The Ones: Skyzoo and Pete Rock’s “It’s All Good”
With artists releasing songs at a fast and furious pace it’s difficult for the average hip-hop head to keep track of it all—no matter how tapped in they are. That’s why we created The Ones, a daily post to highlight the song you need to hear curated by the Levels team. We sort through all the new songs—across all the platforms and subgenres—so you don’t have to. Thank us later.
Skyzoo and Pete Rock - “It’s All Good”
Brooklyn rapper Skyzoo is about as blue collar as MCs come. Since the mid-aughts, he’s been rapping for the sake of rapping, whether anyone is paying attention or not. His love for the craft has earned the respect of some of the genre’s most accomplished turntablists and sample heads, with whom he has partnered on several occasions throughout his career: DJ Premier, 9th Wonder, Statik Selektah, Illmind, and Black Milk, to name a few. He adds the legendary Pete Rock to the list with the homestyle cut “It’s All Good,” from an upcoming collaborative album called Retropolitan.
“It’s All Good” is an ode to New York City rap classicism, but the song scans closer to reverence than nostalgia. “From where the dialect is the duffle bag that youʼre gunning for/And if they handing you one then they scratched the numbers off,” Skyzoo explains, his flows drilling into the notches of Rock’s tightly spiraling piano riff. His rapping has an exactness and rigor that gives every phrase impact, with a fluidity that prevents it from becoming laborious. He raps about the NYPD drawing down on him at the funeral of Coke Boyz rapper Chinx, about being coronated a rap king “ever since they drove down my block carrying Biggieʼs urn,” and about teaching his son the lessons he’s learned. On “It’s All Good,” his love for his home and its music become interchangeable.
Check out previous Ones, and listen to new rap from Skyzoo and Pete Rock and more on our Spotify playlist, Apple Music playlist, and SoundCloud playlist.
Originally Appeared on Pitchfork
