Sticky Fingaz

Kirk Jones (born November 3, 1973), better known by his stage name Sticky Fingaz, is an American hardcore rapper, record producer, actor, film director, film editor and writer, best known as a member of multi-platinum hardcore rap group Onyx.

Sticky Fingaz
Background information
Birth nameKirk Jones
Also known asTrop, Sticky
Born (1973-11-03) November 3, 1973
Flatbush, Brooklyn, New York
OriginSouth Jamaica, Queens, New York
GenresHardcore hip hop, Gangsta Rap, East Coast hip hop
Occupation(s)Rapper, record producer, director, Film editor, writer
Years active1991–present
LabelsJMJ Records, Def Jam, Universal Records, D3 Entertainment, Major Independents
Associated acts
Websitestickyfingaz.com

Sticky Fingaz was discovered by Jam Master Jay of Run-D.M.C., who signed Onyx on his label JMJ Records provided that Sticky will be in the group. His signature lazy eye, raspy voice, and boundless energy brought attention to the group, and he became the front man. Onyx went on to release three top-selling albums before Sticky Fingaz began his solo career.

Sticky Fingaz starred in more than 80 films and television shows. In 1993, he made his acting debut in Forest Whitaker's award-winning HBO drama Strapped. His feature film credits include Spike Lee's Clockers, In Too Deep, Lockdown, Doing Hard Time and Breaking Point, but is best known for his role as "Tyrone" in Next Friday. He made his television debut in New York Undercover and Nash Bridges, but is best known for his role as Blade in the TV series Blade.

Sticky Fingaz wrote, produced, directed and starred in two feature films done entirely in the genre of "hip hopera" through his production company Major Independents: A Day in the Life and Caught On Tape. Both films were released by Lionsgate Home Entertainment. In 2019, Fingaz released a movie It's About T.I.M.E., which features the format in which it was released – "Digital Album Movie", created by the rapper.

On August 12, 2020, Sticky Fingaz was unanimously voted to be President of the newly formed Hunger Aid Foundation. www.Hunger-Aid.Org

Early life

Jones was born in Kings County Hospital Center on November 3, 1973. He grew up in the Flatbush, Brooklyn neighborhood. When he was a child, he wanted to be a DJ.[1]

According to an interview with DJ Vlad, Jones was a part of "Lo-Lifes," a local Brooklyn street gang that mainly engaged in petty retail theft of Polo clothing rather drug dealing or violent turf wars. Hence his nickname being "Sticky Fingaz," in reference to the idiom for stealing "sticky fingers."[2]

When his mother moved the family to Bloomfield, New Jersey, she enrolled him in Manhattan's High School of Art and Design. She hoped Kirk, who had a gift for drawing, would focus his talents. In 1990, at the age of 16, Kirk moved out of his mother's house to South Jamaica, Queens to live with his cousin Fredro Starr, who worked as a barber in Queens.[3]

Music career

Onyx

Fredro Starr, Big DS and Suave (also known as Sonny Seeza) met Jam Master Jay in a traffic jam at The Jones Beach GreekFest Festival on July 13, 1991.[4][5] Jay give them about two months to get a demo, but Suave and Big DS didn't make it to the studio because they were stranded in Connecticut.[6] So Jeff Harris, the manager of Onyx, asked Fredro to come to the studio with his cousin, Kirk Jones, who at the time was doing a solo career under the name Trop and working in the barbershop. Fredro and Sticky Fingaz made two records, "Stik 'N' Muve" and "Exercise".[7]

In 1993, Onyx released their debut album entitled Bacdafucup. It proved to be a commercial success and eventually went multi-platinum, largely due to the well known single "Slam". Then Onyx released on JMJ Records another two albums: All We Got Iz Us and Shut 'Em Down. JMJ Records as well as Onyx was officially removed from Def Jam on "Black Thursday" – January 21, 1999 – because the label PolyGram, who in 1994 purchased 50% of Sony's Def Jam, was sold to Seagram on December 10, 1998.[8]

Only four years earlier, Onyx were "saving Def Jam", as Sticky Fingaz put it, but now they were hoping the label would save them. Their third—and what would become their final—album on Def Jam, "Shut 'Em Down", barely went gold.[9]

Solo career

Jones released his debut solo album in 2001 which was titled Black Trash: The Autobiography of Kirk Jones, a concept album that followed the (fictionalized) life of Kirk Jones in a story line fashion as he is released from prison and then ultimately his death. The album was a critical success being noted as very creative with substantial content, though it didn't gain much commercial recognition despite featuring well-known artists such as Eminem, Raekwon, Redman and Canibus.

