The Salvation (Skyzoo album)

Production and themes

The Brooklyn-raised emcee stated that he had been planning this album since he was 9 years old. The Salvation provides an intricate view into Skyzoo's life and experiences. The diverse range of production and the autobiographical nature is in contrast to his previous releases, with Skyzoo describing it at the time as his most personal work. A tactic taken by Skyzoo to emphasize the personal aspect of The Salvation was to not load the album up with features from other rappers, explaining that "the moment you pick up a pen or start rhyming as a kid, all you think about is getting an album out. This 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. The Salvation is about me."

The production credits for the album includes Washington D.C.-based production team Best Kept Secret, Seattle's Eric G, and Boston's Cyrus tha Great, as well as 9th Wonder, Nottz, Just Blaze, Illmind, Needlz and Black Milk. Carlitta Durand, an underground R&B singer, is the sole featured artist on the album. 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."

Release and reception

The album was originally set to be released on the fourth quarter of 2008, but was later pushed to August 11, 2009, then again to August 25, then finally set for the 29th of September via 9th Wonder's Jamla Records, which is a sub-label of Duck Down Records.

The album was critically acclaimed. AllMusic gave it a positive review and a rating of 4/5, while PopMatters gave the album 7/10. RapReviews.com gave it an even higher score of 8.5/10, while XXL gave it 4/5 and a glowing review. Both The Smoking Section and DJBooth.net gave it 3.5/5. On December 31, 2009, the album was featured as one of the top ten albums of the year on 2dopeboyz.com.

Videos

Three official videos have been released from the album so far, starting with "The Necessary Evils" which was released already in May 2008, this song was featured on Corner Store Classic: The Remixes mixtape. The video was directed by Tee Smif of the production company KCCC and shows Skyzoo rapping the song at a stoupe to a Brooklyn apartment in black-and-white shots.

On July 7, 2009, a trailer of Skyzoo's first single entitled "The Beautiful Decay", produced by 9th Wonder, was leaked Duck Down Records' and Skyzoo's YouTube channel. The music video, released on the July 30, is directed by Artemus Jenkins, and sets out to reflect life in the various boroughs of New York.

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" which features underground R&B singer Carlitta Durand. Released on March 15, 2010, the video is an ode to the legendary film "Love Jones". Skyzoo plays as Darius Lovehall, and 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 who also directed "The Beautiful Decay".

Track listing

The following is a complete listing of tracks.

Personnel