Since January has been such a slow month for new releases itโs given me time to go back and check out some projects that flew under my radar. One such project wasย The Easy Truth by Apollo Brown & Skyzoo. Iโm not really sure how because Iโm usually all over anything by Apollo Brown.ย Clouds is still to this day one of my all-time favorite beat tapes. Heโs just an immense producer and I may not know much about Skyzoo outside of slight name recognition, but heโs got Apolloโs approval and thatโs more than enough for me.
โAnother day another dime, another way to kill some time
Another tester to the crowd, point blank at the sublime, another way to get us paid from orchestrating up a line
And the Genius annotation and debating with the blindโ
The production, my god the production, is world class stuff and quintessential East coast hip-hop complete with the sound of crackling vinyl. Apollo Brown is a sampling monster, he always finds some of the best hidden gems and flips them into some beautiful shit. โA Couple Dollarsโ and โThe Flyest Essenceโ utilize some of my all-time favorite hip-hop samples (I donโt know the names), โBasquiat on the Drawโ has a filthy loop that had me nodding my head the whole way through, โOn the Stretch & Bob Showโ is such a dope emulation of a golden era radio freestyle, and โCare Packagesโ is pure hip-hop bliss with knocking percussion, piano keys, and soulful vocal sampling accenting the track throughout. Apollo Brown isย an absolute master of the art form in the same vein as the J Dillas and 9th Wonders of the world andย The Easy Truthย is some of his best work to date.
โWeโre going o.t. on the starters and small factions
And throw the rock through the fort like Mark Jackson
This rap shit turned into HORSE and itโs all practice
My dress code will get me fined, more blackness
Sixteens, Iโm less Curry, More Westbrook
So stand thirty feet out the line is all ad-libsโ
Iโve only ever been vaguely acquainted with Skyzoo, hearing a few songs here and there, but thereโs no denying that he can rap his ass off. He takes every track through a lyrical exercise in a way thatโs sorely missing from a lot of current artists. Heโs a throwback to an era where lyricism matters and heโs a perfect pairing for Brownโs boom bap production. For me, this is hip-hop in the purest form and itโs a beautiful thing to hear, itโs a shame it took me this long to get around to it.
Have you heardย The Easy Truth? Whatโd you think about it? Did you love the classic hip-hop sound as much as I did? Let me know in the comments and be sure to leave your rating for the album.
