Statik Selektah: Stick 2 The Script

I won’t front, I had to backspace on Patrick Baril’s name a few times. Contrary to his demands, it is still very hard to spell Statik Selektah right. Even though it is hard to correctly type the moniker of the DJ/Producer out of Massachusetts, it was certainly not hard to enjoy his previous album, Spell My Name Right. The founder of Showoff Records proves that he is not a one-trick pony and follows his stellar debut with a solid sophomore piece entitled Stick 2 The Script. Similar to his previous work, Statik manages to get some of hip hop’s biggest names over his boom bap, catchy, and technically perfect production. The names range from familiar collaborators Termanology, Freeway, and Royce to new appearances from Bun B, Redman, and CL Smooth. After delivering one of the best performances of 2007, Statik returns and delivers another performance worth mentioning when compiling any top 10 list for 2008.

Because everything works so well on this album, there are very few wrinkles in the clean and crisp sheets of Stick 2 The Script. The tandem of Cassidy, Termanology and Saigon works very well on the opener, “To the Top,” and another trio comes through on “Talkin’ Bout You (Ladies)” in the form or Skyzoo, Joell Ortiz and Talib Kweli. The interesting collaborations that Statik sets up may be the science of the album, but the production is certainly the philosophy. Each beat carries a specific soul and bounce blended so perfectly that it justifies itself and the collaborators on it.

The most beautiful collaboration may be the Justus League hook up on “On the Marquee,” where Phonte and Pooh drop some of their best verses since GetBack, and Chaundon and Joe Scudda fit sufficiently over the harmonious strings. “This Is It” is a piano laden production with a very alive drum-line for Redman to go nuts on along with Black Rob and D-Dot, while “So Good” is an uppity, horn driven track with appearances from Naledge and Reks and a very dope verse from CL Smooth.

But, by no means does the lyricism save the album. Instead, the features get overdone and beaten to death by the end of the 52-minute album. We hear from Termanology three times before we even hear one verse from Royce and get teased by an interlude from Q-Tip, while he hear a beautiful beat go to waste on “Cali Nights.” Content wise, there isn’t much the emcees can do. Ideally, songs would follow the concepts of “Take It All Back” or “On the Marquee,” but that wouldn’t exactly be a DJ’s compilation if it followed a specific theme. Regardless, when the lyricism and emcees grow tiresome, Statik’s production and timely scratches bring the tracks right back to a sprint.

This album denounced any implications of a sophomore slump simply with the names on the album. As long as Statik gets applicable artists for his easy-to-rock-over beats, he shouldn’t have a problem putting out a solid LP. His production has certainly gotten tighter and tracks like “To the Top” and “For the City” show this with their timing, precision, sampling and artist placement. At this pace, Statik has set a new standard for DJ/Producers of his style and era; the bar is very high.

Overall Score: 80.5/100

Standout Tracks:

“On The Marquee”

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“To the Top”

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“For the City”

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