ONYX für alle. Geschmeidige Feiertage wünsch ich.

Bescherung mal anders:
Das ONYX Interview vom April hat endlich seinen Weg in die Weiten des Internets gefunden. Und noch eine Überraschung: keine Übersetzung, nur die englische Originalversion.
Ich wünsche viel Freude beim Entpacken!


"Move back motherfuckers! The Onyx is here!" is banging out of the speakers. Two guys dressed in dark hoodies enter the stage and suddenly the crowd goes nuts. Onyx live on stage in Germany, after 15 years! Sticky Fingaz, Fredro Starr, Sonsee Seeza and Big DS (R.I.P.) gained fame for their hardcore rapstyle in the early 90‘s, when they raised hip hop to a higher level. The only German show was more than just a good occasion to ask the protagonists of the night, Sticky Fingaz and Fredro Starr, some questions, it was a necessity. So check out an interview in Onyx style: ruff, rugged and raw...


Hey guys, I hope you enjoy your stay in Europe so far. I heard you just came from Stockholm.

Sticky
Yeah, right.


Great to have you back here in Germany after 15 years!

Sticky
Has it been that long?

Yeah, 15 long years.

Sticky
It feels like it was just yesterday! (laughs)


You both have been pretty busy the last years. Each one of you has his own solo projects running, but you are also working on new Onyx stuff. Is your album "The Black Rock" going to hit the streets in 2008?

Fredro
"The Black Rock" is coming! It‘s probably gonna be in 2009, early 2009. We gonna collaborate with some great artists. We wanna collaborate with artists like Travis Barker. We would like to hook up with Rick Rubin on a track, you know from Jam Master Jay days. People like that. That‘s who we wanna work with. I‘m calling out all my dudes, these young Rock‘n‘Roll dudes who grew up with Onyx. The Linkin Parks, the PODs, you know. They got love for us, holla at us. We can get this music done, man. This is all about moving a crowd and making music that speaks for our generation. People who feel what we feel.


Sounds great so far. But why 2009? The album was already announced for 2007...

Sticky
Yeah, we would like to come out with it like tomorrow or today. But realistically speaken you gotta say first quarter 2009, cause it‘s already `08, you know. Time‘s trying to catch up with me so I‘ll be losing track.

Fredro
We‘re doing something else. We‘re doing 100 Mad Niggaz With Gunz. We are about to get crazy with that shit. The Sticky Album. We gonna do the Onyx Album, the last street album. „The Black Rock“ album is gonna be incredible, like I said.


What took you so long to get the album done?

Fredro
Because we needed an inspiration to make this album. We‘ve been trying to figure out what the downsouth movement is about. It‘s going on so strong. In America the South is taking over everything, so a lot of eastcoast rappers are in a position where they gotta reevaluate how they come out with music instead of us coming out with some shit. And its not being taken seriouslly, because the people wanna hear some downsouth shit. Until that shit is overwhiped they‘ll come back. And It‘s dying down right now and we‘re gonna be the new eastcoast, we‘re gonna take it the way it‘s gotta go with 100 Mad. My nigga Sticky, my nigga Ox, Skitso. You know, we got a lot of more niggas coming out.


What does ''The Black Rock'' mean to you both personally? I mean, you worked several years to finish it.

Sticky
It‘s not like we were working on that album so long. We‘re always working. We continue to work through. Like doing movies. Whatever we do, we‘re always recording. If we have to put a certain name or title or a label to an amount of songs which people call albums or shit, we will.


There was another release announced for 2007. Your DVD, called ''Onyx: 15 Years of History, Videos and Violence''. We‘re still waiting for it to be released.

Sticky
It‘s coming in june. ''15 Years of History, Videos and Violence''. Yeah, fucking finally!


Took you some time to release it finally.

Sticky
Yeah. You know, a lot of this shit was out of my control. We had to rely on third-party sources who actually had the footage that was necessary to put the DVD together. I‘m talking about footage from '93, Onyx's first show and stuff like this. It'll be out in two month.

