Stik Figa – As Himself
Mello Music Group: 2012
Being comfortable in your own skin is an invaluable life skill. Dove, Ghostface Killah’s favorite soap, is even using the phrase in their current marketing campaign (not a sponsored sentence, but I’m listening to offers, Hennessy!). Rick Ross wasn’t comfortable in his own skin (or his correctional officer uniform), so he made a whole new persona to put himself on the road to the riches. Stik Figa, from the “other” MMG – Mello Music Group – took the other route, embracing himself for who he is: just a skinny dude from Topeka, Kansas with the same real world problems the rest of us have. He’s not worried about his phone being tapped or being followed; he’s dealing with the everyday struggle á la Phonte Coleman. Stik Figa’s greatest strength is his ability to relate to his audience. The cover of his 2009 re-release, As Himself, features him eating Honey Bunches of Oats in a robe and pajamas. If you can’t relate to eating Honey Bunches of Oats in a robe and pajamas, you might be part of the 1%.
As Himself has a small-town feeling to it. He uses “The Skinny” and “Class of 2000” as self-deprecating introductions to himself and his surroundings as well as ’70s funk and soul production to give the album a sense of familiarity. They serve as a setup to “Absitively”, a head-bobbing, one-liner showcase that Stik uses to demonstrate that despite his humorous, genial style, he’s not to be played with on the mic. That skill includes the ability to “sink battleships with a sick pair of loose lips” and “kill a track and use the bones to floss my teeth.”
Stik Figa’s social commentary on “Medicine” courtesy of Aaron Neville’s classic “Hercules”, touches on familiar issues with a glimmer of hope – “The hands that picked cotton could today build monuments, the kid who cooked crack could be a chemist or a pharmacist,” – but he makes it clear it won’t be easy, with a special nod to the plight of felons adjusting to civilian life: “Fill out an application, you hoping they let you in, you fresh out the pen, who you puttin’ as references?”
If you’ve been following Stik Figa since 2008, you’ve heard all of these songs before, as this album came out in 2009, and half of that album is pulled from 2008’s It Ain’t Easy Bein’ Skinny. The album aged well, considering that these songs are so old that Kevin Durant was listening to them while wearing a Seattle SuperSonics jersey. A time when nobody knew who Justin Bieber was. Feel-good, regular-guy raps tend to age better than materialistic ones because besides the fact that nobody drinks Cristal anymore, honesty and humor never go out of style.
3.5 out of 5