Apollo Brown & friends, Rapper Big Pooh, Skyzoo + Qael | Freakout Club

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APOLLO BROWN (US)

Talented artists can make what appears to be impossible look easy. It’s in this rarefied air where you’ll find Detroit’s Apollo Brown, constantly conjuring fresh innovations out of a tried-and-true formula. For the last decade, the artist has singularly re-defined and expanded the foundation of what boom bap production can sound like in the 21st Century.

Originally from Grand Rapids in West Michigan, Apollo Brown is a hip-hop producer based in Detroit. In the tradition of left-field beatmakers like the great J Dilla and Madlib, Brown is a man of many influences, with a sound that owes as much to the yacht rock of Seals & Crofts as it does to classic R&B, pulling from all corners of the music world to craft beats that are as interesting musically as they are rhythmically. His vast discography includes guest-filled projects, instrumental albums, and full-length collaborations with MCs such as Big Pooh, Che‘ Noir, Guilty Simpson, Joell Ortiz, Locksmith, O.C., Philmore Greene, Planet Asia, Raheem DeVaughn, Ras Kass, Stalley, Skyzoo, and many more. Brown has also participated in the hip-hop groups The Left and Ugly Heroes. While Brown started making beats as a bedroom producer in 1996, it wasn’t until he moved to Detroit and became part of the city’s hip-hop scene that he really began to make a name for himself with his production skills on his first beat albums. In 2009, Brown won the Detroit Red Bull Big Tune Championships, and later that year the producer signed on with Mello Music Group. Under the label, Apollo released a body of work that lives up to the legacy of the head-nodding, screwface-inducing, soul-replenishing lineage of Primo and Pete Rock, J Dilla and Large Professor, Mobb Deep and DJ Muggs. This is the tradition that Apollo Brown triumphantly upholds, conceiving, beat by beat, an East Coast sound with a midwestern mentality, hard and nasty drums that blends sadness, depression, and tenderness. It’s fall music, somber relatable music, gray sky music that offers the unvarnished truth. These aren’t beats impersonally e-mailed across the continent from producer-to-MC. On every album bearing the Apollo Brown alias, the artists create songs in the same room, bouncing ideas and concepts off each another until the final product is a masterpiece. Everyone from Danny Brown to Chance The Rapper, Freddie Gibbs to Masta Ace, Black Milk to Oddisee, and Westside Gun, have spit bars over his beats. The explanation why is pretty simple. If you still have any doubts, all you need to do is press play.

RAPPER BIG POOH (US)

Rapper Big Pooh never envisioned a career as a recording artist until he joined forces with fellow North Carolina Central University students 9th Wonder and Phonte in 2001 to form the critically acclaimed hip-hop trio Little Brother. While the journey involved its share of growing pains, Pooh acknowledges that Little Brother’s success came more effortlessly than he ever imagined.

The group’s nostalgic vibe and seamless connection to hip-hop’s “golden era” quickly made them fan favorites. For Pooh, who had significantly less musical experience than his bandmates, Little Brother served as the perfect on -the job training. Following early criticism after the release of their debut album, The Listening, Pooh used the feedback to refine his craft. By the time Little brother secured a major label deal with Atlantic Records and released their sophomore album, The Minstrel Show, Pooh's solo career had already begun to take shape with his debut album, Sleepers. Little Brother went on to release two more albums — Getback in 2007 and Leftback in 2010 — before disbanding. Pooh’s sophomore album, Dirty Pretty Things , arrived nearly four years later, following two additional solo projects. In the years since, Pooh has built an impressive solo discography, including the Fatboy Fresh series, Words Paint Pictures with Apollo Brown, Home Sweet Home with Nottz, and his latest solo album, To Dream In Color. Pooh has collaborated with industry giants such as Drake, Kendrick Lamar, Kanye West, and Lil Wayne. Beyond his prolific music output, Pooh has become increasingly active behind the scenes, managing artists like Dreamville's Lute, DJing under the alias RPM, and consulting as an A&R.

