SkyBlew is a North Carolina emcee who has been releasing music for the better part of the decade, becoming notable among other things for being the first artist not named Mega Ran to put out an album on Random Beats Records. He’s been working at a pretty steady clip this whole time, with last album, Painting ‘Til She Dials, coming out a little less than a year ago. Now he comes back with a new album done in collaboration with DJ Reimei, The Universal Journey.

Over the course of his career, SkyBlew has made several collaborative projects, sometimes with artists as far away as France or Japan. This time, he only had to go as far as Durham to find DJ Reimei, an up-and-coming deejay/producer. Over the course of the album, Reimei pushes SkyBlew in some different directions which allow us to see SkyBlew in a different light, whether it be with some modern R&B, or maybe a throwback ‘80s sound. Either way, it forces SkyBlew to adjust his flow from his usual jazzy ‘90s flow, to slow things down and space out his words a bit, and maybe make each individual word land with a little more wait than usual. That said, we also get plenty of songs that are right in SkyBlew’s wheelhouse. The first time it occurs is the fourth track on the album, “Trumpets in Space,” which feels like it would have been right at home on a Digable Planets album, with its bright trumpet samples, tight snare hits, uptempo groove, and Blew’s unbelievably smooth melodic flow. This is where I become just a little bit torn about the album. I appreciate SkyBlew pushing himself and not just producing the same thing over and over, but he’s so good when he’s in his comfort zone, you just want him to do that because he does it at a level that few can reach, where his flow moves quickly but with such ease as he jumps from anime references to fun, clever wordplay to discussion about dreams and spirituality. Overall, though, I think they find a good balance between trying new styles and rocking the tried and true methods that we know work very well. The only track that quite come together is “I’m Blew,” if only because it never truly escapes the novelty of sampling the source material (you’ll figure it out very quickly if you haven’t already).

SkyBlew is one of the best hidden treasures of the independent hip hop world, and The Universal Journey is another solid entry into his ever expanding catalogue. He found someone to push him out of his comfort zone in DJ Reimei, while still finding room to deliver some classic tracks as well.