Den 9-spåriga EP:n återskapar klassiska beats med hjälp av live-orkester - lyssna här!
Brooklyn-emceen Skyzoo släpper i samband med Jay Zs 44-årsdag en hyllning till legendens debutalbum från 1996 “Reasonable Doubt”, passande nog det album som Jay Z själv rankar högst av sina släpp. “An Ode to Reasonable Doubt” är en 9-spårs EP som är inspirerad av Elzhis Nas-hyllning “ELmatic”, där de klassiska beatsen reproducerades av liveinstrument. Skyzoo har med Philadelphia-kompositören Antman Wonder gjort något liknande, där de återskapade musiken på “Reasonable Doubt” genom orkester-arrangemang. Skyzoo berättade om tänket bakom för HiphopDX:
“People hit me wanting me to do that. People said, “Hey, Elzhi did Nas ‘cause he’s like a Nas guy. You’re a Jay Z guy. You should do Reasonable Doubt.” I didn’t want to do it the way El did it because he used the band and it came out really dope. I didn’t just want to piggyback that. So it was either flip the samples that [Jay Z] did with a new producer and instead of doing all of that, I found my man Antman Wonder and he pretty much replayed the beats, but with the orchestras. So it’s kind of like if you went to go and see the album replayed at Carnegie Hall or something. That’s how the vibe is.”
Trots att Jay Zs album innehåller 14 spår, innehåller “An Ode to Reasonable Doubt” endast 9 av dem, då Skyzoo bara ville göra om de spår som lät bäst i orkestersammanhang:
“I didn’t do ‘Brooklyn’s Finest’ because as great as that record is and as great as that beat is, I didn’t think it made sense from an orchestral standpoint. It would’ve sound forced. It would’ve sounded too much. The same thing with the Foxy Brown record [‘Ain’t No Nigga’], the same thing with ‘Cashmere Thoughts’—those records I didn’t do.”
Angående textförfattandet har Skyzoo valt att försöka se Jay Zs berättelser genom egna ögon. Istället för att till exempel återskapa konversationen mellan knarklangare och lärling på Jay Z och Memphis Bleeks “Coming of Age”, närmar sig Skyzoo låten i form av en musikindustri-historia:
“What I did with the record was I put a spin on it where I put it in a Hip Hop standpoint as far as being an artist and being in the industry. The first verse starts with me kind of looking up to Jay like when I was a kid on the block that looked up to [Roc-a-Fella Records]. I’m looking up to Jay as a kid like, ‘That’s that guy. He’s doing it. He’s winning. I want to be like that.’ Then midway through, it turns to me realizing that I’ve kind of become my own man as far as being an artist, as far as being in Hip Hop. I’ve made my own way. I’m not looking up anymore because I’ve made my own way. And the third part of it is somebody looking up to me. It’s kind of like a cycle. It’s kind of like full-circle. I’ve become my own man and in doing so, people are looking up to me the way I looked up to Jay.”
Streama “An Ode to Reasonable Doubt” nedan.
