In Celebration Of Us is part memoir, part blueprint. As Skyzoo recounts his father’s wins and losses as a patriarch, he simultaneously lays out a path for himself and his newborn son. Much like James Baldwin’s letter to his nephew in The Fire Next Time, Sky describes the unending string of injustices that the Black man faces in America, and much like Baldwin, he insists that the strength of Black love and community are the keys to survival.
In that breath, this is an album obsessed with cycles, thematically as well as sonically. With production from !llmind, Apollo Brown, Marc Nfinit and more, Sky takes New York's classic sound and makes it the life of the party. His delivery has been fine-tuned for this project; Sky is a machine when the beat switches on “Heirlooms and Accessories,” and even more so on the off-the-wall “Black Sambo.” The dark, rich grooves on “Baker’s Dozen” replicate the rickets of a late-night ride on the L train. By contrast, “Parks & Recreation” is lush and meditative, like an acid trip in a grassy field.
Though it’s billed as a concept album, the record is not pedantic, nor does it risk sacrificing quality to work as one long poem. Cohesion comes in waves. The album’s first skit is told from the perspective of Skyzoo’s father, vowing to get out of the streets and set a good example for his soon-to-be-born son. Consequently, the final monologue features Sky recounting his childhood and all of the ways in which his father and mother succeeded in raising him. The approach is novel-esque, but far from obtuse, due in heavy part to Skyzoo being as compelling a speaker as he is a rapper.
| A1 | Everybody's Fine |
| A2 | Sound Like... |
| A3 | Baker's Dozen |
| A4 | Crown Holder |
| B1 | Heirlooms & Accessories |
| B2 | Forever In A Day |
| B3 | Remembering The Rest (Interlude) |
| B4 | The Purposes |
| C1 | Love Is Love |
| C2 | Black Sambo |
| C3 | Parks & Recreation |
| C4 | Collateral |
| D1 | The Stick-Up Tape From "Menace" |
| D2 | Hoodie SZN |
| D3 | Honor Amongst Thieves |
