity", "Easy To Fly", and "My Interpretation." Upon release Skyzoo described it as autobiographical and his most personal work. Skyzoo had been planning this album since he was 9 years old, and The Salvation provides an intricate view into his life and experiences. Instead of bringing in a large number of guest artists, Skyzoo handles most of the vocals himself, explaining the "album isn't exactly the way I planned it out at 9-years-old, but it tells my story. With that being said, no one can help tell my story better than me." About the selection of guest rappers, according to Skyzoo, "it wasn't really a 'who's hot, who's not' type of thing. It was more so 'just get what sounds right.' I got a lot of big name producers, and I also got a lot of up and comers." Among the contributing producers are Best Kept Secret, 9th Wonder, Nottz, Just Blaze, Illmind, Needlz and Black Milk. It charted on various Billboard charts, reaching No. 126 on the Billboard 200, No. 4 on the Top Heatseekers chart, and No. 14 on the Tastemaker Albums chart. The album was generally well received. AllMusic gave it a positive review and a rating of 4/5, while XXL gave it 4/5 as well.
To promote the album, Skyzoo and director Mills Miller filmed a webisode series titled Saving Our Grace. The short documentaries were shot throughout New York City and showed six different characters, such as a single mother and a young drug dealer, each representing a different emotion displayed on the album. The series debuted on Skyzoo's official YouTube page in August 2009. Overall five official music videos were released from The Salvation, starting with "The Necessary Evils" which was released in May 2008. The video was directed by Tee Smif of the production company KCCC and shows a teenage drug dealer attempting to change his lifestyle, and the highs and subsequent lows he faces. On July 30, 2009, the video for "The Beautiful Decay", produced by 9th Wonder and directed by Artemus Jenkins, was released. Following the release of the album, a video for the song "Popularity" was made and released on November 18, 2009. The video, directed by Todd Angkasuwan, is a parody on the popular high-school drama Saved by the Bell. Restless Films director Court Dunn directed the video for the third single "Easy To Fly. Released on March 15, 2010, the video is an ode to the film "Love Jones". Skyzoo plays as Darius Lovehall with model Ashlee Ray as Nina Mosley. On April 21, 2010, Skyzoo released a video for the song "My Interpretation", the final single of the album. The video is directed by Artemus Jenkins.
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