Stinky Fingaz' sophomore solo effort, Decade, packs an impressive punch, but still pales in comparison to his Black Trash debut. The distinctively gritty style of this former Onyx front man played a major role in turning me on to hip-hop back in the early nineties. He's continued to impress me over the past decade, but unfortunately the release of Decade marks his lowest point to date.

The 17-song album features production and guest appearances from a slew of well-placed lesser knowns, of which the biggest names are Scott Storch, Fredro Starr and Sticky's younger brother X-1. This diversity is only semi-successful as the vocal diversity is refreshing on tracks like 'What Cu Here For' and the introspective 'No More', but My Quan's R&B stylings sound out of place on 'Bad Guy.' Additionally, Sticky shows his creativity by playing with vocal effects to give his chorus a fresh appealing sound on 'Girl' and 'Caught In Da Game.' Sticky also dips his hand into the production yielding beats for five songs, unfortunately the lower energy, R&B style sound resulting from himself and several other producers leaves me craving the high-energy, high-impact Sticky of yester year.

'Another Niguh' is my favorite as the chorus provides the glue for this short song. The final song, 'Get Smashed Up' features hot verses from Lex & Thirty and Seven O.D. over a hard gritty beat. Sticky also starts strong with 'Lets Do It,' whose chorus sounds like it came straight from an eighties kid spelling computer. The funk on 'Girl' drew me in, but the content left me unsatisfied. Sticky's attempt to incorporate the often-used children chorus fails miserably on 'I Dont Know.'

On Decade, Sticky lacks the lyrical content he so aptly displayed on his last solo album. As well, the beats only moderately complement the hard energized lyrical style I've come to expect from Sticky. Nonetheless, I found myself enjoying the majority of the album. For any Onyx or Sticky Fingaz fan, Decade is worth picking up.

Click here to buy the album at amazon.com