Sticky Fingaz’s has seen some extreme highs and some lows, but he’s made it farther than anybody imagined when Onyx hit the scene with “Throw Ya Gunz.” The raspy, rugged baldhead clique pioneered a heavy metal, hyper-masculine brand of music that’s still seen in live shows. Now, he’s created a Hip-Hop movie where actors do nothing but rap. Admittedly underrated but characteristically outspoken, Onyx front man Sticky Fingaz talks about 10-plus years in Hip-Hop and his future in the entertainment game. Oh, he’s also got a word for those that don’t think he’s worthy of Top 5 Dead or Alive Honors.
AllHipHop.com: What makes touring overseas and doing shows in other countries different than doing shoes in America?
AllHipHop.com: It’s a long flight for starters. [laughs] I think people overseas appreciate Hip-Hop music a little but more than the States. Not that the States don’t, but they’re just crazy over there and s**t. It’s like a time warp.
AllHipHop.com: Are you surprised at the number of fans that you still have or the amount of people who are still into classic Onyx?
Sticky Fingaz: No I’m not surprised. We’ve been going over there since like ’94, ’95, so it’s been a minute, you know what I mean? It’s just a worldwide thing. We just finished an overseas tour a few months ago. We were everywhere—Russia, Germany. It was crazy over there. You feel like you Michael Jackson or some s**t over there. We still poppin’ over here, though. Definitely still poppin’. The whole music era has changed in the States. You got all these new cats coming up with the new sound and the down South and the T-Pains, so it’s a little bit different. It’s like that happy, dancin’, singin’ type Hip-Hop. It’s made a complete f**kin’ circle back to the Salt ‘n’ Pepa days and s**t when Kane and Scoob and Scrap was making up dance moves and s**t where overseas, they still stuck in the classic era, which is the Onyx era. They still want the aggressive music, the angry s**t.
AllHipHop.com: Are you critical of it coming full circle, as you say? Of what you call the “happy music”?
Sticky Fingaz: What do you mean by critical of it?
AllHipHop.com: Do you think that it dumbs down Hip-Hop or do you think that it’s just another phase of the music?
Sticky Fingaz: I don’t think it’s good or bad. It just is. Either you embrace it and change with the time or you change the times, you know what I’m saying. I think I’m one of the changers. I change times. I don’t really jump on the bandwagon. When Onyx came out, we was the same s**t. We had changed the times because s**t was on some happy s**t back then. De La Soul was out, Q-Tip and them—it was a happy era. And then Naughty by Nature came out. They was more street, but they still had a little bit of happy music. You down with OPP? And that’s my dude, you know what I’m sayin’?
“The reason that “Debo the Game” has Autotune on it is because I’m debo-ing n****s. I was tellin’ T-Pain I’m deeboing s**t. that s**t was out before Hov put out “Death of Autotune.” Tell Hov to stop biting my s**t.”
-Sticky Fingaz
AllHipHop.com: So who do you make your music for?
Sticky Fingaz: I make my music for myself and then I just feel like maybe I have a universal opinion so maybe what I like, everybody else likes.
AllHipHop.com: If you could mentor somebody in Hip-Hop right now, someone with raw talent but lacks direction, who would it be? Would you even do that?
Sticky Fingaz: I don’t know. Probably a couple of those dudes. Nothing comes to mind immediately, though.
AllHipHop.com: Do you consider yourself Top 5 dead or alive?
Sticky Fingaz: Definitely. I feel like I’m one of the most underrated artists out there and s**t. I’m like one of the illest and I don’t even get the proper due. N****s be writing albums—I wrote a whole f**kin’ movie in rap. Ain’t nobody doin’ that s**t. The s**t is ill, too. It got favorite actors in there. N****s ain’t raising the creative bar like I am. Not to toot my own horn and s**t. That’s why I did the movie, to let people know ya’ll n****s ain’t ill. I’m f**kin’ ill. So yeah, you know, I see everybody else getting the critical acclaim and the money that comes with it. Meanwhile, I’m like underrated and s**t. I’m murderin’ and been doing this s**t for years—for instance, Hip Hop Honors. They ain’t never honored f**kin’ Onyx. I be seein’ these little magazines and s**t, they be doing the 10 years in Hip-Hop. My name don’t be nowhere in there, Onyx name don’t be nowhere in there, like they trying to write us out the book of rap or some s**t.
“I feel like I’m one of the most underrated artists out there and s**t. I’m like one of the illest and I don’t even get the proper due….[It’s] like they trying to write [Onyx] out the book of rap or some s**t.”
-Sticky Fingaz
AllHipHop.com: So why you think you’re so underrated? What is it?
Sticky Fingaz: I don’t know. Maybe I started at such a young age that I didn’t have my business in tact. I left too many gaps in my career. Gaps as far as not putting out albums, like concentrating on movies and s**t and forgetting about the music for a few years and coming back. S**t like that. Maybe that has something to do with it—people want consistency I guess, you know? That never changes the illness in the person that we’re speaking about.
