Figgkidd - This Is Figgkidd
ARTIST.....: Figgkidd
TITLE......: This Is Figgkidd
LABEL......: Sony/Epic
URL........: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B000AXWUUA/qid=1127772076/sr=2-1/ref=pd_bbs
RIP DATE...: Sep-26-2005
STORE DATE.: Sep-20-2005
GENRE......: Rap
QUALITY....: VBR / 44.1Hz / Joint-Stereo
SIZE.......: 98,4 MB
Track Listing:
01 - My Oh My (Skit) 00:56
02 - My Oh My 03:04
03 - Nuthin Eva Worries Me 03:43
(Feat Proof From D12)
04 - Oww!! (Feat DJ Babu Of Dilated Peoples) 03:52
05 - Most Hated (Feat MC Losty) 04:54
06 - What It Is (Feat Sa'Fire) 04:17
07 - 19 (Feat Jeremy Gregory) 04:24
08 - Outspoken Outcast 08:10
(Feat Quan & DJ Babu Of Dilated Peoples)
09 - 99 Bottles (Feat Bishop & Kimmikaze) 04:01
10 - Fairytale Master 04:09
11 - I Gotta Know (Feat Tech N9ne & Red Foo) 03:11
12 - 2 Faced (Feat DJ Babu Of Dilated Peoples) 03:45
13 - Out 4 Tha Count 04:11
(Feat Deep Surface & DJ Babu Of Dilated Peo
14 - Breathe/Clap 03:48
15 - Insomnia (Feat Bishop) 04:11
16 - My Oh My (J Wells Remix) (Bonus Track) 03:37
─────
64:13 min
Release Notes:
Here is the new re-release of Figgkidd's first solo album
with a few new tracks and features from various DJ's who
used their talent to scratch on some tracks.
Figgkidd may be just 21 years of age, but he is, without
exception, the most dynamic new act to emerge from Australia in
the last five years. A lyrical powerhouse who's been writing
rhymes since he was 14 and MC-ing professionally since he was 16,
he is the rarest of beasts: a debut artist who has emerged so
fully formed it's almost impossible to believe he was never here
in the first place. WHAT IS FIGGKIDD, his three year in the making
debut album, is an outrageously accomplished sonic romp that
mashes hip hop, rock and myriad other influences into a sound so
fresh it can only be described as Figg-hop. Awash with melody,
lyrical wit, aggression and acuity, WHAT IS FIGGKIDD is an album
with the genuine potential to reshape the international pecking
order. That's not hype. That's just studied observation, backed up
by the musical support of some hip-hop's heaviest hitters. Not bad
for a scrawny white kid from Bankstown, huh?
Bankstown, in Sydney's multi-cultural south west, lies at the
heart of Figgkidd's musical eclecticism. "It's a major reason why
I'm here", admits Figg. "I used to listen to R&B in Years 5 and 6,
but when I went into Year 7 you'd get defined by your nationality:
Aussies would listen to rock; Lebs would listen to R&B and hip
hop; Aboriginal and islander kids would definitely listen to rap;
and Asians listened to R&B, hip hop and pop. So musically it was
really segmented. But I used to get on with everyone. So when I
hit Year 7, I was listening to R&B and hip hop, but the Aussies
were throwing rock in my ear and I was picking up on all the other
genres. Then after school, I met my producer, Lui and she came in
with Hip Hop/Latino influences, so I was able to bring all these
musical pieces together and create my own style".
Figg started writing raps when he was about 14, but his real
introduction to rap music was through R&B. "I actually sang in a
R&B group with like three other chicks when I was at school. We
used to go in talent contests and we used to win, all that sort of
shit. That's why there's a lot of melody in my stuff now. But my
first real exposure to rap was in the R&B tracks that I was doing,
cause someone had to do the raps. Rap was still kind of a side
thing at that stage. I mean, I'd started writing my own lyrics,
but they were pretty shitty."
By the time Figg was 16, he'd developed so dramatically as a rap
artist that he won the very first open mic competition he entered
- at an under 18s Crush party. Just one year later, and a
subsequent fixture on the under 18s hip hop scene he was being
paid to MC the events. It was a pivotal time for Figg. "I was
gaining MC-ing skills every night", he recalls. "Cause the kids
don't give a f!$k. If you're good, you're good. If you suck
they're like, "boo, get the f!$k off". But Figg's burgeoning
obsession with hip hop didn't stop there. Still 17, and entering
his final year of school, started seeking out the clubs.
