SOLJAHKOON SKOOP

Soljahkoon Skoop is an independent artist, writer, producer, and founder of GOOD 2-B FREE RECORDZ, based in Youngstown, Ohio. His approach to music began with poetry. Long before he thought seriously about becoming a recording artist, he was writing poems and listening closely to artists such as Tupac Shakur. Once he recognized that much of the power in Tupac’s rhymes came from poetry placed over rhythm and production, Skoop began shaping his own flow from that same understanding.

Because he came into recording later than many artists, he never wanted to make music simply for the sake of rapping. From the beginning, he wanted his writing to carry a message. That foundation continues to shape music centered on real experience, struggle, ambition, reflection, social awareness, growth, ownership, and freedom.

The vision for GOOD 2-B FREE RECORDZ developed before Skoop ever fully established himself as an artist. He had long imagined having his own record label because he wanted a platform that could eventually create opportunities for other people as well as himself.

During the final nine months of a 129-month federal sentence, while preparing to return home, he began thinking seriously about what vehicle would carry his music and larger creative vision forward. During that period, his cousin Alisha—who had written to him often, including during time he spent in the SHU—shared several ideas with him. From those conversations and his own vision, he chose to develop the name GOOD 2-B FREE, a name that naturally connected his experience of confinement with the value he placed on freedom, independence, and a new beginning.

Two other ideas helped shape the language around his music. His cousin Roge introduced the phrase EVOLVE-HOP, which Skoop embraced as a way of describing hip-hop that grows, develops, and carries purpose beyond entertainment. Another close influence, EMac, often spoke about TRUTH MUSIK, a phrase that fit Skoop’s natural writing style and his commitment to putting real experiences and meaningful messages into his music.

Together, those ideas became part of the identity surrounding Soljahkoon Skoop and GOOD 2-B FREE RECORDZ:

Today, Skoop continues building GOOD 2-B FREE as more than an artist name or record label. It is an independent creative platform rooted in ownership, music, artist development, production, and the belief that freedom means having the ability to shape your own direction—and eventually help others shape theirs.