After four years apart, Stik Figa and D/Will get back together for JOBB

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Rapper John Westbrook, who performs as Stik Figa, and producer Denzel Williams, known as D/Will, made up one of the most industrious local duos of the late aughts, with four full-length releases between 2009 and 2011. Then, without much fanfare, they decided it was time to look for different creative partners.

Westbrook released the moody The City Under the City with North Carolina producer L’Orange; Williams partnered up with MC Les Izmore of Heartfelt Anarchy and rising local rapper Barrel Maker. Now, after four years apart, Westbrook and Williams have again joined forces. Friday, September 18, they release their newest record, JOBB (pronounced Jay-oh-bee-bee). It’s a half-hour of polished, crystalline beats set to a gritty story that’s in line with Westbrook’s blue-collar realism — and it’s on track to be one of this year’s hottest hip-hop releases.

Ahead of Friday’s release show at Mills Rec­ord Co., I chatted with the pair.

The Pitch: What brought you back together?

Westbrook: A love story. [Laughs.] I guess it was just timing. We both had other people we wanted to work with. It’s funny, though, because we had already recorded the record [JOBB] two years ago, but he also had projects he was focusing on, so it got lost in translation. When we were like, “We gotta get back together and have actual fun,” we revisited the record.

Williams: Stik is one of my closest friends, so we never lost contact, but musically, we went in different directions. But I still talked to him, like, two or three times a day, so I really don’t feel like we took a break at all.

What do you like best about working with each other?

Westbrook: My favorite thing about working with D/Will is that he just kind of gets me and what I’m about. He’s actually dope at what he does, and I’m good at what I do, and there’s not a whole lot that needs to be said out loud. It’s kind of easy. It has the least amount of work involved — on my end, anyway — when we get together. We just drink and crack jokes and come up with rap songs, and I think it finds its way into the music, that effortlessness.

Williams: It doesn’t feel planned or forced, ever. The whole session, it just feels like I’m hanging out with my first cousin or something. We’ll play video games, grab some food, and all of a sudden we’ll start listening to beats, and then raps happen, and that’s it. It just doesn’t feel like anything else when I work with him.

Stik, when it comes to your raps, I know that you draw inspiration from personal experiences. What were some specific things you looked at in your life that you wanted to bring to this project?

Westbrook: From my perspective, it’s like a thing of straddling these two realities. There’s this idea that being a rapper guarantees all of these things — money, fame, groupies or whatever — and that’s what is measured as far as success. And then on the flip, I’ve got my actual job that I’m on that allows me to provide for my family, my kids and people I care about, but there are no accolades for that because that’s what you’re supposed to do.

So on this record, I looked at both of these things, the labor of each of them. Is it a labor of love or a labor of necessity? Success has different meanings to different people. A lot of times, I write lighthearted or funny stuff, but this was serious because it was about finding value in the work that you do. If you’re being recognized for your work or not being recognized for it, what does that mean to you? I found that you have to find the value for the work yourself, and you have to define success for yourself instead of seeking external validation. whether it’s in the art or working at the coffee shop or an overnight shift at FedEx.

How do you define success for yourself?

Westbrook: I would say I’m successful in the context of where I started, and I still have goals in front of me that I want to accomplish. Yeah, I think I’m successful. I like to think so. My kids eat every day. They’re happy. That makes me feel successful. Sometimes I look at my music, and I feel like there’s more people that could hear it, and if they heard it, they’d enjoy it, but I’m grateful for what I can do with what I’ve been given and I feel confident in that.

Denzel, tell me about the beats you selected for Stik. Obviously you’re familiar with his work. What were some of the things you were thinking about as you chose the best way to highlight his raps?

Williams: It’s all feel when it comes with Stik because he’s such a technically sound rapper. And as easy as he makes it sound, his writing process is like a science. A lot of rappers write the lyrics out, and John doesn’t do that. He writes bullet points. It’s weird. So when I work with him, I go with what feels good. I give him a skeleton, which might be a sample and kick drum or a snare drum, and he’ll rap to that. Then he’ll leave, and I’ll sit with it. Sometimes I like to do the opposite of what he’s doing — I’ll make it feel really sad if the lyrics are happy or vice versa. I do a lot of the work after Stik is home and chilling with his wife and children. How the songs feel, I do that by myself.

You are two of the busiest artists around town. What drives you to create as prolifically as you do? What do you get out of the experience?

Westbrook: For me, it’s just the opportunity to express myself because I don’t get to do it very often in the day-to-day. I’m driving myself crazy listening to my own thoughts all the time in my head, and it just so happens that sometimes I’m in my head and I think, “Maybe someone else feels the same way I do, and maybe I can put this on a record and someone else will relate to it.” That’s my main goal, whenever I’m writing a record or coming up with an idea for a record. And if that well ever dries up, I won’t do it.

Williams: It’s a creative release for me. Being a sample-based producer, each new record is the new beat. Each time I go record shopping, it’s like I bought a new instrument. And I buy a new record often — I’ve got two or three shops a week that I buy from. I am in love with creating sound and making hip-hop and making it sound interesting. The love of it is what drives me to wake up and do it.