3 KEYS: Joyland w/ Stik Figa & Conductor Williams
The ‘3 Keys’ series discusses intriguing albums, with three key pieces of commentary from the artists’ themselves!
2021 brought us enough heartache, stress, trauma, and utter dejection to write endlessly about. As I write this post, I am currently in the 3rd lockdown in my home province of Ontario, Canada. I am feeling as lonely as ever, with a healthy dose of existential angst as another year of my prime youthful years are being spent alone at home (I swear to literal God if my Armand Hammer show in March gets postponed, for the 2nd time… I will do bad things).
As a result, I firmly believe that music is as important to society’s well-being as it ever has been. The ability to press a button and have even just 20 minutes where you can truly feel something, is an aspect of modern life that I hope we can all be grateful for… especially in times like this. Therefore, in the spirit of gratitude, I have to say that Stik Figa and Conductor Williams’ Joyland brought me a lot of joy over these past few weeks.
Stik Figa is a veteran from the Kansas City rap scene, who has had some notable releases over the years that includes a Mello Music Group release that caught my attention back in 2017. Until recently, something I wasn’t aware of though was his ties to Conductor Williams, a producer who’s stock has been rising exponentially in recent years.
1) [For Stik Figa] Your relationship with Conductor as a creative partner is deep and longstanding. How did your relationship begin and develop over the years, and how do you believe this connection translates into the music?
SF: Conductor Williams is one of my longest friends, to the point where I more often refer to him as my cousin. We bonded over our love of the music but I think it was strengthened by the values we hold as it relates to family and duty to our fellow humans. That’s where the chemistry shows up in the music that way. Whether it’s inside jokes or just conversations about the world around us, it informs what goes on in the music. We have a real relaxed and free approach to creating, and I think it works for us and connects the listener as well. It’s kinetic!
“Kinetic”. What a perfect word to describe the chemistry Stik Figa and Conductor Williams display on Joyland.
Stik and Conductor’s bond translates beautifully to the end-product of Joyland. Their relationship has yielded many projects, all the way back to when Conductor Williams was known as D/WILL, so not only do they have a familiarity and comfort on a personal level, they have put the work into refining their musical relationship. That is why Joyland sounds like a rapper and producer who are perfectly in sync. Conductor selected great beats that played to Stik Figa’s strengths. Stik effortlessly found the right groove in each and every eccentric production from Williams.
2) [For both] There is a real inertia and exciting energy that propels this record, found in the charismatic rapping and colourful production. This brings me to this album title, Joyland. What was the main intention behind creating this record?
SF: Joyland is a former amusement park, that now kind of operates as an antique shop in my hometown of Topeka, Kansas. We started talking about the movie ‘Big’ with Tom Hanks one day, and started thinking about a haunted amusement park and how that loosely correlated with the music industry. Clowns, carnivals and shenanigans, though entertaining are not necessarily substantive. Also, asking myself where do I even fit in this whole thing. And sonically I think Conductor captured that feeling perfectly!
CW: Stik told me about the arcade Joyland in Topeka. I live in Kansas City - our version of Joyland was called fun factory and it was inside of the mall. My parents didn’t let me go there with the homies because it was a place for teens and young adults - wild lil’ spot mos def not for kids. So for this album I just leaned into the lyrics from Stik Figa.
This album moves at a blistering pace, and sounds exactly like a day spent going on exhilarating thrill rides at an amusement park called Joyland. On top of that, it feels like you’re experiencing a day at Joyland with a VIP Pass, where you can skip the line and go on ride after ride without having to wait. On this album, each song is its own experience that immediately catapults you to another unique experience when the next track comes on. It allows for the impressive diversity in the musical and lyrical elements to be accentuated beautifully.
This kind of album only works if its main creators can navigate each twist and turn properly. Luckily, Stik’s nimble flow allowed him to easily adapt to Conductor’s never-ending bag of colourful slices of hip-hop. In these 24 minutes of music, Conductor throws a ton of different rhythms and vibes at Stik, and he doesn’t flinch. He consistently lands on some immensely catchy cadences that elevate the fun factor of this album tremendously, “Funhouse Mirror Reflections” being a perfect example.
Lyrically, I love how the album mirrors this variety in the aesthetics. Stik takes advantage of the uniquely diverse musical foundation for this album, and goes in many different directions with his subject matter. I appreciate how he makes some poignant and very real observations on how rappers often posture on their street credibility on “Only Toy Guns Go BANG!”, along with flexing some highly impressive wordplay and flows that come together well.
