Slick Rick was born in England in ’65 to a Jamaican mom and dad and the family emigrated to The Bronx in the early ’70s. His eye was injured when he was an infant so he started wearing his trademark eye patch. He attended the LaGuardia High School of Music and Art, a school that trains students for professional careers in dance, drama and music. He met another rapper Dana Dane there, they formed The Kangol Crew, and went round the city battling with other MCs.
Along with his eye patch, Rick had quite an individual style of clothing for the time, although it is now more common amongst rappers to dress sharply and wear plenty of jewellery.
In ’84 Rick met Doug E. Fresh at a battle, and joined his Get Fresh Crew which was made up of Doug E. Fresh, DJ Barry Bee and DJ Chill Will. Rick was known as MC Ricky D back then. Fresh released “The Show” which was a big hit in ’85, and Rick featured on its B-side “La Di Da Di”, accompanied by Fresh’s beatboxing.
This song was covered nearly word for word by Snoop Doggy Dogg on his album, Doggystyle. And you can spot a line that influenced Biggie’s Hypnotize on the track too:
in ’87 Rick signed a solo album deal with Def Jam Records, the biggest Hip Hop label at the time, run by Russell Simmons and Rick Rubin.
In ’88 Rick’s debut solo album came out – The Great Adventures of Slick Rick. It went to number #1 on the Billboard R&B/Hip Hop chart. This album is where he gets his reputation as a great storyteller from.
“Children’s Story” was a single from the album – in this original video from the time, you can recognize the beat as the same one used in Montell Jordan’s “This Is How We Do It”
“Hey Young World” was another single and here is the original video for it from back in the day:
Teenage Love was the third single and here is the original video:
On a different note is the track “Treat her Like a Prostitute”. Although it now might seem tame compared to some rap, Steve Huey has said the album broke ground for its “vulgarity and offhand misogyny” because “no MC had ever dared go as far on record as Rick”:
Another example of this side to his music was Indian Girl (Adult Story), which describes a rape:
In ’90, Slick Rick shot a cousin and a bystander and was arrested for attempted murder. Russell Simmons got him out on bail, and in three weeks he recorded his second album “The Ruler’s Back”, before spending two years in jail.
“I Shouldn’t Have Done It”, a song about love, was a hit single from “The Ruler’s Back”. The album overall got mixed reviews though, and wasn’t as successful as his first album. Here is the original video for “I Shouldn’t Have Done It”:
With a different flow, the first track on “The Ruler’s Back” was “King”:
After spending two years in jail for the shooting, Slick Rick was arrested and spent another three years in prison while the government tried to deport him back to England, under a law allowing deportation of foreigners convicted of felonies.
He released “Behind Bars” in ’94 while in prison but it didn’t do so well either critically or commercially.
This track “Behind Bars” is a downtempo song featuring Warren G and it has interesting video artwork too:
“Sittin’ in My Car” was another single from the album:
Out of prison in ’96, Rick released “The Art of Storytelling” ‘an artistically successful comeback album’ that paired him with prolific MCs like NaS, OutKast, Raekwon and Snoop Dogg among others.’
Track fourteen was “Frozen” Featuring Raekwon (original video):
Track eleven – “Impress The Kid”:
“Why, Why, Why” – track 15:
Track 18, featuring Snoop Doggy Dog, “Unify”
Track 20 “I Own America Part 2”
“Kill Niggaz” was the first track:
Track two, “Street Talkin”:
Track seven, “Who Rotten ‘Em”:
Track 9 “King Piece In The Chess Game”:
Track 10 “Trapped In Me”:
Wikipedia says the following about Rick’s influence on rapping technique:
“In the book Check the Technique, Kool Moe Dee comments, “Slick Rick raised the lost art of hip hop storytelling to a level never seen again.” Slick Rick says, “I was never the type to say freestyle raps, I usually tell a story, and to do that well I’ve always had to work things out beforehand.”
O.C. also states: “The Great Adventures of Slick Rick is one of the greatest albums ever… the stuff he was just saying on there, it was so clear… the [clear] syllable dude was Slick Rick for me”. He is also renowned for his unique “smooth, British-tinged flow” which contains distinct structures. In the book How To Rap, it is noted for example that on the song ‘I Own America’, he “puts a rest on almost every other 1 beat so that each set of two lines begins with a rest.” Kool Moe Dee stated that, “Rick accomplished being totally original at a time when most MCs were using very similar cadences.” He has what is described as “singsong cadences”.’ Devin the Dude believes that Slick Rick’s ‘Indian Girl’ is a good example of the type of humor that existed in hip hop’s golden era, and Peter Shapiro says that “he was funnier than Rudy Ray Moore or Redd Foxx.’
In 08, Rick was granted a full and unconditional pardon on the attempted murder charges because the New York governor was pleased with his behavior such as volunteering his time to mentor kids about violence. Currently he is “waiting for a market to open up for a mature audience” before he releases any more albums.
His website is here:
and he’s on Facebook here:
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