« 2010 Bay Area Freshmen 10 Recap: Cousin Fik »

With nominations for the 2011 Bay Area Freshman 10 coming to a close yesterday, we thought now would be an appropriate time to look back at our 2010 Freshman and acknowledge the grind that they put in since being included in the inaugural list. So for the next 8 days we’ll look at one MC at a time and highlight their careers up to this point, as well as what they have done since becoming a Bay Area Freshman. Every artist’s career plan and philosophy is unique, but no matter who you are, taking advantage of legitimate buzz can never be wrong. Because in this fickle, over saturated world that we like to call hip-hop, the second you stop releasing content and doing shows, unfortunately seems to be the second many forget that you ever existed. So let’s see how the first Freshman class performed since they were named some of The Bay’s top prospects.

Cousin Fik:

In the rap game, whether they’re underground or mainstream, practically everyone wants to build a dynasty. Yet over the years it’s really surprising to see how few have been able to hold on and stick together. One of the rare teams that has been able to maintain it’s cohesion and stay knee deep in the game has without a doubt been Sic Wid It. A large part of it is 40 Water’s inspiring work ethic and unwillingness to lose relevancy, but the other reason is that instead of limiting his label to strictly the same artists, E-40 consistently makes room for the next generation of up and coming MC’s. And with his most recent signing of Cousin Fik, E-Feezy hit pay dirt. 

While on the one hand the topics of Fik’s raps have yet to reach novel ground, what makes him really stand out are his punchlines and cultural references, the diversity of his delivery from verse to verse and thus his ability to string complex rhymes together with ease, and finally his desire to just go in and bust on every track he touches. Add to it an ear for instrumentals that go HARD in the trunk, and you most definitely have a recipe for success. 

Even though Fik’s 2007 debut mixtape, Like A Ref Wit A Whistle, showed signs that he was going to be a problem, 2010 was really the year that he emerged on most people’s radars. It started with 3 features on some serious slaps from 40’s Revenue Retrievin’: Night Shift, which was the first sign that Fik was positioning himself to make moves. About a month later, he dropped No Gravity for free. The combination of Cousin beasting on the mic, top notch Bay Area features, and slaps from vets like Cozmo and Droop E, as well as newcomers Decadez and NonStop, led to acclaim from practically all that listened and even spread beyond the bay. After it’s release, Fik was added to the Bay Area Freshman, and started getting back to his feature game. While he didn’t flood the net with new material since releasing No Gravity, the few tracks he did leak were a prime example of quality over quantity. Songs like “Ruthless” stand out as signs of his lyrical ability growing, but without a doubt “Pow”, which was produced by DJ Fresh, has been the track that I can’t stop playing. 

I have yet to hear what Cousin Fik’s plans are for the rest of 2011, but if he keeps gassing like he did on his two recent features for E-40’s Revenue Retrievin’: Graveyard Shift, fans of Sic Wid It can rest easy knowing that the future of the dynasty sits in good hands.

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Free Projects:

No Gravity (2010), Like A Ref Wit A Whistle (2007)

Videos:

Kaboom (How Da Beat Go) ft. DJ Juice (Produced by Pablo S):

Bay Area 51 ft. E-40 (Produced by DecadeZ):