AllHipHop.com: So how long did it take you to write the material for “A Day in the Life”?
Sticky Fingaz: Oh, that s**t was easy. I wrote that s**t in a flash. It took me a long time to film it because I was spending my own money shooting the movie and I was working with other people’s schedules and s**t. So it took a long time to shoot it, but writing it was easy. I already wrote the second one. The second one is shot, in the can and everything. It’s got Vivica Fox, Cedric the Entertainer, Angie Stone, Joe Torrey, Malik Yoba—it’s crazy.
AllHipHop.com: So it’s a sequel?
Sticky Fingaz: Nah, it’s not a sequel, but it’s the same concept where the whole movie is in rap. But it’s a different story and different actors, you know what I mean? Just like my niche. I’m good at that and it just flows freely, so I said ‘hey, let me just do another one and keep doin’ that s**t. So if somebody else do one, they be like, ‘oh that’s Sticky s**t. Get the f**k outta here.’
Sticky Fingaz “A Day In The Life” trailer
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AllHipHop.com: Where did the concept come from? Why a whole movie in rap?
Sticky Fingaz: I got the concept a while ago cuz you gotta figure my first album, Black Trash, was just like that. The whole entire album was a movie and s**t. But I never had the funding to make the actual movie. So the album was the movie. This time, I got the funding. First I started spending my own money, then I got finishing funds from Lions Gate, you know what I mean? I just feel like if you wanna do something, you gotta just put your mind to it and don’t let nothin’ stop you. So I did the s**t. And it’s doing well. The streets is receiving well, the numbers are great, so I think people are startin’ to realize and recognize the s**t. But it don’t stop there. Then I’ma do another and another, then I’ma do a TV series like that and keep droppin’ these s**ts on muthaf**kas.
AllHipHop.com: Speakin’ of which, do you miss “Platinum”? We loved that show.
Sticky Fingaz: Oh, I loved that s**t. That was like a party on set everyday. Sticky had the party trailer. It was poppin’. I was like, ‘oh, I’m gettin’ paid to do this s**t. Are you serious?’ I was just having too much fun.
AllHipHop.com: I know you were disappointed when it got canceled.
Sticky Fingaz: I wasn’t disappointed. It was what it was. It was fun while it lasted. Good things don’t last forever, you know what I mean. All good things must come to an end. It was fun while it lasted, boom. Move on to the next show. Next show after that was—I was playing a soldier in the TV show “Over There.” After that, I was the first rapper to ever be a superhero. I played “Blade” in a TV show. That’s what it is, man. The world may not know this, but we’ve always been the first to do s**t, to change s**t. As far as Onyx, we the first rappers to make Black street kids slam dance and stage dive, the first rapper to ever be a f**kin’ superhero, the first rapper to ever put out a whole entire movie in rap. We don’t follow other people. We make our own paths.
AllHipHop.com: I asked you how you felt about being in the Top 5 but I didn’t get the rest of your picks.
Sticky Fingaz: I don’t got a Top 5 Dead or Alive. It’d take me too long to think about it. I don’t know. I’m not a chooser. People be like, “hey, what you want for dinner?” or some s**t. Well, I don’t eat beef and I don’t eat pork so get whatever, you know what I’m saying? I’m not really a chooser like that. I would just definitely be one of the people in my own top 5.
AllHipHop.com: That’s funny—my next question is about you choosing acting roles.
Sticky Fingaz: People approach me, sometimes I audition and sometimes I make my own movies.
AllHipHop.com: OK. So do you plan to release a version of “Deebo the Game” with no Autotune?
Sticky Fingaz: Umm, nah not really. It’s already out so just leave that s**t like that. The reason that “Deebo the Game” has Autotune on it is because I’m deeboing n****s. I was tellin’ T-Pain I’m deeboing s**t. Gimme that, homie. But he can have that s**t back now. I used it once. That’s enough. I actually have a record we was gonna put out called OnyxDomain.com and it says “I’m bout to take that T-Pain s**t and break that s**t.” Actually, that s**t was out before Hov put out “Death of Autotune.” We just didn’t mass release it. We just released it on the Onyx website, like a little teaser for the fans and s**t. Tell Hov to stop biting my s**t.
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AllHipHop.com: Can you tell me about the rock album that Onyx is working on?
Sticky Fingaz: Yeah, that s**t is crazy. I think it’s gonna be Onyx’s biggest album. Just like “Slam” was Onyx’s biggest song, I think this is gonna be Onyx’s biggest album cuz you know we just embrace things. All our shows we go to, majority of them, overseas, in the States, is like 80% white people—going crazy, slam dancing, stage diving, throwing water, climbing podiums. It got that rock element, so we just embracing it. we still keeping it street, still keeping it hard.