The Mind Of A Saint

For the better part of two decades, Skyzoo has built a reputation as one of hip-hop’s most gifted writers, using creative concepts and world-building to tell stories rooted in the Brooklyn neighborhood where he grew up and match wits with some of rap’s best. But on *The Mind of a Saint*, he draws inspiration from a storyteller of the highest repute: late filmmaker John Singleton. The album is a hyper-conceptual effort by Skyzoo to rap from the perspective of drug kingpin Franklin Saint, the main character in *Snowfall*, Singleton’s hit series about the rise of crack in 1980s Los Angeles. And as deftly as he adopts the character, he never loses sight of his own identity: The album is packed with the same sort of double-take metaphors, multisyllabic rhyme assaults, and nuanced narration that have earned Skyzoo his rep. The strongest points on *The Mind of a Saint* come in Skyzoo’s attention to detail: disciplined punch lines avoid modern references to cite ’80s-specific celebs like Mike Tyson and former Lakers owner Jerry Buss, and Skyzoo breaks down the show’s perspectives and themes instead of simply reliving its key scenes. “Panthers & Powder” illustrates how Franklin’s path as a street pharmacist is informed by his father’s as a community activist, “Bodies” dives into his development as a cold-blooded killer, and “Apologies in Order” sees him lamenting how the poison he sells ruined the life of the woman he loves. While JAY-Z used the film *American Gangster* as inspiration to reflect on his own experiences in the drug game, Skyzoo taps into Singleton’s series as a challenge to try on a new persona altogether—and it’s as convincing as anything he’s ever done.