In 2003, he released his second album, Decade "...but wait it gets worse", which was less well received by critics and gained even less mainstream acknowledgement, featuring on this album were performances from Fredro Starr & Omar Epps.

In 2019, Fingaz released his third album, It's About T.I.M.E. The album was released as a "digital album movie" and is accompanied by musical film, which tells about the life of an American rapper Sticky Fingaz, starting from his birth to the entry into Onyx. The album is available only on Sticky's own website.[10][11]

Acting career

Jones was a regular on the short-lived UPN series Platinum as Grady Rhames. He also played the part of Pvt. Maurice "Smoke" Williams in the FX television series Over There, which depicts life as an American soldier in Iraq. He played Tyrone in Next Friday. Jones also played a recurring role as Kern Little, a gang leader and hiphop musician/producer on the FX series The Shield. He has also appeared in the direct-to-video and Sci-Fi Channel release House of the Dead 2.

Starting in 2006, Jones was cast as the half-human/half-vampire Blade in Blade: The Series, based on the Wesley Snipes movies, on Spike TV. The series was cancelled on September 29, 2006 through a press release from Spike. He has completed his work on a movie titled Karma, Confessions and Holi where he plays the character Rich Smooth. Jones was a major character in the remake of the movie Flight of the Phoenix. In the video game Def Jam: Fight for NY he supplied his own voice and is one of the main antagonists throughout the story. He also has an appearance in the sequel, Def Jam: Icon, under the name Wink. Fingaz wrote, co-produced, co-directed and starred in the movie A Day in the Life.

Fingaz released a movie It's About T.I.M.E. through his production company Major Independents on February 14, 2019. Sticky Fingaz not only wrote the script for this film, but also presented himself as a director, cinematographer and producer of the film, and also he played a role in it. A feature of this film is the format in which it was released – "Digital Album Movie", created by the rapper.

Discography
Main articles: Sticky Fingaz discography and Onyx discography
Studio albums
Mixtapes
  • Stickyfingaz.com (2009)
  • God of the Underground (2010)
Soundtracks

Awards and nominations
Year Award Nominated work Category Result
1994 American Music Awards of 1994 "Bacdafucup" Rap/Hip-Hop New Artist Nominated
1994 1994 Soul Train Music Awards "Bacdafucup" Best Rap Album Won
2020 ASCAP Pop Music Awards[12] Travis Scott — "Sicko Mode" (as writer) The most performed songs of 2019 Won
2020 ASCAP Pop Music Awards Travis Scott — "Sicko Mode" (as writer) The top streamed songs of 2019 Won

Filmography

Film
Year Title Role
1993 Strapped Suspect in Lineup
1995 Clockers Scientific
1995 Dead Presidents Martin
1998 Ride Brotha X
1998 Le New Yorker Harlem Homeboy
1999 In Too Deep Ozzie
1999 Black and White Himself
1999 Game Day Wille
1999 Love Goggles Jason
2000 Next Friday Tyrone
2000 Boricua's Bond
2000 Lockdown Broadway
2000 The Price of Air D
2000 The Playaz Court T-Bone
2001 Lift Quik
2001 MacArthur Park E-Max
2002 L.A.X. Leon
2002 Reality Check Brock
2003 Malibooty! Raymond
2003 Ride or Die Demise
2003 Leprechaun: Back 2 tha Hood Cedric
2003 Hot Parts Toby
2004 Doing Hard Time Eddie Mathematic
2004 Flight of the Phoenix Jeremy
2004 True Vinyl Power Z
2004 Gas Craig
2005 House of the Dead 2 Sergeant Dalton
2008 Nite Tales: The Movie Dice
2009 Dough Boys Deuce
2009 Karma, Confessions and Holi Rich Smooth
2009 A Day in the Life Stick
2009 Steppin: The Movie Cedric
2009 Breaking Point Richard Allen
2010 Once Fallen Leshaun
2010 Love Chronicles: Secrets Revealed Kevin
2010 Hard Breakers Shay
2011 Fanaddict Alex
2012 Changing the Game Craig Jenkins
2012 Speed Demons
2013 Caught On Tape Mark
2013 Brooklyn Knight Knight
2014 Motel Lizard
2014 The Dead Sea Sergeant Brooks
2015 The Road Movie (Short) Sticky Fingaz
2017 The Fearless One Tre
2018 Paradise City Chief Frank Murdoch
2019 It's About T.I.M.E. Sticky Fingaz
2019 Slam: Let the Boyz B Boyz Dmc

