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[stagepresence] Stik Figa
John Westbrook Jr. doesn't use his legal name when he gets on stage. It doesn't have the pop or swagger of a standard rapper's alias. That's why, when Westbrook gets on stage, he is Stik Figa.
Westbrook didn't always go by that name."My first rap名 was Tomfoolery and that was just because I like to cut up. I'm a fool,"Westbrook says. Stik Figa stuck, though, because it was a way to keep him levelheaded.
"I was walking around without my shirt on and she (my mom) was giving me a hard time. She was like, 'You think you look cute. You think you look good and everything, and really you just look like a stick figure,'" Westbrook says.
Any concert is a fully social experience for fans, and Westbrook says he really tries to keep his performances in that level by interacting with
Westbrook is from Kentucky, and he tries to stay true to his Southern roots musically. He says his music is soulful and progressive with a similar feel to the music of UGK and Outdast.
Westbrook started rapping in high school. He says it was easy for him to become a rapper because he had always been a writer."I always had a writing background.I liked to write short stories," Westbrook says.
Contributed photo
The skinny: Rapper Stk Figo got his name because his mom would always comment on how skinny he is.
fans. A performance is a conversation to him."Ya'll drinking; I'm talking."Westbrook says.
Westbrook has a new project coming out May 5. Mental Liberation is the collaborative CD that Westbrook is a part of and will be available on his MySpace at www.myspace.com/stikfiga.
Westbrook works a full-time job, but the plan is to eventually be solely a rapper. Right now, Westbrook will keep writing, because it comes so naturally for him, and looking for producers he wants to work with, because he isn't part of a label.
— Kelly Breckunitch
8
(April30,2009)