Fredro
And you can go crazy when you put it on. Whatever you‘re doing, you can put it on and go crazy. When you‘re watching the videos you wanna kill somebody. That‘s good music to fucking kill somebody to.

Sticky
I hate to promote violence. (laughs)

Fredro
You might see this girl you don‘t like so you should put that on and slap the shit out of that bitch.


I already mentioned your solo projects. Fredro, you started Yung Onyx in 2006. How‘s it going so far?

Fredro
One of the dudes, Skitso, got locked up and went to jail. He came home. I‘m about to start working with him again and do the second Yung Onyx album mixtape. They did good, you know, they were touring. You know they don`t even have passports. They were all over America. And next year I‘m bringing Yung Onyx with us on tour for the next go-around. We‘ll let them open for us. So you can see the young energy that they got.

Sticky
We didn‘t wanna bring them on tour this time. You know these young niggaz, they are trouble, doing still a lot of shit and we don‘t need that bullshit right now. We‘re trying to be positive, Pro Black, Obama, all that. Yeah, what up, Obama? We need office space in the White House when you get elected!


Sticky, there was an interview back in 2003 where you were asked, what your next solo album after ''Decade'' would be like and you said that it‘s going to be the masterpiece of the masterpieces.

Sticky
Whooooo!


Did ''A Day in the Life'' become that masterpiece you wanted to create?

Sticky
You know what, ''A Day In The Life'' has become that masterpiece that I wanted to create, but I don‘t know if the fucking planet, the world, the people are ready for it. I mean they‘re ready for it because it‘s gonna drop and innovating our feel and everything. But at the same time I don‘t wanna force freedom. We‘re gonna release a Sticky Fingaz solo album as well, that‘s like a
little bit more......normal. (laughs)

Fredro
That shit is very normal. (laughs)

Sticky
''A Day In The Life'' is abnormal, it‘s gangster. But we‘re gonna release another Sticky Fingaz solo album like, I don‘t know, a month before ''A Day In The Life'' comes out just to put the game in uproar again.


Projects like ''Caught on Tape'' followed soon after, right?! What is this thing going to be about?

Sticky
It‘s a movie, starring Vivica A. Fox, Cedric the Entertainer, Malik Yoba, Bokeem Woodbine, Kel Mitchell, Sticky Fingaz, Eric Palladino. This shit is crazy. The whole movie is in rap, just like ''A Day In The Life''.


What happened to that venture called ''Stick Up Kids''?

Sticky
''Stick Up Kids'' is still in the making. Actually it is a pilot for television. Me and Fredro is producing it and it‘s still in the making right now. We‘re actually closer than ever been before. We‘ll pop it off real soon, you know.


Let's get back to ''A Day in the Life''. Fredro plays your cousin in the movie. Was that character of Phya written for Fredro? I mean you are real live cousins and I was wondering if there are any anologies between Phya and the real Fredro.

Fredro
Yeah, girl!

Sticky
Yeah, there are a lot of similarities. He played the high-headed kill everybody dude in the movie and we‘re cousins and it‘s kind of like art imitates life, you know. Because he is that same guy in real life. All we did was portaiting him in the movie.


So, it is really him in ''A Day In The Life''? He‘s kind of playing himself?

Sticky
Yeah, in a sense he is playing himself to the tenth power.

Alright, so Fredro is the kind of guy who would seek for bloody revenge.

Fredro
Yeah!

Sticky
I know he's going crazy.

Fredro
I‘m like Joe Pesci in Goodfellas.

Sticky
That‘s exactly what he is! Like Joe Pesci in Goodfellas. Not going crazy, he is crazy! I thought I was the crazy one, but no! He is.


''A Day in the Life'' is a complete story and the plot somehow reminds me of your first solo album ''Blacktrash''. Is ''A Day in the Life'' some kind of the rebuilt version of ''Blacktrash''?

