Stik Figa - Ritual '2023

Tracks list

Producer The Expert fuses elements from jazz and 60s-era psychedelic music on
‘Ritual,’ which sets the backdrop for emcee Stik Figa at his most
honest and personal. People who have heard psychedelic hip-hop opus ‘The
Overview Effect’ by The Expert together with emcee Jermiside, already
know they’re in for a trip. A glimpse at the tracklist also sets the tone
for what to expect with guest spots by Blu, Solemn Brigham (of Marlowe), Defcee,
Sleep Sinatra, and Tanya Morgan. But the true beauty of this record lies in the
contrast: the way jazz influences collide with psychedelic production pushes
both the Dublin, Ireland-based producer and the Topeka, Kansas native into new
hip-hop territory. Stik Figa has a great ear for beats—he’s got a
back catalog of thirteen years deep to show it. His releases include early work
with Oddisee, the collaborative album ‘The City Under The City’
with L’Orange, last year’s ‘Valley of Dry Bones’ with
Conductor Williams, and releases on Mello Music Group with production work by
Apollo Brown, Black Milk, and Exile, among others. Now, with The Expert, he
finds himself in a sonic pastiche of psychedelic effects, banging drums, clear
touches of jazz, and deep basslines. The Expert freely bends what he digs up
from his crates: layers upon layers of Mellotron chords, vibraphone melodies,
guitar stabs, and swirling strings tumble over each other. All for hard-hitting
beats that defy the golden-era boom-bap rulebook. Case in point: when was the
last time you heard a solo piano piece between tracks with reversed drum samples
and 808 kick drums? Irish pianist Daniel Luke delivers just that on “Rob
Peter, Pay Pallbearer.” Stik Figa moves with ease from dead honest
observations to showing lyrical dexterity and skill, to expressing inner
struggles. ‘Ritual’ is without a doubt his most personal body of
work to date. It’s just as he raps on “Uknowhut?” featuring
Blu: “Self-fulfillment remains the greatest metric of wealth.”
Besides Stik Figa openly sharing his inner musings on the album towards that
goal, the same goes for The Expert: he shares his own deepening and further
self-cultivation—a head-nodding, mind-blowing continuation of his
psychedelic-tinged beatmaking antics. —Danny Veekens (Rucksack Records) 

Tracklist:
1.01 - Stik Figa - BlacAmerica (2:14)
1.02 - Stik Figa - Uknowhut? (2:27)
1.03 - Stik Figa - Cost Of Business (3:11)
1.04 - Stik Figa - Rob Peter, Pay Pallbearer (1:22)
1.05 - Stik Figa - Slo Pokes (3:11)
1.06 - Stik Figa - The Green Monster (2:57)
1.07 - Stik Figa - Zambezi Zinger (4:23)
1.08 - Stik Figa - Lonely Planet (2:23)
1.09 - Stik Figa - Yah's Shorthand (2:28)
1.10 - Stik Figa - Service (3:27)
1.11 - Stik Figa - President Streets (2:18)
1.12 - Stik Figa - The All (2:59)
1.13 - Stik Figa - The Forgotten (2:36)

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