Skyzoo shows that he’s as lyrically sharp as ever on the 9th Wonder-produced “Jansport Strings,” which he describes as “a 3 minute auto-bio of me as a kid in Brooklyn and seeing more than my friends and I had bargained for.” The track’s title has figurative meanings, as Jansport strings were once a “sign of power and presence,” according to Skyzoo. It also references the days when kids in NY would steal the strings from each others Jansport bags and burn the tips to prevent getting robbed of them once they got them.
“Jansport Strings” ends with a clip from the legendary Video Music Box show, run by Ralph McDaniels. This episode in particular debuted Chi-Ali’s “Age Ain’t Nothin But A Number,” about which the Brooklyn MC reminisced, “Seeing that video that day on this episode of VMB made me start rhyming. This clip was literally the moment that changed my life.”
“Jansport Strings” is the first leak from Skyzoo’s forthcoming album, A Dream Deferred, available this fall on Skyzoo’s new imprint The Faculty Inc, a label deal with Duck Down Music. Check out the track below.
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