Television
Year Title Role
1995 New York Undercover (You Get No Respect) Khalil
1997 New York Undercover (No Place Like Hell) Assassin
1997 Good News (TV series) (A Joyful Noise)
1997 413 Hope St. (Lost Boys and Gothic Girls)
1999 Nash Bridges (Get Bananas) Mario Baptiste
1999 The Parkers (It's a Family Affair) Dwayne
2000 18 Wheels of Justice (Two Eyes for an Eye) Shooter
2002–2006 The Shield Kern Little
2002 The Twilight Zone (2002 TV series) (Harsh Mistress) Ricky
2002 Just Cause (TV series) (Fading Star)
2003 Platinum (TV series) (Flow, Peace, Power, Loyalty, Love, Want) Grady Rhames
2005 Over There (U.S. TV series) (Da Shootout) Pvt. Maurice 'Smoke' Williams
2005 CSI: Miami (10–7) Scott Owens
2006 Blade Eric Brooks / Blade
2007 Law & Order: Criminal Intent (Flipped) Detective Harry Williams
2007 Tell Me You Love Me (TV series) (Episode #1.8) Terrance
2009 The Beast (2009 TV series) (Pilot) Caesar
2009 Burn Notice (Hot Spot) Felix Cole
2009 Raising the Bar (2008 TV series) (Happy Ending) Mr. Cantwell
2010 NCIS: Los Angeles (Blood Brothers) Rashad 'Slide' Hollander
2010 Rizzoli & Isles (When the Gun Goes Bang, Bang, Bang) Kirk 'Sticky Fingaz' Jones
2011 CSI: Miami (Countermeasures) Leo Kendry
2011 NYC 22 (Firebomb) Monsta White
2015 Blue Bloods (TV series) (The Art of War, New Rules) Clinton Wallace / Clinton 'Ice' Wallace
2016 The Night Of (The Art of War, A Dark Crate) Rikers Inmate
2016 The Grind TV 1.0 (Theft) Sticky
2016 Loosely Exactly Nicole (Brother Visits) Little Stroke
2016 Empire (A Furnace for Your Foe, Sound & Fury) Brikk
2017 Grown Folks (TV Series) (Snitches Get Stitches) Fatsy Bulger

Video games

References
  1. Coleman, Brian (March 12, 2009). Check the Technique: Liner Notes for Hip-Hop Junkies (by Brian Coleman) – page 291. books.google.ru. ISBN 9780307494429. Retrieved August 5, 2018.
  2. "Onyx on Sticky Fingaz Joining the Group, Jam Master Jay Signing Them (Part 2)". Retrieved August 5, 2018 – via YouTube.
  3. "Hip Hop Connection Magazine No. 79 [September, 1995] – BALD IN THE UZA (by June Joseph)". onyxdomain.com. Retrieved August 14, 2018.
  4. "Sonny Seeza Explains Why You Don't See Him With ONYX That Much Anymore". Retrieved September 5, 2018 – via YouTube.
  5. "Fredro Starr talks Onyx, Jam Master J & Signing to Def Jam Records". Retrieved September 5, 2018 – via YouTube.
  6. Coleman, Brian (March 12, 2009). Check the Technique: Liner Notes for Hip-Hop Junkies (by Brian Coleman) – page 305. books.google.ru. ISBN 9780307494429. Retrieved September 5, 2018.
  7. Rausch, Andrew J. (April 2011). I Am Hip-Hop – Conversations on the Music and Culture (by Andrew J. Rausch) (April 1, 2011) – page 179. ISBN 9780810877924. Retrieved October 24, 2018 – via Google Books.
  8. "Def Jam, Inc., Russell Simmons, Rick Rubin, and the Extraordinary Story of the World's Most Inf (by Stacy Gueraseva) – page 272". Retrieved September 1, 2018.
  9. "Def Jam, Inc., Russell Simmons, Rick Rubin, and the Extraordinary Story of the World's Most Inf (by Stacy Gueraseva) – page 282". Retrieved August 31, 2018.
  10. "Sticky Fingaz - Digital Album Movie Download". stickyfingaz.com. Retrieved April 6, 2019.
  11. "Sticky Fingaz Digital Album Movie Download". musicalfury.com. Retrieved April 6, 2019.
  12. "2020 ASCAP Pop Music Awards (June 17, 2020)". ascap.com. Archived from the original on June 19, 2020. Retrieved June 19, 2020.
  13. "Rap Jam – Volume One (USA) (En,Fr,Es)". retrogames.cc. Retrieved July 30, 2018.
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