Sticky Fingaz: Black Trash: The Autobiography Of Kirk Jones

Onyx may be on hiatus, but Sticky Fingaz has kept busy, turning up on Eminem's Marshall Mathers LP, appearing in Next Friday, In Too Deep, and half a dozen other films, and recording a conceptually and thematically audacious solo debut, Black Trash: The Autobiography Of Kirk Jones. Combining the dark, absurdist wit of a Chester Himes novel with the narrative structure of Prince Paul's A Prince Among Thieves, Black Trash combines songs, skits, and interludes in telling the story of Kirk Jones (Fingaz's birth name), a gun-toting bad seed who ends up behind bars following a botched jewelry-store robbery. Humbled by jail, Jones/Fingaz attempts to mend his ways through a pair of emotionally charged message songs, one addressed to his crime-prone kid brother ("Baby Brother"), the other to the woman he left behind ("Sister I'm Sorry"). But the lure of street life is too much for him, and, following his release, Jones returns to his hustling ways, only to end the album with an ironic, tone-deaf take on the pop standard "Wonderful World." Like kindred spirit Eminem, Fingaz delights in tasteless but clever punchlines, multiple identities, and postmodern tomfoolery. But while Black Trash's corny skits and interludes don't invite repeat listening, the album's conceptual ambition pays off in its wealth of strong song concepts and overall coherence. Through Jones' rise and fall, Fingaz takes on big, meaty subjects, from spirituality ("Oh My God") to infidelity ("Cheatin'") to greed ("Money Talks"). Elsewhere, Fingaz makes like a hip-hop Jeff Foxworthy on "Ghetto" and engages in hilariously regressive racial stereotyping with Eminem on "What If I Was White." Although it's cluttered with contenders, the highlight of Black Trash is probably "State vs. Kirk Jones," a smart, nimble song that finds Redman, Rah Digga and Canibus arguing the merits of Kirk Jones' case in a rhyming court of law. Those three guests might steal the spotlight temporarily, but Fingaz's grimy, distinctive flow, memorably unhinged persona, and dark charisma are what ultimately make Black Trash such a remarkable solo debut.