"I used to go to the commercial clubs, like EP1, the R&B hip hop
clubs and there used to be like black American guys on the mic and
being a little young, skinny white kid, still at school, they were
real hesitant to give it to me. They'd never let me have it until
the end of the night when there was no-one there. So I'd jump on
and do my raps and I started getting a bit more respect there".
Respect is an understatement. It was only a short matter of time
before he was being paid to MC the clubs. Heady stuff for a 17
year old schoolboy. But a parents worst nightmare. "I was coming
home at ridiculous hours in the morning. I went shocking at
school. So I had a few dramas at home. So at the end of that year
of finishing school, I was 18 and just said, "F!$k this, I'm out".
I moved out for that whole year and I was living like a bum,
working part time at a shoe store, and scrounging a living as an
MC.
So that's what actually started the career drive, to prove them
wrong. Not only my parents, but also to prove that a white guy can
rap, prove to the industry that I can do it, prove to hip hop
heads that there is room for Figg. "I used to cop a lot of flack
because I was different and I wanted to prove to those people that
didn't support it, just wait, I'm gonna come thru some day. But it
almost got to a point where my self belief turned into shit. I'd
got myself in so deep that it would have been a wasted effort to
get out of it. But I'd already proved I could do it, so it became
about proving to myself that it was all worth it".
In 2001 Figg formed a crew in Sydney called The Outfit, which
later extended to include members of Brisbane's hip hop community.
They played club gigs in Sydney and Brisbane, romped on the
Lilypad stage at the Big Day Out and supported international hip
hop acts like Ugly Duckling. But when Figg attempted to sign his
crew to a deal with his now producer, Lui, the commercial
direction he wanted to take it caused internal friction and they
bailed. "Some people think commercial's a naughty word", says
Figg. "But I'm not ashamed of it. That's what I do. I've got the
R&B roots. Melody is part of my image".
In 2002, Figg started work on WHAT IS FIGGKIDD, and a year into
recording, record companies launched into a heated bidding war for
his services. Sony prevailed, but Figg and his label, unda K-9,
maintained independence and artistic control over the project.
There is not an aspect of Figg's album, from artwork through to
music videos and track selection, that he did not sign off on.
Which brings us to the album.
A stunning tour de force of musical and lyrical ingenuity, WHAT IS
FIGGKIDD was recorded in Sydney and LA with the who's who of
contemporary hip-hop. Mixed by Richard "Segal" Huredia (whose
lengthy credits include Eminem, Dr Dre, Snoop Dogg, Limp Bizkit,
Ice Cube, Jay Z, to name a few), produced by Lui, Red Foo and Sefu
and Silent Noise Productions and featuring performances from Tech
N9ne (Tupac, Eminem), Neff-U (Dre, 50 Cent, Eminem, Bono), DJ Babu
from Dilated Peoples, as well as local acts Selwyn, Jeremy
Gregory, Sa'Fire, Qane, Chapel and Bishop (Deep Surface). An album
of undeniable depth, there are at least 5 killer singles on here:
WHAT IS FIGGKIDD ranges from infectious uptempo club tracks ("My
Oh My", "OWW!!") to fight songs ("Outspoken Outcast", "Out 4 Tha
Count"), social commentary ("19", which is an interpretation of
the Redgum classic), ("Insomnia" which contains a musical sample
of "Skippy the Bush Kangaroo"), a raunchy ode to an LA strip club
(first single, "I Gotta Know"), to the personal ("What It Is").
The album's centrepiece, "Fairytale Master", is a sly, twisted but
irrepressibly infectious take on a children's fairytale that
reveals the shady clown that lies at the heart of Figg's work.
But for all its considerable charms, it's Figg's voice that
propels the album, sniping and snarling, laughing and leering,
taking you on a ride that stops at the circus, the jailhouse and
every stop in between. It's exhilarating, it's intoxicating and
it's hell of a lot of fun.
Enjoy