“I think we brought a lot of fear to the game,” says an animated Sticky Fingaz. For adolescent males, particularly Caucasian ones, the sight of four scowling black men with bald heads and hoodies proved to be equal parts appealing and frightening. It was 1993, a time of transition, a time where the music industry was about to face an attack of the mad face. “That’s a part of life, a lot of people get that mad face,” the Onyx livewire affirms, rather matter-of-factly. While “A lot of mother fuckers were scared and shit,” it didn’t stop the Queens, New York foursome from going platinum with their aggressive, cutthroat debut Bacdafucup. The concept of black men with a lot of pent-up frustration is nothing new in popular culture, the way it was manifested by Onyx however was a fresh take. Originality is the key, says Sticky, “One of the major problems with the industry today is that motherfuckers’ is copycats. Nowadays people’s songs and their whole styles sound identical. When I was comin’ up, if you sounded like somebody else you would be like ‘fuck that, I’m gonna change my voice, or do something, because I don’t wanna’ sound like somebody else.’ I wanna’ be different and original.” The battle-tested rapper, who played the title role in a short-lived TV adaption of the film Blade, exclaims “I’m the first rapper to ever be a superhero!”
Anthems like the call-to-arms Throw Ya Gunz and the self-explanatory, if grammatically poor, Black Vagina Finda, would make anyone think twice about crossing these guys. However, Sticky is quick to point out, “We real people, there ain’t nothin’ to be scared about.” He adds, “As long as you don’t do nothing to us. We get along with everybody.” Keeping it real, the most beaten horse in hip hop lore was their key to success. The man who once spit the line “I hate your fuckin’ guts and I hope that you die,” says their form of expression is that of the human emotion everyone goes through. “Sometimes we might be screaming in somebody’s face. Then you might see me opening a door for a lady or helping an old lady across the street.”
Now streamlined to the core duo of Sticky and Fredro Starr, with former member Sonsee leaving in 2008 and the late Big DS stepping out in 1994, they will be bringing the Onyx live experience to Australia for the first time ever in their tumultuous career. Talking from a New York studio, where he’s working on a new documentary project, Sticky is quite inquisitive about one of the only countries where he’s never toured. He’s most interested in the weather, asking whether he should pack a “big bubble goose North Face type of thing,” to brave the Aussie winter. He also wanted to know about the recent hip hop gigs in Australia, saying that we’ve never seen anything like Onyx live. “We’re gonna destroy the place,” he says, probably only half-joking. Fans can expect to witness “classics and new up and coming classics.” Letting their booming voices and finely honed chemistry do the talking, Onyx take a brutal, yet minimalist approach to their live shows. “No fancy pyros, explosions, smoke and all that bullshit.” All they needs is two mics and an audience willing to throw themselves into the combustible mix. Recently wrapping up a tour of Eastern Europe, the one common theme of their live shows seems to be craziness. “They’re crazy, we’re crazy, everybody’s crazy.” It’s a regular nuthouse I tell ya’. Evidentially the faces in the crowd may change but the energy remains the same. “We’re an underground hardcore gangsta’ group but our shit is like thrash metal. Motherfuckers be slam dancin’ to every song, stage diving, throwing water, climbing on the speakers. Just wildin’ out.”
Three years after their last album, the 2008 compilation Cold Case Files, and following several delays, the fearsome tag team’s latest work is almost ready for public consumption. Titled Cuzo, signifying the fact that Sticky and Fredro are cousins, he’s hoping it will appeal to the “hardcore fans from the 90s and maybe some new ones.” Another project, one Sticky is clearly excited about, is tentatively titled Black Rock. “It’s like a hybrid album of hip hop and rock,” he describes excitedly. This is a logical step, if not a largely belated one, for anyone that has heard their collaboration with the metal band Biohazard from the 1992 film Judgment Night. “I don’t wanna’ say it’s mainstream, but it’s gonna be a different audience. We gonna have a live band and just rock it out.”
Apart from their blood ties, chemistry has been important since Onyx signed their first deal with Run-DMC’s Jam Master Jay in the early ‘90s. “Chemistry is a big part,” Sticky confirms. “Sonsee bowed out for the last album [2003’s Triggernometry]. I guess the chemistry must’ve diminished. It’s like you’re in a relationship with a girl and you grow apart and shit.” Having grown up “like brothers” with Fredro, he says “sometimes a motherfucker will ask us a question and we’ll answer at the exact same time and say the exact same thing. Our chemistry is so ill, we don’t even fuckin’ rehearse.” What about maintaining that gruff, commanding voice night after night? “I would tell everybody but that information is to be sold not to be told.”
