Although this eponymous album released about a year ago, there are few works of art that better sum up the mix of malaise and madness that we have experienced in the world the past few years and, perhaps especially, in the last few weeks.Â
The self-titled work, a collaboration between indie rocker/producer Dazzled Kid and well known Dutch-hiphop pioneer Sticks, is hard to pin down as one might assume with such antipodal partners.  It is stripped down, with only one small guest verse from Adje interrupting the otherwise standalone musicians, yet never feels empty, or wanting for sound; it is uplifting in sound, but also contained lyrics which Sticks describes as âThe heaviest sâ˘â˘t that Iâve ever written.â  At times it feels like your attending a dance-party handily DJâd by Dazzled Kid, when all of a sudden that wise, older friend of yours that just drinks whiskey leans in and reminds you about payday loans ripping off the working class, and just as that hits you, the DJ begins singing âLight, oh Light, Light at the end of the tunnel.â Though you now are unsure if it meant as a check-and-balance on the depressing bit, or if it is meant ironically, or if that light is a freight-train. Â
âThe way we began [this project] itself wasnât âlightââ Dazzled Kid, born Tjeerd Bomhof, explained in an interview with 3voor12. âour starting point was: it can come to pass that you suddenly arenât here anymore.â
That starting point, to be more precise, was the funeral of a young man, whose top streams on Spotify happened to contain Sticks, who was contacted by the boyâs family to perform his song, Spaanse Vlieg, at his funeral. Â In the same interview with 3voor12 MC Sticks explained it this way:
âI didnât want to show up and perform with hard beats at a funeral, I thought itâd be inappropriate; instead I wanted to sort of do an acoustic version, [record producer] Kees de Koning said, âIâll call Tjeerd, heâll be there anyway.â  The morning of the funeral I went to Tjeerdâs house, shook his hand for the first time and we went through the song a few times and went straight to the service.â
The one time performance quickly turned into more however, as Stick explains:
âWe wanted to record the song for his family and friends, as a sort of support. Â But once we were in the studio it felt forced...we started messing around, he strummed something out on guitar. Â Helemaal Niks (Engl: Nothing at All)Â the last track on the album came out of that moment. Â That song for me exudes that feeling, in the lyrics as well; melancholic, but also:Â âits alright.ââ
It didnât take long for the lyrical depth, expertly executed compositions, and humanity of the album to really hit me; personally I was hooked while listening to the 2nd track, Blijven Lopen (Engl: Keep Going) in which the listener is treated to this, somewhat rambling, musing:
âEverythingâs collapsing,Â
drastic cuts to pensions,
try to keep my head fresh,
âThe speakers go âboomâ
Cloaked in black, Roy Orbison.
I wanted to be a good role model for the Youth,
but I never saw it through,
Flash mobs, Harlem Shake:
Enjoy or donât go, or be graniteâ
When interview Sticks mentioned this song specifically as being important to the album as a whole,Â
âOn Blijven Lopen I rap;Â âtheyâre yet to get a cent from each euro of narrative hiphopâ, you know. Â There are so many stories inside, but many people think: clever, nice rhyming.....and thatâs cool if that is what you get out of it. Â I find Blijven Lopen to be a really important track on the album, the feeling that it broadcasts -Â right, wrong, bad, evil, prosperity, adversity -....with hiphop you get it all.â
The final stanza of the aforementioned verse, âEnjoy or donât go, or graniteâ may be confusing for some, but it is really a perfect example of what MC Sticks does best: a relaxed but conscious sense of rhythmic delivery, and clever wordplay that never sacrifices content.  In response to some of the most ubiquitous, obnoxious, and public examples of the meme culture of today, flashmobs and the âHarlem Shakeâ (in quotations) [or the mannequin challenge] Sticks gives us three options, âEnjoy or donât go, or be granite (that is donât exist)â which in his warm Zwolle dialect tenor sounds homophonic,âgeniet of ga niet, of graniet.â
Indeed the album does not just provide a mirror to the current tumult in which we find ourselves, but also goes beyond superficial finger pointing, never without the clever interjections of popular culture that hiphop is known for, combining levity with deeper, heavier observation.Â
In clever hook he riffs on the classic âToo many Mics, not enough MCâsâ with
âToo many Berlusconis,
too few Balotellis!â
This is yet another talent of the duo that really shines: highlighting hiphops ability to combine levity with deeper, heavier observation. Â At one point on Blijven Lopen, Stick comments:
âRight on, like the piano on âI Like it Rawââ
[.....as a quote of the piano sample from the ODB hit âShimmy Shimmy Yaâ can be heard in the background, and Dazzled Kid croons the trackâs refrain; lyrics plucked from a song about sex without prophylactics, used to showcase resistance to dark times, staring into the abyss and telling the abyss you arenât bothered by the darkness.]
There is one line, however, which the group has been asked about repeatedly from the track âde Tunnelâ (Engl: The Tunnel). Â
âPeople scream, âJe Suis Charlieâ,
but please not at my release party.â
When asked if this was supposed to reflect the reaction one has when reading through the sunday paper and wishing that bad news wouldnât cloud your weekend Sticks said,
âIt is the reaction to the news that always fascinates me, how people behave, how people twist it.  What happened in Paris is of course horrible, but what really shocks me is how it gets twisted so people use it as a form of self-pity to promote themselves.  One to the one hand it really bothers me, but I also find it really surprising that people are using hashtags and avatar-changes on Twitter to show, âlook how upright my Instagram is.â  Of course you can have honest compassion, but the second you start twittering about someone that died or a catastrophic events, it can quickly turn into a form of self-promotion.â
Dazzled Kid followed up on the subject, explaining how he tries to actively remove himself from the digital world, to form and maintain real connections to those who matter, and have a more balanced view of the world- far from the outrage cycle of the news and social media; adding that,Â
âThe period of Je Suis Charlie hysteria has really shown how disconnected many people really are.â
Sticks, who had obviously been deep in thought while listening to his musical partner speak added,Â
âAnd you know whatâs the most unbelievable part of all of this? A week later and you donât hear anything about it. Â Everyoneâs focused on [soccer legend] Johann Cruijf, who was diagnosed with lung cancer. That is the Je Suis Charlie of the week.â
When I went with a good friend Matt D. to see them perform Utrechtâs âDe Helingâ venue in February earlier this year, I didnât know what to expect.  Normally speaking, hiphop and indie are two genres that tend to be maligned as ânon-conducive to live performances.â With the pre-recorded nature of many modern hip-hop acts and the loss of dynamics on the part of the MC, and the aloof shoegaze of many hipster rock groups I can see where this stems from.  Dazzled Sticks proved to be anything but boring.  Though Sticks arrived wearing what appeared to be an athletic warm-up sweat suit, he immediately began popping and locking between verses, Dazzled Kid literally bounding back and forth between guitar-hero power stances, and meticulously retooling his various sample pads, eyes maintaining a size somewhere between caffeinated owl and teacup saucer.Â
Though to many the arrangement may seem like an odd coupling, Sticks is as collaborative and active as perhaps any musician in recent memory; weâve already featured him as part of the legendary Opgezwolle crew, the Fakkelbrigade, and Greatminds. Though meeting under odd circumstances, some may call it fate that this duo would form; like Sticksâ Tribe Called Quest reference on the albums final track,Â
âI Left My Wallet in El Segundo,
Dazzled Kid said, âCool, I have to go that way anyway.ââ
Things may look bleak, and the harshness of winter and semester finals might not be helping, but the last line of Sticks verses on âBlijven Lopenâ for me, provide a bit of optimism, however small,
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