“The Sticky Lab started in 1995 in my mom’s living room,” says Jerry Dalalo, known locally as Jerry D or Jerry Da Hermit, the producer and studio engineer who operates one of the most prolific and unassuming studios in the South Bay, Sticky Lab and its subsequent label, Sticky Note Records. “The studio hopped around San Jose in the early 2000s but I established it in Cannery Park in early 2005.”
Many artists and projects have passed through the studio over the years, namely Insolence’s Audio War, Low Self Discilpline’s projects, Dem One’s Audio Still Life, and the new, highly anticipated Third Sight album, Chillin with Dead Bodies in a B-Boy Stance. Though the bulk of Sticky Lab’s output is hip-hop oriented, Jerry deals with all kinds of artists, repetitively listening to loops, samples and vocals until everything is ironed out. It’s all in a day’s work, as the studio preps a rather hectic release schedule for the upcoming year.
As a thank you (and since Jerry has numerous tracks sitting on hard drives all over his studio) Sticky Lab will be releasing a song per month for local listeners and fans of artists that record there. The first free track is “New World,” a slow burner based on an eerie sounding loop featuring the legendary D-Styles on cuts and MCs Roughneck Jihad, Opski Chan and longtime Kool Keith collaborator, Motion Man on vocals. Jerry produced, recorded and engineered the song.
“I made the beat two years ago and wanted to bring it back to life so I asked Opski, Roughneck and Motion if they can do something to it,” he says. “It’s amazing how each MC can still be in character with such a slow beat without struggling to rap.”
Stay tuned for more projects and goodies emerging from Sticky Lab this coming year and peep “New World” HERE or stream on YouTube below.