6.) SyKi The Mind: Closes 2022

**PURGATORY, SiKE, heyyou, EVERYTHiNG: Commencing independence

PURGATORY EP

SyKi closed 2022 with 4 EPs which he worked on without his usual sound engineering aids, and his prone collaborators. SyKi worked on several lower quality songs than usual. Prioritizing greater creative control, creative freedom and more authority over the pace of his music's production. 

At first SyKi worked on a 6-song extended play, titled "PURGATORY". Almost all songs on the EP were produced by Flapjack Davis who sampled segments of audio clips from SyKi's phone recorded acoustic songs which resulted in the project's instrumentals.

PURGATORY became the project consisting of songs by SyKi, vocally delivered over instrumentals comprised of samples from his own songs. However, Flapjack's work on SyKi's vocals on the project lacked clarity and was not easily audible. The songs "Inhail" and "Luck" were received by supporters as favoured picks, the reason being that "Inhail" excluded Flapjack's involvement in production as it is a song SyKi recorded in solitude, singing over his own guitar playing, and "Luck" did not include more vocals other than those sampled from "Inhail" to create the instrumental. Regardless of the EP's shortfalls, SyKi released PURGATORY on October 20th, not wanting to further complicate it's creation or delay it further than initially planned. 

https://audiomack.com/syki-1/album/purgatory

SiKE

SyKi had acquired means of creating his music more independently and was eager to learn to create self recorded and mixed musical content. Having met 'Skillz'(a boom-bap and 90s style hip-hop producer) in Johannesburg North, through a mutual friend in 2021, SyKi & Skillz had played their own music for each other. During their meeting, Skillz eventually gave SyKi a selection of instrumentals to rap on, 1 of which was used to create;

•"Dark Sacred Night" - Named after a novel of the same title, by fictitious crime-author Michael Connelly, who is thought to be SyKi's favorite author. The bass-heavy sound and ominous tone of the lyrically complex, rap song was inspired by the artist's own Sleepwalking EP, showcasing SyKi's versatility through confidently delivered, tightly-rhymed and fast-paced hardcore rap verses and ghostly melodies which SyKi sang to support a chorus consisting of scratch-DJing and vocal samples. The lyrics SyKi had written and performed on the song, metaphorically(amongst other techniques) touched on metaphysical and other themes such as: 'The third eye', lucid dream experiences, women entranced by the artist, hypnotic music, astral projection, the artist's evolution, implications of differences between "SyKiTheMind" & "SyKiTheSoul", haunting ghosts, the price of one's 'gifts', yearnings for breakthroughs or good omens, SyKi's relationship with God, lacking of platforms to express potential, self-destructive tendencies, SyKi and his art being internationally sought after and worshiped only after his death and the extent of the artist's hardship.

The lyrical material of the song has been reported as initially intended for music on the sequel of SyKi's "Sleepwalking" EP before the project was scrapped, which apparently was meant to be produced by Nino Golden.

https://audiomack.com/syki-1/song/1-syki-dark-sacred-night

•Anomaly - Flapjack Davis largely sampled SyKi's acoustic song "Endless" in order to produce the melodic, rock instrumental for the song. The song's structure is unorthodox, beginning with a subtle, sung intro followed by a multi-syllable tightly rhyming rap verse and then a hook or outro rap, complimenting the verse. 

https://audiomack.com/syki-1/song/2-anomaly

•"Marijuana" - An alternative RnB and hip-hop fusion, produced by Flapjack Davis who again sampled SyKi's own music to create the instrumental content for SyKi to record vocals over. SyKi incorporated rapping and singing of his lyrics on the song to convey a love story about meeting, first encounters and becoming romantically involved with his dream-girl. SyKi has claimed the song to be an accurate depiction of his first encounters with his romantic partner then known as "Cobi Mai"(Colby Maiken Du Preez, who is a singer-songwriter, former model, tarot reader and spearhead of the spirituality-niched emerging brand known as Starseed Tarot ZA. "Marijuana" has been stated to have been created and released prior to the couple's first meeting, as SyKi described not knowing exactly who he was writing the love-song about until he met Cobi who matched the description conveyed in the song's lyrics, implying that the song was a prophetic piece.

https://audiomack.com/syki-1/song/3-marijuana

**November 29th; heyyou, EVERYTHiNG 

"heyyou"

SyKi grouped 3 of his recorded cover songs together which formed the "heyyou" cover EP. The project would be considered as the probable sequel to the formerly released, 3 song cover project "OverO's". SyKi sang over his guitar playing, delivering his own renditions of the Drake songs "Make Daddy Proud" and "Marvin's Room" and the song "Mirrors" by the band known as PVRIS. "heyyou" was released on November 29th, 2022 and well received by SyKi fans.

https://audiomack.com/syki-1/album/heyyou-1

"EVERYTHiNG"

SyKi had been studying the Dhammapada, a book known to consist of a collection of Bhuddist scriptures, as well as learning concepts taught in Hindu philosophies and is said to have been spending much time observing nature during the creation of "EVERYTHiNG", a 5 song extended play produced by Skillz.

Evaluating the instrumentals that Skillz had provided shortly after their first encounter, SyKi selected 4 of the instrumentals for the project. Skillz' production was included in songs; "4U", "Dionysus 1", "Everything" and "LetItBe". Skillz was known to produce old-school hip-hop or boom-bap records, highly resembling the sound predominant in 90s rap music, however SyKi had an unusual vocal approach to the sound. SyKi capitalized on the melodic elements of the instrumentation for songs "4U" and "Everything", delivering his own sung melodies rather than rapping on the backtracks. "Dionysus 1"(named after the ancient Greek God of wine) is supposedly the only song on the project which SyKi approached conventionally by rapping a verse in a style more expected by listeners regarding it's genre. 

"CharonAndTheMortal" was SyKi's own rendition of "Snob Factor" by composers Daniel Suett, Billie Ray Fingers and Bruce Fingers, which was a pianist composition that SyKi heard, being score music on a National Geographic documentary about the country of Singapore. SyKi had initially only intended to locate the soundtrack for his own listening pleasure but when it could not be found for streaming or download, SyKi recorded the brief audio played in the documentary on his mobile phone's voice recorder, and recreated the music using his own voice as the instruments in each layer of his own version. Ultimately, SyKi's version of "Snob Factor" became an intro track on the "EVERYTHiNG" EP. "CharonAndTheMortal" was a title inspired by a novel by Dr. Eva Pohler, titled "Charon's Quest"; a fictitious romantic novel in which mythological Greek ferryman of the underworld, Charon embarks on a journey to recover his youth through experiences on earth and falls in love with a mortal woman.

The last song on the EP, "LetItBe" consists of SyKi's more simplified style of rapping where he expressed views related to his insights gained from teachings in the Dhammapada and Hindu philosophies. It was rumored that the artist had truly believed that "EVERYTHiNG" would be his final musical work, however this rumor was dismissed as SyKi later continued to create and release music. EVERYTHiNG was released on Audiomack.com, on November 29th, 2022 and was SyKi's final musical release for the year.

https://audiomack.com/syki-1/album/everything