Sticky
You know ''A Day In The Life'' is what ''Blacktrash'' inspired to be. Not that ''Blacktrash'' wasn‘t great. It was my greatest solo album. We always wanted to do a movie to ''Blacktrash'' and never did. But now I actually took the process back and shot the movie first and put the album together secondly. Now we have both.


Was it hard for you to be the director, the writer and an actor?

Sticky
No. it was fun, it wasn‘t hard. It was a challenge and I overcame it. It was great, not hard.


You always said you don‘t make any difference between acting and rapping, because you love both equally. Now you got the chance to combine both elements. Was that some kind of dream coming true for you?

Sticky
I‘d say it was a tought that came to a conclusion. I thought it and I did it.


I have a question for Fredro, but he seems busy. (Fredro was actually yelling at a camera man and was way too busy to give a response.)
Sticky, maybe you can answer that question for him. I was wondering what Fredro was thinking about your plans for ''A Day In The Life''?

Sticky
He was a part of it from the beginning on. I mean he is one of the producers, he is a main actor in the movie, he helped to create and invent the whole movement. Yo Phya, she‘s got some questions specifically for you.


Fredro, you also released two solo records, ''Fire Starr'' and ''Don‘t Get Mad, Get Money'. I also read about your next solo album ''Last Dayz''. Tell me about it.

Fredro
I might do it. I already had the title but I might title it something different. I don‘t know. That‘s what we do as artists. We change things. We say things and than it becomes something else.


When can people exepect your album to drop?

Fredro
My solo album is coming out this year. I think we drop it right after Sticky‘s album.


Are there any features on the album you can already name?

Fredro
Right now, there are no features. I might do some things with a few artists that I like, but there are too many artists that I do like, you know. I like artists like True Life, that‘s my boy. Artistically I would say there is no one in the game we would like to do a whole record with. I don‘t know any features right now. I know Yung Onyx will be in, Sticky, Ox, 100 Mad. That‘s what I know.


A last question for the two of you: If you throw a glance at the hip hop industry today and reminisce about the times when you got started, how would you describe the progession of the hip hop culture?

Fredro
I think we are from the classic era of hip hop. When we came up it was more about lyrics and hard beats. We came out with the Eastcoast gangster shit and eliminated the dancing. We are taking it more to the street, like our shows and stuff. I think we represent that classic era of hip hop. Us and niggas like Das EFX, Naughty by Nature.


What do you think Hip Hop nowadays needs?

Fredro
Hip Hop needs everything. You know, Hip Hop is like a girl. A girl has a whole different parts of her body that you enjoy.

Sticky
Which part do you like most? I like the ass. I‘m an ass man. (laughs)

Fredro
You can like her brests, you can like her face, her ass, whatever. Rap is like sex. It‘s like a human body. You enjoy different pieces.


Interesting way to describe Hip Hop. Do you have some final words for your German fans?

Fredro
My fans in Germany, you motherfuckers is crazy! Germany has always been a good place for us, it‘s very similar to New York City. It is dark and it‘s very cold and it‘s wack and poured and it‘s beautiful at the same time. And that‘s what I like about Germany, it reminds me of New York. There‘s no easy life, there‘s no sunshine. It‘s not paradise, this is fucking reality.


What can we expect from tonights show?

Fredro
One thing about our show: we represent for the Hip Hop. We represent for the Hip Hop that‘s not here. Jam Master Jay, Tupac Shakur, Biggie Smalls, X-1, Big DS, Big Al, Big Pun, ODB, all these people I knew and I love and I respect. I always give them shout outs at my show. So I always represent to the fallen soldiers. They give me inspiration to be a better rapper, a better emcee, a better artist. I feel thankful that I can be in front of a crowd. Till this day I‘ve
been in the game for 15 years and having a good time. They can‘t see that no more. They can see that from Hip Hop heaven, but not from here. That‘s why I represent for them.


I thank you for your time and patience. I really appreciate that! I wish you the best for all upcomings ventures!


And because it's Christmas Eve, I will add some impressions of the ONYX show in April.
Call me Santa Dottie.

Cheers!