SKYZOO (US)

Growing up just a block away from The Notorious B.I.G., watching him go from local corner boy to rap superstar, Skyzoo couldn’t help but dream big. The Brooklyn, NY native saw life in all of its “heaven and hell” juxtaposition, being from the infamous home of both Jay-Z and “Do The Right Thing”. He

started rapping at age nine, writing about what he witnessed on his daily routines as a child. Those years of observation have turned into first person narratives that have labeled Skyzoo as a “new legend” and have led to his albums being critically acclaimed by fans and critics alike. His storytelling

has been commended by all walks of literary life, from hip hop royalty to university professors and everyone in between. The fan base Skyzoo has been able to acquire stretches across a wide blanketed range, cultivating in a cult like following of fans who’ve been attached to Sky since his first release a decade and a half ago, which has all lead to memorable placements in both the souls of listeners and the eyes of corporate America.

Musically, he’s collaborated with a plethora of artists and producers, including the likes of Jill Scott, Just Blaze, Dr. Dre, Bilal, Tyrese, Jadakiss, Black Thought, Pete Rock, Illmind, John Legend, Apollo Brown, Griselda, Raheem Devaughn, Talib Kweli, and Spike Lee, just to name a few. His most recent

album, “The Mind of a Saint” is a conceptual album that sees Sky speak solely from the perspective of Franklin Saint of FX’s “Snowfall”. Produced by DC duo The Other Guys, the album has been critically acclaimed by critics and fans alike for its vivid storytelling and layered lyricism, merging a fictional

character with the times of our real world, circa the show’s 1986 landscape, all while debuting as the #1 hip hop in the country on Apple Music the week of release. From the MLB/The Jackie Robinson estate to HBO and NBA 2K to ESPN and Buffalo Wild Wings, Sky has lucratively brought corporate America along for a Brooklyn ride. 2023 saw Skyzoo write and perform all of the the music as well as narrate the entire Jackie Robinson documentary

“Get To The Bag”, with Skyzoo becoming the face of the doc which was executive produced by La Dodger superstar Mookie Betts and presented by the MLB. Outside of writing music, he’s lent his pen to other literary areas. In 2017 the world saw the release of “Patti Cake$”, a major motion picture released in the summer of ‘17 to critical acclaim (sweeping the Sundance fest and labeled the “must see” move of the summer by People Magazine and

Entertainment Weekly) which he co-started in, served as the lead actor’s consultant, and is an associate producer/co owner of. He’s also started in films with Denise Richards, Richard Gunn and more. In light of that success, he’s currently developing and pitching scripted television pilots and full length films, and he’s ghostwritten and done song writing for a countless list of Grammy award winning and platinum selling Hip-Hop and R&B artists, charting on Billboard countless times. The embodiment of a DIY attitude, he’s achieved his success in the form of truly being an independent artist, thus molding him into so much more. Skyzoo has become known as being the ultimate artist, one able to make classic music with a lasting impact. Listeners can identify with his story, they can see the many sides of themselves in him. No matter the mood, season, or circumstance, Skyzoo offers music to live to and live by. The best way to describe him? Let the people tell it and words such as “brilliant”, “classic”, and “masterpiece” are constantly used to describe

his catalog, with each yearly entry raising the stakes. The beauty in it all is as his slogan goes: “Lyrics Will Never Be The Same”.

OPENING ACT: QAEL

QAEL è un artista poliedrico che si distingue come Beatmaker, rapper songwriter e DJ. La sua carriera musicale ha origine nel mondo del writing, dove ha scoperto una naturale inclinazione per il freestyle, alimentata dalla passione per i giradischi. Dopo anni di gavetta, tra sound system e collaborazioni con il collettivo PSALM, ha realizzato il suo primo demo, "Un modo di agire". Trasferitosi a Bologna, ha avuto l'opportunità di condividere il palco con artisti di spicco come: Reks, Inoki, Okvsho, Moddi, Soulboy, Next one, Coez, Dj Shocca, Dj Trix, Dj Lugi e molti  altri artisti.

Nel 2017, QAEL ha pubblicato l'EP "Essenzialmente Soul" prodotto da Natty Dub (Funk shui project) che ha segnato una tappa importante nel suo percorso musicale. Successivamente, ha esplorato il mondo del beatmaking, rilasciando il suo primo Beat tape "Dream tape" nel 2021 e l'album "The Sample Cave" nel 2023 entrambi usciti per la label Bolognese “Beat’s Tailors”.

Il suo più recente lavoro, l'EP "Istinto", è uscito nel maggio 2024, confermando la sua continua evoluzione artistica e la sua capacità di innovare nel panorama musicale.

Ad oggi ha collaborato con il rapper e autore Amir Issaa producendo tutte le basi dell’intero EP “New Balance”.