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Sticky Fingaz Talks Blacktrash, With Assist From Dr. Dre

LP plays like a movie with rapper, guests Eminem and Raekwon playing characters.

Sticky Fingaz's much-delayed debut solo album, Blacktrash: The Autobiography of Kirk Jones, will arrive in stores May 22 now that it's been treated by a doctor.

Dr. Dre, that is.

Dre produced and contributed the chorus to the "Just Do It" single. The track will also appear on the soundtrack for the forthcoming John Singleton film, "Baby Boy," which is scheduled to arrive in theaters this summer.

Even though his album's arrival has been postponed several times, Sticky Fingaz said that the Good Doctor insists that the delay was actually a good sign.

"I told Dr. Dre that they had pushed my album back four times," said Sticky, also a member of the hardcore rap group Onyx. "He was like, 'Stick, man, they pushed my album back like six times. Don't even worry about that. If they don't push it back, that means that you don't have a hot album.' It's cool that they pushed the album back. Besides, it was pushed back because my album was bootlegged in the streets and I wanted to do a new song with Dre."

Sticky worked with Dre on Snoop Dogg's No Limit Top Dogg album in 1999 and on Eminem's The Marshall Mathers LP last year. The two became friends when Sticky relocated to Los Angeles from New York a few years ago. That friendship extended to Dre's working on Sticky's album, which was originally scheduled for an October 31 release.

The collection plays like a sonic movie tracing the turbulent life of its principal character, Kirk Jones, who is played by Sticky. Each of the guests on the album, including Eminem ("What If I Was White") and Raekwon ("Money Talks"), also portrays a character in the story.

Sticky didn't have to search very hard to find inspiration for the album.

"I looked at the world and the marketplace, and we're living in the future," he said. "This is the Jetson age. But everybody's still doing prehistoric, basic songs and rhymes. I wanted to make it more creative and imaginative."

Sticky is shooting a movie to accompany his album. The film will feature Omar Epps, Michael Rapaport, Onyx partner Fredro Starr and Treach.

In addition to his own movie, Sticky, who had a supporting role in Ice Cube's "Next Friday" last year, also has a number of other film projects in the works. This year, he will appear in "Lift," which is about a shoplifting ring, and "MacArthur Park," a film about a crackhead whose son tries to help save him.

As if he needed more to do, Sticky will be hitting the road with Nelly on a college tour this spring, which made its first stop April 17 at SUNY Geneseo in Geneseo, New York.

Fredro Starr will also be appearing on tour with Sticky Fingaz. The two are in the process of securing an album deal for Onyx's fourth album, which will be released through their own Other Peoples Money label. Earlier this year, OPM released Starr's Firestarr album, and the imprint will release Blacktrash in conjunction with Universal Records.

After more hold-ups than the Presidential election, Sticky Fingaz feels that fans are ready for Blacktrash.

"The album was going through stages," he said. "October 31 was the original release date. In October, people were coming up to me, asking me about Onyx. By December, people knew that I was going solo. In January, people knew the name of the album. In February, they knew that I played a character in the movie. In March, they knew me as Kirk Jones. They hadn't gotten the picture yet. They're putting the puzzle together now."

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