On “Sad Crying Clown in an Iron Lung” there is a run of bars where Stik raps, “John so laid back…”, and just flows his absolute ass off from there. Don’t let the catchiness fool you though. He gives a very personal and honest peak into the depression that he’s dealing with, and the disillusionment he feels in how to address his issues for the better. The way he tackles this loaded topic was masterful, as the tone he struck in his delivery and lyrical details did a great job of depicting the powerless position many feel while dealing with stressful and depressive times.
3) [For Conductor Williams] Through Joyland and your prolific output as of late, you have positioned yourself as a marquee beatmaker in hip-hop. What are some of your key inspirations behind your production style, and why do you think your sound has resonated so strongly with listeners?
CW: My inspirations are probably similar to most beat makers - you know, Dilla, RZA, The Alchemist, Madlib. But I am more inspired by comedians and painters. I am very thankful that my sound resonates with fans of the genre but my focus is always to create music that I like. I spent a lot of years making music for people to like, and completely missed the mark of why I want to create art. My centralized focus is to invade the listener’s emotions, for positive or negative.
The upward ascent of Conductor Williams in the past few years has been astounding, and inspiring. After making waves with some standout productions for Westside Gunn in particular, Conductor has been delivering heat nonstop. As Conductor so eloquently highlights in his response, he consistently hits that part of your soul that the best beats tend to do. This is precisely what I find so enchanting with his creations. Whether it’s the loud vinyl crackle, solemn keys and insanely creative percussion on “Sad Crying Clown in an Iron Lung”, or even the recent “Self Luh” instrumental from Mach’s latest LP… his beats makes you feel something.
Additionally, I would say that Joyland showcases Conductor’s experimental side significantly. “Power!” has this extremely strange beat that is built off of this vocal sample that I would characterize as sounding serrated(?), and somehow works so goddamn well. Even when the beat is more or less “conventional”, an instrumental like “Whizzo’s Revenge” features such a grimy mix and hard groove that still feels slightly off in how the sample would typically be manipulated. This slight dash of left-field flavour and attention to detail is something I have truly grown to love with Conductor’s production style, and this is on full display on Joyland.
I’m so happy we were able to get this full-length produced album from Conductor after his recent run of excellence, because he showcases an impeccable range on Joyland that is undeniable. It’s one thing to hear a producer’s work through individual beats on various projects. It’s an entirely other thing to see a producer take a stab at cultivating an entire musical identity for an album. Simply put, Conductor took full advantage of this opportunity, and absolutely hit it out of the [amusment] park.
The mark of a good collaboration is when the end-result is greater than the sum of its parts. Surely Conductor Williams could have given this batch of beats to other rappers, and surely Stik Figa could have laid his verses over different beats. But together, there is a clear symbiotic relationship between the two that elevates them both. The best characteristics of Stik’s rapping and Conductor’s production are amplified when paired together. I hope Joyland isn’t the final fruit of this collaboration, but if it is, it was a strong finish!
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Since I had the opportunity to connect with Conductor Williams, I absolutely needed to ask him about his infamous producer tags. I believe I once said it sounded like he was having a seizure on the beat machine after hearing the tags on “Munch” off of H***** 8. I know I’m not alone in this attention paid to these tags, as they always seem to get a rise out of hip-hop heads whenever a new Conductor beat is released. I love the tags though, and was excited to ask him about it!
BONUS) [For Conductor Williams] In my opinion, a very charming aspect of your music are those “Conductor” and "CONDUCTOR WE HAVE A PROBLEM!" tags. I honestly love it. Could you give some insight into how you stumbled upon these sound bites, and why you love incorporating it into your beats to such a significant degree?
CW: As a teenager I used to hang with graffiti artists. I was terrible as s*** at writing, but I would just hang with those dudes all the time and when they went out bombing, their own personal tag was important. They would write that shit on everything!! I always admired how random they would work, it was like the city was their canvas. A lot of people absolutely hate my tag! They hate both “Conductor!” and “Conductor We Have A Problem” LOL. I love it too, man! For the listener that cares, I print everything live to 2 tracks - no stems. My favorite artist is Basquiat. I try to mimic his paint style through how I make beats - I distress, bend and tag the instrumental purposefully, and I am thankful to those of you that get it - yourself included.
Buy Joyland here and stream below.
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